A Better Way To Deal With Criticism
Okay, I get that feeling when someone doesn’t like your work, or when someone feels your work doesn’t just cut it for him or her. I’ve had several times and occasions my craft was rejected; either directly or indirectly. Before now, a default reaction to this would be to angrily respond to criticism. But I soon found out that wasn’t a better way to respond to criticism.
What’s a better way to respond to criticism?
A better way to respond to criticism is to simply learn all you can from the critique and don’t allow any negativity (directly or indirectly) get to you.
You might think, “this is easier said than done”.
It is not always the case. If you get into the habit of doing it long enough, you’d be surprised at how better you’ll get at it.
You can get stressed out by a word of criticism, or you can get better; know better, and do better. Your choice.
And so, here are some of the things I have come to know on how to deal with criticisms:
Ask yourself, ‘what’s the lesson here?’
One of the questions you need to ask yourself when dealing with criticism is “what can you learn from the criticism?”. The critic might have some valid points that might be helpful if you adjust based on those points. However, this doesn’t mean the critic is always right. This is where you need to look deep down at the criticism and look at what is true from what is not.
What is the intention of this person?
Sometimes, some people say things that might not be true, just for the sake of it or in order to weigh the other person down. Also, some people might truthfully say some things just to help the other person get better at something. And so, when you receive criticisms, you need to look at it and try to detect the intentions of the person who gave the criticism. His he or she really looking out for you?
Is this getting to me?
This is another thing you need to ask yourself. If you allow the criticism to get to you, then you might get angry unnecessarily, and not learn what it is it you ought to learn from the situation. I have found myself in such situations that I allowed criticisms to get to me without me looking deep down that the things I needed to learn from the situations.
How should I react?
This is another question you need to ask yourself. How will you react when someone tells you that you should be doing something else because what you are doing now is not going well, for instance? How will you react in such a situation? Are you going to work on the corrections: it is one thing to detect corrections, it is another thing to work on those corrections.
Are you going to work on the corrections?
Criticism is great when it is constructive and helps you get better. After you determine the intent of the critic and that it wasn’t from a malicious point. Ensure you work the areas which you need to.
How do you deal with criticisms? Share your thoughts below!
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