Mastering Criticism: 3 Strategies to Handle Idea Challenges Like a Pro!

Being 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 SUCKS. 🙊 🙁

Never quite sure how to respond when someone tears your idea apart?

Here are 3 ways to deal.

𝟭. 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 🤓 This is a no-brainer If someone is taking the time to give you feedback The most GRACIOUS thing that you can do Is thank them first 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴!

𝟮. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 👊 Your idea might be 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 The person who’s critiquing might be 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 But It’s still worth it diving deeper FIRST before defending your idea So instead of: “𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦!” Try saying: “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 – 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦?”

𝟯. 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁? 🙃 You’d be surprised But In a LOT of cases, you may not even need to defend your idea Do a mental check:

✅ Do I 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 to change this person’s mind?

✅ If I defend my idea, will I 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 anything professionally or personally?

✅ Is the critique 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱?

If you answered YES to the first two and NO to the second.

By all means:

Defend your idea.

Explain it in simpler terms than before.

Give more examples BUT If the critique is valid or if convincing the other person is just not worth your time consider closing the argument and moving on.

Did I miss anything? Tell me how YOU deal with criticism in the comments below 👇 👇