How I Take Criticism

I hope I take it well. Criticism is what keeps you going to improve. It keeps you level headed because you’re not striving for perfection. It is just not possible to be perfect. The work won’t stop. It’s the journey that makes the work most enjoyable.

I always take it back to my competitive running days. My coach had always said negative criticism is the most important criticism because no matter how good your performance was, there’s always something wrong with it. Of course, as growing teenagers, you want to be careful on how that criticism is taken, so you don’t discourage yourself from the sport. So I’ve always taken that seriously. Ok, I paced myself well, but where could I have made moves within the race to make it difficult for my opponent to stay competitive? How was my form? How can I improve my mechanics so I’m not wasting energy each stride? It’s always the little things.

Back to the topic. I’ll take criticism as well as I can. Typically emotionless and dead faced. Though inside it’s uncomfortable to hear it, but that’s the trade off. It’s never going to be comfortable because someone is essentially evaluating you. The thoughts are simple. Are they trying to develop me into something more, or are they trying to bring me down, to the point that I am driven away and am nothing? That depends on the person and their mindset. What do they want to get from what they hear? It’s something to struggle with. Something to continue thinking about.