Surviving Brutal Criticism
This lifehack.org article should be required reading for every person trying out for American Idol. It would certainly save Simon Cowell a lot of grief. Did you ever ask yourself, while watching the first few episodes of each season, why in the name of all that is holy doesn’t that guy know he sucks?! Scott H. Young suggests:
Most people won’t tell you what they think of you. And if they do want to slide you some honesty, it is usually wrapped in a sugar coating.
In other words, they lie to spare the wannabe next-American-Idol some hurt feelings.
And when you’re asking your friends and loved ones for feedback, guess what they’re doing.
Probably never occurred to you. 🙂
My favorite idea from the whole batch of sixteen:
Say Thanks – Some companies pay consultants millions of dollars to come by and show them how they are doing a bad job. At least some people will do it for free. Thank them so you don’t have to pay heavy consultant bills later.
I have to tell you, I’m already really good at responding to abuse criticism, but this article came just in time to reinforce things for me. I read it just before going to work yesterday, and at work I took an undeserved load of crap from a doctor who thought I was the person he needed to be mad at.