Be Open To Constructive Criticism

There are more things to learn from criticism than from admiration. In fact, not everyone that criticises you has evil intention to harm you, some have pure intentions to help you to grow further from where you are. It is sad that a lot of people in this era cannot welcome little criticism without feeling offended by it, yet they want to grow. Okay I ask, how will you know the areas you need to improve on if you have not received feedbacks from people? You may not be able to determine how the feedbacks will come, but it is your duty to look into it holistically and get something from it to help you improve.

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It is true that, sometimes, criticism may be difficult to welcome, but it is still a pathway to growth. Anyone that cannot handle criticism has also excluded themself from growth. Over the years, I have understood that the ability for someone to effectively welcome criticism is a fundamental process of learning that everyone should master. I remember a place where I worked before; there is nothing that you will do that the Head of Department will not find something to point out in. At first, I thought she was being plainly mean, but in the long run, I understood the benefits in it. It helped me to grow and master my skills beyond what I expected. This is also because I learnt to welcome her criticism and not be offended by it.

In order to turn criticism to your advantage, there are things that you need to understand. The first one is that you need to develop a mindset of growth. It is how you reason on the inside that will determine how you relate with situations on the outside. If you correct someone that wants to grow, they will pick the correction. But if you correct someone and they pick offense, just know that they do not want to improve on themself. You do not have to see criticism as an attack on your personal, nor that you have failed at an attempt, rather see it as a way to improve on yourself and achieve a better growth. A lot of others are also criticised, so you are not the only one receiving it.

A few months back, a particular news made some major headlines in this part of the country, where a business owner sued a customer for their review. The truth is that, as a business person, if you cannot take reviews and criticisms, then you do not have any business going into business. It is true that some people may have malicious intentions with their criticism, but it is now left for you to decide how to turn it into something to profit you. You have to know that you are not static, neither are your skills and talents static. As such, they need to be constantly worked on to be improved, and one way to know where to improve on is to welcome feedbacks from people - which can come in form of criticism.

In addition to having a mindset of growth to welcome criticism, you also need to learn to listen attentively. That is, listen to understand what the critique is saying, not simply to respond or react to them. There is usually a truth hidden even in the meanest of criticisms, but you need to be able to listen and understand well before you can pick it out. Before you dismiss a criticism for being too offensive, or Before you conclude that it is not needed, take out a moment to look critically at it, and you will be surprised that there are some truisms in them.

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The last point to note is that, you need to be able to look beyond the messenger and focus more on the message that is passed in the criticism. You may not like the person that brings the feedback, but it does not invalidate their point of view. After all, good can still come out of it. Try to remove emotions, sentiments, and feelings from the way you perceive criticism so that you will be able to welcome it without bias. This is because some feedbacks might come in a less-ideal way, and may even be "hard to swallow," but something valuable can be drawn from them. So learn to welcome criticism without mixing emotions to it.

Thanks for reading