Yesterday I wrote about giving feedback. Well, I can’t help but talk about the opposite side of it: receiving criticism.
I am stubborn, opinionated, and I often think I am right. Which inadvertently means everyone else is wrong, right? This makes it very hard for people who know me well to give me feedback I will listen to. Often, comments about what I do, and how I do it, are received with a cold shoulder. I need time to sulk for a bit, think about what the person had said. Eventually I see the truth in their comments and I understand that they only meant to help me.
At this point, I can only imagine my mother saying “Ah ouin?”* with a knowing smirk on her face and a lot of irony in her tone of voice. Well Mom, you would be happy to see that I’m learning a lot these days and I’m slowly getting better…or so I like to think.
Working online, and knowing very well that I am a newbie freelancer is helping me accept criticism better because people don’t see my immediate reaction. How is this possible for such a pig-headed person to accept criticism, you may wonder? Two important factors have come into play:
- Working online means there is no one in front of me when I get an email or a comment. I have the luxury of time to read, and re-read what the person said, think about it, and then use their criticism to my benefit for improvement.
- I’m still learning how to make a living from writing as a self-employed person which means trees in my neighbourhood aren’t growing money yet (it’s winter after all). Money, or a lack of, is a great motivator to get better and accept criticism, because I need to get clients to do work that gives me an income so that I can survive.
I would love to give tips on receiving feedback graciously, but because I think it’s still a work in progress for myself, here are a few tips from others who have mastered the art of accepting criticism:
- How to accept criticism with grace and appreciation from Zen Habits
- How to ask for feedback when you are a delicate flower from Copylicious
- What to expect from a critique from Becky Levine
* In English: Oh really?
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010, 7:50 am | 
Getting started, Perils of freelance, Theory of writing | 
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