How to take criticism with grace?

Criticism is a part and parcel of life. When you achieve success, criticism shall follow in every manner. Criticism exists to demotivate you and sometimes demotivates you from your existing path. Sometimes criticism by different people gives you different feelings. The same criticism from some people may sound as a compliment and from some people may sound like abuse.

Here are some points that help us understand how to take and accept criticism.

• Criticism and Feedback − There is a dire need to distinguish between a criticism by a person and feedback given by a person. Criticism is mostly hostile and negative. Whereas feedback is specific to some points. Feedback is given by our well-wishers for our betterment whereas criticism can be unnecessary and non-substantial. At the very first place, differentiate and identify it before analyzing it.

• Take the content − Criticism is bound to exist in each step of your academics and career. But the success mantra remains in learning from it. There is an old philosophy that says ‘When life throws stones at you, it is up to you if you want to build a wall or a bridge’. Criticism has some content in it that highlight our own areas of development. It helps us improve and be better in many points.

• Accept and Rise − People come with their own personalities and character traits. We need to accept this variation and then also accept the fact that the criticism from their end is influenced by their individual experiences, views, and opinions. We need to develop the tolerance for this bit in our minds. These points should not be taken to heart and burden ourselves. We need to stay calm and relaxed in our thought. It is only with a light mind that we can uplift ourselves and rise to success.

• You are not everyone’s cup of tea − We have to remember that we cannot make everyone happy because each and every individual has a different set of expectation and ambitions. So, there can be critical views when people are not satisfied with you. In such cases, see the points where you can work better and also keep in mind your ultimate goal and the bar of excellence for success that you have set for yourself and keep working towards its achievement.

• Understand the sources of criticism − This is also a very important point with regards to taking criticism. The criticism can be from the people who are jealous of your success all the times and they intend to spread a bad repute through various channels. This is bound to happen when they can’t reach your level of success.