Embracing Criticism

 We all know that criticism has two sides to it. On the one side, you have positive feedback on your work; what people like about it, how your work inspires them. Then on the other side, you have constructive criticism; what your work is missing, any flaws or aspects you may have missed.  This is the part most of us struggle to embrace. The truth is….brace yourself!! Both sides are necessary if you want to develop in your area of expertise. Unfortunately for some people, they'd rather not hear anything bad about their work.  They just want to hear the positive. But when we hear only positive feedback we begin to believe that everything we do is perfect and we are not able to recognize, own and learn from our mistakes. Let's say all you ever allowed yourself to hear is, "Wow, that is amazing.  You are so talented."  You would certainly be on Cloud Nine, that's for sure. The problem is we could get stuck staying there forever never making any changes and therefore never making any progress. So allowing ourselves to take both the positive feedback with the constructive criticism really gives us the opportunity to, not only develop in our field of expertise, but it also allows us to develop as individuals.If you believe in your work and what you do, if you are passionate about it, then what constructive criticism does is open up your mind to the bigger picture and the bigger impact you can have with your work. There are billions of people in this world all with unique experiences and opinions that can add so much dimension to the work that you produce.  But you have to be open to it. Step out of your bubble and open your mind to endless feedback.  If you could hear the opinions of everyone in the world, just think how much content you'd have to feed off of for your work!