Give Yourself the Gift of Time
When someone criticises our business, we tend to get defensive straight away. “What would they know?,” we think and instantly dismiss their criticism. However, if you give yourself the gift of time to consider the comments after the heat of the first emotion has diminished, you may well find something constructive in their comments.
The reason why we, as small business owners and entrepreneurs, tend to get so defensive about criticism, constructive or otherwise, is that our business is very much a part of ourselves. It has been formed by tapping into our own creative energy, and is therefore very personal. No matter how much we try to keep it at arms length. We have a strong belief in ourselves and knowing what’s best for our business. We can’t see our own errors, as easily as we can see someone else’s.
That’s why giving yourself some time to calmly consider whether there is any worth in the criticism offered will help you to become a better business owner. You need to be able to distance yourself from your business and look at as if someone else owned the business. The easiest way to do this is to do something else away from your business. Go for a walk, catch up with someone, read the papers. Give yourself some time to come back to it with a clear mind that is not still involved in detail of your business.
If you find yourself reacting in anger, or dwelling on something you perceive as negative that has happened, you may be better off doing something other than business tasks for a while. Give yourself the gift of a half an hour to think about the problem that is haunting you, and come up with an appropriate action plan to deal directly with the issue. Then, when you have calmed down and are no longer responding to your emotions, you will find your mind is clear and able to focus on your tasks again.
Give yourself the gift of time to think when you need it, time to recover from the heat and passion of negative emotions, and time to clear your mind to be able to focus constructively on your business.
What do you do when you are criticised? What kind of practices do you put in place to help you respond more calmly and helpfully to the situation?
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photo credit: wolfsavard
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I thinkwith the Social Media outlets we now have to manage our brand. If you don’t like what someone says about you. Ask them why and what you can do to turn their “opinions” around.