How to Deal With Criticism
Learning how to receive criticism can be an important step in life, contributing to one’s personal development and to their relations with other people. But accepting that other people might not like your work or might think that you need to improve might not come easily. Thus, what can we do in order to use this experience as a lesson, and not have or self-esteem lowered by it?
1. Have faith in yourself and your work
Having faith in yourself is always important. You have been working on your own person for years and you probably put effort and passion in your work. You should be proud of it.
2. Be open to improvement
Don’t doubt that there is always room for change and improvement, for the simple fact that we and our circumstances are continuously evolving.
3. Don’t let negative feedback outcome positive feedback you get
Oftentimes in life, we are more affected by the negative moments, than the positive. But several harsh seconds or negative words should not weight more that all the passion you put in your work and all the compliments you might have also received for it.
4. Ask yourself “How can I use the critics I got in order to improve myself?” instead of “Why am I not good enough?”
When you have your work put up on display, whether it is a project at your job, an article you decided to publish or a picture on your profile, be aware of the fact that people will talk about it and criticism might come out of it. But when it does, try to have an open mind and not instantly lower your self-esteem. Instead, try to get something good out of it and understand where you might have done something wrong.
5. Understand that people might not know how to give constructive feedback, only negative feedback
You should know that there are different types of feedback: positive, negative and constructive. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that only give negative feedback: only tell you they didn’t like your work, instead of saying what they think can be improved or what they were expecting to see. Don’t get discouraged by hard words with nothing constructive in them.
6. Listen to everything the other person has to say, but don’t accept rude words
When dealing with criticism, you should try to listen to everything the other person has to say, because you might end up with some good pieces of advice or at least with another perspective on your work. Nevertheless, you deserve to be treated with respect, so draw the line if things seem to get out of hand.
7. Accept that people are subjective
People are entitled to opinions and every one of us is different and has other preferences. Thus, it is normal that not everyone shall like your work, so you shouldn’t be discouraged by that.
8. Never lose your voice
If you feel like there is something you want to clarify after receiving criticism, please, do so. The conversation arising from it could be really beneficial. Moreover, take the feedback as a way of possibly improving your work, but do not feel pressured to lose your voice or your style in order to please others.
I have sometimes had a hard time dealing with critics, myself. My last article has received both amazing reactions, and not-so-positive ones. I was told that it might sound like a cliché or that it does not have enough personal experience displayed. Oh, but don’t people love clichés? And doesn’t everything we express through a form of art come out of personal experience we are putting on display for others? Well, I took the criticism I received and transformed it in something positive: this article. I hope you will be able to do the same and to never lose faith in yourself.
