Criticism is a one of those words that seems to cut most people like a knife. Although the knife doesn’t seem as sharp when we put the word “constructive” in front of the word criticism; none-the-less the word still seems to pierce.
When I was growing up my mom would always tell me: “Son, you can’t control or worry about what people say… you can only control what you say and what you do.” Later on in life, as a young leader I had a mentor that would always say “If you’re doing something worthy of people taking shots at you… they will. I would much rather have a leader that people don’t always understand and who are occasionally criticized, than a “leader” that no one ever talks about.” I’ve heard my pastor say something like “If you want to find the leader, look for the one with the arrow in their back!”
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes criticism is necessary. It’s important to have the people closest to you speak candidly into your life and seek wise counsel from those who will shoot you straight. It’s important to view criticism as neutral… “It Is What It Is!” This neutral mindset allows you to be comfortable with, “Eating The Meat and Spitting Out The Bones!” If you don’t want to be criticized, follow these 3 Easy Steps To Avoid Criticism:
- 1. Say Nothing
- 2. Do Nothing
- 3. Be Nothing
If you want to silence the critics, be yourself and do the right thing.
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows 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 know neither victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
I don’t ever want to find myself in the place with those “Cold and Timid Souls.”
Silence The Critics!
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