Everyone craves positive feedback! It is often the reinforcement that keeps us going … to take that next step, especially if we are unsure of a decision being the right one.

What kind of evaluation and feedback with help us grow? What kind of person can give feedback that will help us grow and improve to the next level?

Especially when comments are less then complimentary, it is easy to write them off, but is that the best thing to do? For myself, the first question I ask myself is “Who did this come from?”

If the person doing the commenting is someone I respect a lot or is someone that is respected in the industry a lot, I find it best to put my bruised ego aside and take a second look. There probably is something there that I can better myself with. It is hard not to take criticism personally. my experience has been that in the vast majority of cases the criticism is not meant personally.

The other thing that I have learned from experience is that when I receive some, on the surface, harsh feedback, I will go to the person asking for some clarification with some context. I have found that in many cases, the following discussion will be in some area in the middle. It will be a discussion that you both can learn and grow from.

If this article has been something that has given you extra perspective, I would love to hear from you.