#19 - Dealing With Criticism

Change is inevitable, but how you respond to it determines whether you grow or get left behind.

In this episode, we explore practical ways to embrace uncertainty, stay adaptable, and lead confidently through change.

Transcript

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The bigger your problems become, the more criticism you will receive from people. Early on, when you get into a leadership role, you will go down a path of trying to keep everybody happy. And what that does is hold actually hold you back more than you think because ultimately people are going to judge you no matter what you do. So if you don't make a decision, people will judge you. If you do make a decision, people are going to judge you. So you've got to work out which avenue you want to take, what's going to be the best for your career, and what's going to be the best for you in that particular moment. I know the answer. The answer is push on with what you want to do because ultimately criticism is always going to come your way no matter what you do. There's always people that are going to find the time out of their day to try and degrade you, pull you down, and make you feel like you're not doing the right thing, even though it's got nothing to do with them. You'll have people that you've never even met. Screenshot your stuff, they'll send it around everywhere, they'll try and drag you down, and ultimately it is a reflection on them more so. And it's important not to get too caught up in it. I know easier said than done. I've done that in the past. I've definitely been in a position where I get caught up in it. But ultimately, it shouldn't deter you or shouldn't steer you off your track. Because long term, your goal is to do what's right for yourself and your family. So the people that are giving you shit, the people that are giving you criticism, let them do it. But as long as you stay on your track and stay doing what you know is right for you. For some reason, people become uncomfortable when they see other people doing well. Generally, it's a reflection on their own life's decisions and their own career decisions. Whether they have no drive, whether they don't know what they want to do, whether they're lost. For some reason, people find it weird when other people are doing things that are good and they can't just support that. And unfortunately, that's just the way it is. I think it's probably worse than Australia, but it seems to be a problem everywhere, really. It's important too that all criticism doesn't have to be bad or taken personally. It's actually constructive criticism is actually a really good thing as well. So depends what you're referring it to, whether it's in leadership or personal life. Either way, you've got to learn how to block certain criticism out, and you've got to learn what's going to be beneficial for you and what's not going to be beneficial for you. What's going to be noise and what's not going to be noise? What's going to be constructive feedback and what isn't? So it's important to understand that criticism actually can help you as well. And it's how you take on that feedback, how you take on that criticism and use it as fuel. Or it may be you're doing something wrong, and that's okay. But as long as you fix it and as long as you want to learn to fix it, that's the main thing. And a really good point, too, is if no one ever criticizes you, you're probably not making enough noise. So the more people that are criticizing you, the more people are talking about your stuff or what you're doing, whether it's making big changes in your industry, doing really well successfully, personally, whatever the case is, if nobody's talking about you, generally you're probably not making enough noise. You're not doing enough. For me personally, I get a kick out of it because it means I'm doing something that's creating attention, creating noise, and I'm actually progressing. I personally noticed it when I first started doing my Instagram stuff and going online like I am doing. I know there is still to this day that people are still trying to degrade me and bring me down, everything like that, but true strength and true power comes from continuing and not stopping. I will never stop what I would think is good for me. And there will come a time where you meet people face to face, the ones that have criticized you, and if you don't react, you just hold your own, and you'll have a you'll have a situation where you'll be able to hold all the cards. And ultimately, too, that trusting in the universe as well, because everybody has their day. Everybody that goes out of their way to be nasty, everybody that goes out of their way to degrade people, bring people down, not support people will always get their day in terms of karma. Karma will get them. And it's not your job, it's out of your control. What people think, what people feel is out of your control. What you can control is how are you going to keep progressing your career and how you're going to keep progressing your mindset. How are you going to keep progressing what's good for your family, your partner, your relationships? That's what you should be worrying about. Listen to your people. If you're surrounding yourself with people that are criticizing you and not supporting you, then it's time to make some new friends. Simple as that. You've got to find your circle, and whether that predominantly is yourself, I spend a lot of time on my own as well. But I also have a really good support network and a good group of friends that have all been very supportive with everything that I've wanted to do. So it's really important to find your balance in supporting yourself and getting the support from other people as well. But ultimately, the key takeaway from all of this is no matter what you do, you will get criticism. So it's up to you how you deal with it. And the sooner that you just get on with it and get over it and move on and don't listen to them, the better off that you will be. And the more successful that you become, the more criticism is going to come your way anyway. So it's a never-ending cycle. So really important too, if you feel that's the right thing to do, whether it's in leadership, especially in leadership, sometimes you've got to make the hard decisions and they're not popular. But ultimately it's for the right reasons, right? And you've got good intention at the forefront of your decision making. That's the main thing. As long as you can justify it and answer to why you've done that with a positive result or a positive plan, that's the main thing as well. So out of everything I've just said, don't let criticism stop you from moving forward. It's either constructive or you can't control it, or you take it on board and you keep going forward, but don't ever stop.