We live in a society where everyone is there to put their feedback in either constructive form or destructive form. Whether the criticism is constructive or destructive depends entirely on how the speaker conveys a specific message to the recipient. The mindset of the recipient also influences the way he perceives any criticism.
Whatever we do in our lives can be susceptible to criticism to a certain degree. If someone is trying to pull you down and has an ill intention of demotivating you to do something, that person’s tone and feedback will be destructive criticism of you.
Destructive criticism can never be good to anyone. Even with a positive mindset, you will still feel attacked and demotivated by destructive criticism. Your confidence can even get shaken depending on the level of those attacks. But criticism is not always bad. Sometimes it can lead you to develop essential skills, contributing to your personal growth by pushing you further to a bright future.
Suppose, you have presented on a specific topic in front of everyone in your classroom. Now you want some feedback from your cronies. You can ask one of your classmates to give you feedback on the presentation. “You were one of the worst presenters I’ve ever seen. You should not deliver any speech ever on any public platform”, said one of your classmates, with an attacking and demeaning tone. Now, the feedback is not confined to only giving feedback anymore. It has become a medium to insult you, right? Hence, this criticism is not constructive anymore. That feedback from your friend can destroy your willingness to improve yourself further and you may never gather the courage to deliver a speech in any public forum in the future.
Now, let’s turn the situation around. Suppose, you ask another friend to give you feedback on the same presentation. “I can see a flourishing presenter within you. All you have to do is to raise your confidence level. You seemed to be a little nervous today but it’s okay. I believe you can overcome your fear of public speaking by practicing more and more.”, said your friend with an appreciative tone. Now, you are not feeling offensive, right? Because this one is constructive criticism which will help you to be one of the best presenters in the future.
You should keep in mind some of the following notable facts to handle criticism in a better way:
Not every criticism is destructive. Sometimes, you can get a reality check of what you’re doing and thus, you can grab opportunities to work on improving certain things.
Raise your patience level and self-confidence so that you can handle even destructive criticism very well. But you should not be overconfident!
You should never let descriptive criticism demotivate you. Rather you have to be eager to challenge the critics by excelling at every point that the critics used to demean you.
Be open to receiving any constructive feedback so that people don’t hesitate to give their honest feedback to you.
If you receive any constructive criticism, you should be even more positive about the feedback you’ve received and should be more enthusiastic to work on your weak points.
Critics are everywhere. You can not cut them completely off from your life like any weeds. There will be people who will throw stones at you to harm you. But you better know where to stand to safeguard you from being injured. In the end, the way you perceive and handle criticism smartly in different spheres of life is what matters the most.
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Writer
Taspia
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE