I used to be really bothered by criticism because I took it so personal. If someone didn’t like a class I taught or didn’t like the way I ran my business I was really hurt. However, I have learned that criticism was sometimes accurate and it reminded me to look at my business from another perspective and make changes. At other times it was obvious the critic was someone who just didn’t “get” what we were all about. While studying for a class I found that Business blogger Scott Ginsberg had the perfect thoughts on this subject:“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music” Nietzsche
Wow! Talk about a powerful quote. It reminded me that you can’t please everyone. Especially if you have new ideas and are trying to stand for something. Because undoubtedly, about 90% of the people you encounter are going to agree with your ideas, your personality, your philosophies and your work. And the remaining 10% are going to think you suck. The challenge for most of us is that we get so hung up on the 10% that we forget all about the 90. BIG mistake. PERFECT EXAMPLE: I used to be so bothered when competitors weren’t friendly towards us. They didn’t like the way we were trying to change things. I was friendly towards them, why weren’t they friendly back. It drove me crazy. Then I realized it didn’t matter. All you can do is the best you can. Nothing else matters. You can’t let minor negatives overshadow major positives. You’re stronger than that. You’re better than that. Forget about the 10 and focus on the 90. This is about life. This is about having the courage to say “You know what? If you don’t like me, that’s cool, but don’t expect me to waste my time on trying to change your mind. Just keep dancing, if they can’t hear the music it’s their loss.
-Larry Curtis
President of Taylor Andrews Academy
Taylor Andrews Website
That's a seriously powerful position to choose & I for one have easily found respect for someone of your quality. Keep Dancing!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of two things.
ReplyDeleteOne is The Work method by Byron Katie for dealing with thoughts such as, "They should get what I am doing?" or "I'm nice to them, they should be nice to me." :)
The second thing it makes me think of is the Purple Cow book by Seth Godin. I don't really remember a lot of what he said about criticism, so I'll have to go back to it again because I was really impressed by it. But part of what he said was, "The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out." And I think there was something along the lines of if you don't stand out you're only doing a mediocre job and not really helping your customers and clients and are less likely to succeed.