What do you do when a person who you KNOW is good at what they do and who you respect, start critic you?
Do you curl up in the couch and promise yourself you’ll never ever again expose yourself to that situation? Or?..
This happened to me recently. As a matter of fact it happened twice in a row within days. It felt like a good auld kick in the stomach alright, both times. Where my ego was screaming at me in the similarities of “told you so!!” and add to it “never ever again be so stupidly vulnerable!” It went on with in the shape of “you don’t belong here” and “what were you thinking?!”, you get the picture. Feels familiar? Gee, this ego in me is strong and can be hard to take. Though it used to be blaming others. It used to think there was something wrong with everyone else in the world. Remoulded that type of thinking long time ago.
Once the ego was done screaming, I started to look for the lesson. Yes, I had a lesson to learn. Though not easy, this time I decided to simply ignore ego and instead break through the fear. Want to know what I did? I got up and physically practiced the one thing I was criticed on. I did it over and over and over again until it actually came out really good. Lesson? Train. Always be training and doing.
So when it happened a couple days later again, I went to think about the lesson again. Ego was still there, still with the same messages. Yet this time the screaming wasn’t as loud and the focus on learning the lesson was stronger. You see how training changes things fairly quickly?
Training is all great and good, but what you really want to do in those situations is ownership. Shift your view of yourself. Own your actions. Own the game your playing. Become the leader you need to be to get to where you want to go.
It’s easy to say (well, type) yet oh so hard to do, I know. Though once you’ve broken through those barriers, once you overcome an obstacle, it gets easier the next time. You see, how you handle critic tells a lot about you as a person.
My message to you? I know it’s auld as the world, but I’ll say it again:
Keep doing! Keep practicing. Keep training. Be a true leader.
As many gurus you may follow (and I recommend you follow at a minimum two), ultimately there is only one guru who’s true to you specifically. You guessed it — you are your own only true guru.