Taking it personally
#009: Bad behaviour doesn’t mean you’re a bad person
This is a mistake I’ve been forewarned about by my online gurus. However, it’s something I struggle with a lot anyway.
I have some self-confidence issues when it comes to web design: On some level, I know I’m amazingly creative and do good design, but I still find it difficult to really believe that. I especially find it difficult to believe other people will agree that I’m a creative & professional web designer.
When the meeting I was dreading with a professional I respect came up, I panicked. When my design was the subject of mild criticim and throughout the meeting I repeated the mantra, ‘don’t take it personally’; but found it too difficult to follow my own advice.
Consequently, I’ve gathered together some excellent resources about this, in the hopes that their advice may help you and me better than my own efforts have.
It’s really important for me to learn from this mistake, because it’s my fear of rejection that holds me back from being more ambitious and therefore from achieving more of my dreams. When I truly believe that critics are only ever rejecting my work and not me, that’s when I’ll be able to act to realise my potential.
Learning from my mistakes
These articles each offer insights on why we take things personally, why we shouldn’t and how to stop.
- Mike Leibling: Strategies & metaphors to avoid taking it personally
- Stephen Seay: Sometimes by changing yourself you change everything
- Jean Charles: Criticism reflects more on the critic, than on you
- Ranjini Manian: Accept criticism as inevitable & treat it as a step forward
- Eva Gregory: Some benefits of not taking it personally
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Having read the sample chapter of Don’t Take It Personally! The Art of Dealing with Rejection, I’ve ordered the book. Seems like it’ll be really helpful in rationalising why I feel & react the way I do and how to stop. I’ll be writing a review of it in future. Have you read it? If so, what did you think? At 43things you can list a maximum of 43 aims you’d like to achieve: |
