The Unintuitive Thing That Hurts But Makes You Stronger

When was the last time you heard someone criticize your work?When was the last time you heard criticism and didn't get defensive?When was the last time you listened to someone's feedback and considered that you had room for improvement?Forging ahead without listening is called being stubborn.Forging ahead while taking in and testing feedback is called growth.

2 Minute Action

Every couple of years, I send out a survey to my friends, family and co-workers.In it, I ask for them to anonymously tell me what they think my 3 greatest strengths and 3 greatest weaknesses are.Most of them take the 5 minutes to fill it out, and over time, I've collected a good amount of data.I'm not saying you need to create a survey, I'm just saying this format helps for me.I AM saying, it will only take you 2 minutes to ask a mentor or a friend or a boss "Hey, I'm getting serious about my development and I'd like to know: What do you think my strengths and weaknesses are?"If you're serious about improvement, you'll set aside the defensiveness and practice being open to criticism.

If You React, You'll Always Fail

What happens when someone criticizes your idea, writing, or product?

Do you get defensive?When you're listening to the blasphemer who is bashing your hard work, are you just waiting for your turn to talk?

Are you listening to win?

The sooner you regulate that emotion and start listening to understand, the sooner you'll be building better products, writing better blog posts, or communicating better ideas.Be reactive and you'll alienate yourself from the people who care the most.Be responsive and you'll start transforming angry customers into customers for life.

2 MINUTE ACTION:

If you're like me, you probably have a mental vault of every time someone criticized your idea/project/blog/etc.Unlock your vault and take a look around. What's something someone criticized recently? Did you respond or react?How would you change your response, now?