As an entrepreneur, you need to be ready and able to handle criticism properly. Sometimes criticism makes you lose focus and makes your work and work plan great. Whereas if you’re calm, the right kind of criticism can be very helpful and make you better than you think.
But, sometimes the wrong type of criticism can actually make things worse so it’s important to understand the different types of criticism. You have to be sensitive to determine what kind of criticism you’re dealing with. You need to know who you should listen to and who you should ignore.
1. Friendly
People who offer friendly criticism are often your supporters. These people care about you and want you to succeed. They often use criticism to build the person, not tear him down. They want you to make it in the world and sometimes their ideas are good and sometimes they don’t. You are more likely to listen to this type of criticism because it comes from a known supporter, but remember to make sure that the advice given is based on facts.
2. Nonchalant
People who offer indifferent criticism usually don’t care as much about hurting your feelings as much as they care about bringing the truth and facts around a problem. They may be natural objectors who just like to be sound boards to bring out different aspects of a situation. They are not personal at all; They’re objective. It is very important to listen to this type of criticism and also pay attention as before to the facts of the situation.
3. Hostile
Nowadays, this type of criticism is referred to as trolls. This type of criticism has no objective reasons, or supportive reasons. Instead it is designed to degrade, attack, control and weaken. You can recognize these types of criticism because they attack and try to take you down. Surprisingly, you can still benefit from this type of criticism but most of these are the ones you should ignore.
- How true is that delivery? List the facts of the situation, so you can determine which information is correct.
- How can I change it? – If some good points have been made, can you make a change?
- Do I care? – If it’s something from a hostile source, do you really care at all what they think?
- How can I make this positive? Now, how can you take the facts of criticism and turn them into positive?
In each case you should always listen to the criticism with your eyes open and ears without being defensive. Each has its own good and bad points, and while you can ignore people who give hostile advice because of their rudeness, listen to what they have to say so you can determine if there is a level of truth. After all, regardless of the reason the critic gives you advice, as long as there is truth, you can benefit from it.
Being a business owner and entrepreneur can be overwhelming and exhausting. So how do some people seem to thrive and achieve their goals and dreams while others struggle? The answer is mindset.
