Do you like to be criticized? No, right? Of course not, who would? Yesterday while staying at a hotel I have stayed at 3x before, I finally reached my breaking point and complained. Ironically, after venting my frustration, the young man to whom I complained was clearly not happy with me. Wait, what? How can he be mad at me? 

In no part of this scenario should I not have complained—dirty sheets, no WiFi, 4 trips to the front desk, and more, yet he got mad at me for complaining! Part of why we don’t like to be criticized is because we take it as a personal affront. And sometimes it is personal but the complaint is often lodged so that improvement can occur. How can we be better at handling criticism?

First, we must ask ourselves where is this criticism coming from? Is it our boss or our brother-in-law? Second, are we being too sensitive? Third, is the criticism coming from a place of genuine concern? And fourth, what is the one core gem, disguised as criticism, that we can use to better ourselves? Not all criticism is created equal. Some people need to be thanked for delivering criticism and others need to be ignored. We get to choose which is which.

With Gratitude,
Beth