Seth Godin states in Purple Cow that, “We’ve been raised with a false belief: We mistakenly believe that criticism leads to failure.” I agree with Godin’s assessment. Look at the winner’s around you who are novel in their approach to business and life. They handle criticism as part of their learning. There is only winning in their minds.
Often times, there will be adversity in your striving after a goal. It is part of learning. Keep at it. The rewards are great. The noise around you seems tempting to internalize, but if you can separate criticism from the feeling of failure, you will learn to win. As Teddy Roosevelt said:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly. . . Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause,, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”
Be that man or woman. Go for it and welcome criticism as part of your learning to move further towards the goal.
