Dealing with criticism.

[Dave A]

Dealing with criticism is never an easy thing. Painful even. So let's take a lesson from our country's leaders.

The South African Cabinet has dismissed opposition parties' end-of-year report cards on its performance, saying it will not be judged by the wish lists of opposition parties.

"The 'silly' season is upon us and with it comes the publication of the so-called 'score cards' by the opposition parties," government communications chief Themba Maseko told journalists after the Cabinet's final fortnightly meeting of the year.

"[The] government has a programme of action to improve the life of our people," he said.

This programme is based on the mandate the government received from the electorate.

"Therefore, we will disregard all these opposition play cards, because our performance must, and will, be judged against our implementation of the programme of action and not the wish lists of opposition parties."
full story from M&G here

So how does government stack up against the people's mandate? Looks like denial to me.

So how do you deal with criticism?

To be fair I asked the question so I'll go first.
It stings. It hurts like hell. But I listen.
Reaction: I might become a bit sullen and introspective for a while. Please forgive me - I'm hurting inside. But I know I need to hear the truth to fix the defect - so if it's important enough for you to bring it up, please let me know when I'm doing it wrong.

[duncan drennan]

I would say that how I deal with it depends very much on the manner that it is given, and who it is coming from.

If some random person on the street tells me I'm ugly and my mother is so fat that Telkom gave her her own extension it is not really going to bother me.

On the other hand, if my wife tells me that I'm reacting badly to things that happen I'll take it quite seriously, no matter how much it hurts to hear. I'd rather get some criticism and go through a bit of painful growth, than not year it and stagnate.

[bullfrog]

Criticism does hurt a little as it's someone telling you that you're doing something wrong. What I do is I don't take it personally. I see it as someone trying to help me grow and better myself. I know that there are many people out there who know a lot more about things and if they tell me how to do things I take it as a complement. They are after all only helping me out by leading me in the right direction. The key is to make it as impersonal as possible. Don't think of it as an attack on you or how you do things, but rather someone helping you out.

[Debbiedle]

Listen, whether given in a "kind" manner or not. Seek to understand fully. Decide what is important and what not. Keep the former - Discard the latter.