I thought I was ready. But it turns out I wasn't. What am I talking about? Handling criticism.
It's funny too because a few weeks ago Joel Osteen covered this very same topic on one of his broadcasts. Joel talked about handling criticism like slicking yourself up with oil and letting the negativity slide right off.
This past week at my full-time job, we had to come up with a clever team name to go along with a contest one of our vendors was planning. I wracked my brain to come up with something clever yet creative. Oddly enough, I couldn't think of something--I only had a few hours to do this, so it's possible the pressure of coming up with something at the last minute may have got to me. Anyway, I asked some of my colleagues for ideas. They had a few, but the ones they came up with were inappropriate. So, I used one of the other suggestions tossed around by one. They meant it as a joke. I did not.
I ran with that particular team name.
Afterwards, I heard some awful grumbling amongst them, and one even called it "Gay." Note: the name was not in any way associated with homosexuality and the comment was simply derogatory. I was very upset. I let it get under my skin.
Instead, I should've taken Joel's advice and let the comments slide right off. In the end, that's what I did. I didn't care what comments were said and even used the team name to "rally the troops" even more boldly to the cause.
The more successful one becomes, the more criticism you'll be asked to handle. Take a look at the latest election and not wonder how either candidate can handle about half of the country not believing or rallying to your own message.
Get a tough skin for criticism early on. You're gonna need it.
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