We say we welcome constructive criticism. The question is, who decides if the criticism is constructive or not? Not everyone can easily see good in criticism. The mind tells us to believe that every criticism is negative and as soon as we see it coming the mind prepares for defense. This happens to be the case even if the criticism is truly constructive. Quite often, though, we miss out on learning some great lessons from apparently non-constructive, negative or even destructive criticism.
Earlier we posted a brief write-up on the same subject matter and noted that it received a good response from our readers so thought of reproducing it here.
If you’re not good at taking criticisms you might want to work on this skill. There are a few simple yet very powerful tools. The reason people don’t like criticism is, it directly hurts one’s false ego. This false ego makes one think that he or she cannot be wrong, cannot be less than others, and even if he or she is at fault, it cannot be pointed out by others, especially in public. How to deal with it?
Here are some suggestions from a useful article I came across, (read full at How to Accept Criticism). It explains, with pictures, different scenarios and guides one on how to tackle criticism.
One interesting thing about criticism is, although it stings in most cases, in most cases it helps too if you want to get truly good at something. Not only will this tips help you improve your interactions with other people, but it will also help you improve yourself and feel better when you have problems.
- Stay calm
- Give yourself time to cool off
- Separate the criticism
- Think about the skills you have that will help
- Be proud of yourself
- Listen to what they have to say
- Respond when you’re ready
- Apologize for your mistakes, if needed
- Acknowledge where they’re right
- Talk about how you plan to change
- Ask for their advice
- Communicate the need for patience
- See this as an opportunity
- Distinguish useful from useless advice
- Think about and write down some takeaways
- Make a plan
- Never give up on trying to be better
Have more ideas? Please share with us.
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