How to Accept Criticism

Few people enjoy having their ideas, actions or behavior criticized, even when the criticism is expected. But by facing criticism with the right attitude, you can preserve positive relationships with your critics and learn about yourself in the process.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Set your gut reaction aside. The criticism leveled against you may make you feel angry, defensive or hurt. If someone criticizes you to your face, don’t let these emotions come out. Instead, tell your critic that you’ll think about their comments and gracefully step away. If the criticism comes in a written form, wait for a while before responding.
2. Look for truth in the criticism. If the charge was worded in a nasty or aggressive way, reword it in a more constructive fashion and evaluate it. Take this as an opportunity to decide if there is something you should be doing differently, and carefully consider if you might ever make this same criticism of yourself.
3. If you find truth in the criticism, try to turn it into real change in your life. This allows you to turn what may have initially seemed like a rude comment into an incredible gift.
4. Thank your critic for the advice. This can often make both the giver and the recipient of criticism feel better, and it may lead to more useful and constructive criticism from that critic in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• Work on being able to tell the difference between criticism and baseless attacks. Some hurtful comments don’t have any real benefit to the recipient, and the best policy is to simply ignore them.
• If you can avoid taking criticism personally, you have a great chance of maintaining a civil or even friendly relationship with your critic.

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