Q&A: How do I handle criticism?

Every month, I publish an answer to a reader’s question. Here’s a transcript of my answer to the reader’s question about how I handle criticism.

Hey Lisanne, how do you handle criticism? How do you feel when others are critical about what your work?

Thank you for your question. It somewhat depends on who is giving the feedback and whether I’ve asked for it. I can appreciate criticism, for example, if it’s meant to help me improve or see things from a different perspective. Ultimately, criticism, just like creativity, is shaped by how someone views the world—nothing more, nothing less. That means others might see specific things I don’t, and vice versa.

Most of the time, there’s something valuable to be learned from others’ feedback, but you have to decide for yourself if you agree with someone’s perspective. In the end, I’m mostly competing with myself, not others, and my focus is on bringing my own essence out. This means making my work a little better each time, pushing it to the next level.

That’s why the filter needs to be in your own ear. This way, you can decide when to listen, to whom, for how long, and whether the parts help you grow. But when the criticism isn’t constructive, or when I didn’t ask for it, it can definitely feel a bit discouraging, especially if I’ve already thought a lot about it and put effort into it.

I think it’s about finding a balance between a sense of pride in what I’ve created, and the desire to grow and refine my work. It’s a learning process, but ultimately I try to recognize the constructive parts and take them to heart and use them as fuel to do even better next time.

Ultimately, what matters is whether I love what I’m doing. That’s my ultimate focus. I think the goal of creating things for me is to see how far I can take it. As long as I’m passionate about what I’m doing and feel like I’m still growing in some way, I’ll continue my journey.

How about you? How do you usually feel when you get critical feedback? Let me know in the comments.

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