Reflection
I’ve often wondered how many people have given up on something really great and important because of criticism from another.
I’ve always been sensitive to criticism. I don’t like criticism, but I’ve found it is a part of life when you live a life with the intent to make a difference.
I remember joining a business peer group very early in my role as the President of our company. The other members of the group were veteran business owners. I was the young pup. In essence, we served as a board of advisors for each other.
We would meet once a month for an entire day, and we devoted most of the day to helping each other handle challenges we were facing. One of us always had a bigger challenge than the rest, and we would spend the majority of our time helping that person…and for the longest time, that person was me. In fact, one of the members of the group eloquently nicknamed me “stupid-sh$$” because I didn’t have a solid business acumen back then.
Fact
I learned more about business from those meetings than any other experience because the members loved me enough to tell me the truth. And I hated their criticism enough that I tried harder to do things better.
Criticism can either shut us down or motivate us up…it’s a choice.
Proverbs 15:22, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers, they succeed.” (ESV)
Proverbs 19:20, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” (ESV)
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
GREAT reminder! I do not enjoy criticism at all. I am the queen recipient of negative press. My best friend, Jennifer would ask me how I could tolerate reading and re-reading it. I could honestly tell her that I learned from it and would use it as “practice” for the next time. As Dr. HENLEY would say “I used it to sharpen my sword”. A critique still sucks but I am learning learning that it does make me and my business better.