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Category: Failing Forward

Criticism Surgery

Published on February 21, 2022

Want to learn how to become shielded from the unsolicited, hateful, derogatory critiques of others? Stamp this onto your brain:

Don’t accept criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice.

  • Someone called you dumb? Would you ever ask this person for their honest opinion on your character? No? Then why listen to them when you didn’t ask?
  • Someone hated on your creation? Is this the type of person who actually understands this type of creation and can genuinely comment? No? Then why take their comment to heart?
  • Someone said something rude or hurtful? If I told you to list your top 5 favorite people to get advice from, would this person be on that list? No? Then why let them on that list now?

And if the answer is ever, “Yes”—you would go to this person for advice—then it’s important to reflect on the following:

(1) Is this the best person for you to be going to for advice? People who give advice in hateful, derogatory, negative ways may cause more harm to our path forward than benefit.

(2) If the answer is still yes, then, assuming there is anything constructive in their feedback, we must train our minds to surgically remove the gems from the emotional weight that burdens and collapses in on what’s said.

Because here’s the bottom line: feedback won’t always come in a pretty package.

And if we can learn how to accept what’s useful, how to disregard what (and who) is not, and how to keep ourselves in mentally healthy places so we can conduct criticism surgery with precision and poise at even a moment’s notice—our growth will become inevitable.

Fired Up

Published on December 19, 2021 
Sometimes,
experiencing the emotions
that come from messing up

lights a fire

that accelerates improvement
faster than contentment
ever could.

The *Real* Key

Published on December 10, 2021

Sometimes, standing between you and your next level of growth is a locked door.

And quickly trying to kick it down doesn’t work (like it might for some other doors).

No. This door, needs the right key.

But, which one is it?

We’re told all of the time that:

  • Consistency is key.
  • Humility is key.
  • Gratitude is key.
  • Self-awareness is key.
  • Patience is key.

How to know which one is the real key?

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Try each.

Here’s the thing: all of these keys are easily accessible and free for you to use. Heck, you can even add each of them to your key ring and use them daily if you’re up to it.

The real key is to stop trying to rashly kick down doors and to use what’s right in your hands.

Dodging Raindrops

Published on August 17, 2021

The person who tries to dodge every raindrop gets hit just as many times as the person who walks calmly forward.

And so it is for the person who tries to dodge every mistake, error, issue, problem, challenge, obstacle, fault, slip-up, oversight, flaw, imperfection, adversity, responsibility…

The way I see it, the rain is inevitably going to come down over each of us. We can try to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge every drop to avoid getting wet—which will only end in vain.

Or we can feel the rain and walk calmly forward.