5 Strategies to Handle Criticism | Robin Sharma

Hi, it's Robin Sharma. I'm here in my hotel room in Barcelona as part of this European tour. Already been in Sweden and Lithuania, Sofia, Bulgaria and Moscow. And after Barcelona, we end the tour off in Africa, in Tanzania. I wanted to share this V log with you because a lot of people, as you play at your best game, as you move to higher and higher levels not only of personal mastery, but leadership in your work, you're going to face more and more criticism. So I've come up with five of the strategies I've realized the best in business and the best in life use to handle criticism as they move to their nle their next levels of excellence. Let's get right into it. Number one, just remember that every moment that you spend focusing on criticism and people trying to bring you down is a moment taken away from you. Playing at your best, creating value for your stakeholders and living the life that you want to live. So just remember that, that when you give your energy and your attention to criticism, you're actually taking it off. What would be most important? I remember reading a story in a business magazine about one of our clients, 1, 800, got junk. And Brian Scudamore had started this company, and it's a very, very successful company. And all of a sudden, one of his former employees, I believe, started a competing business. And he started spending time worrying about this competition. He realized it took his focus, his creativity, his energy away from his mission and what he wanted this business and organization to be all about. And the moment he got that awareness, he shifted into just sticking to his knitting and staying what was most important. So, number one, every moment you spend focusing on criticism, you're taking away from building your dreams and following your mission. Number two, critics only criticize people who are playing at excellence. They don't go for mediocre people. So almost see criticism as a compliment. I mean, in some cultures, they call it the tall poppy syndrome, that when the poppy goes above the other poppies, some people start to chop it down so that you're the same size as everyone else. Just remember that when you're criticized, it's a reflection that you're actually playing in excellence. It's almost a compliment. Don't worry about it, kmf. Keep moving forward. Number three, when someone criticizes you, reframe that negative situation as an opportunity and ask yourself, what can I learn from this criticism? Is there any valid information that I could use to play even better, to be even better, to think even better? So use criticism for your advantage. In other words, leverage it as an opportunity to be even better than you were, to perform even better than you were before someone criticized you. Number four, Critics criticize out of fear. So when someone criticizes, that's actually a clear indication that they've been threatened. Because the very nature of leadership means you're going to go beyond the safe harbor of the known. You're going to leave the status quo or what is, and you're going to push into the blue ocean of possibility. So as you start to change, as you start to move things forward, as you start to come up with more innovation at work, and you're more enthusiastic and you work more effectively, you work harder and smarter, you're going to threaten the people around you who don't like change. And most human beings don't like change. And rather than taking personal responsibility for changing, it's much easier for the people around you to criticize. So just remember that when someone criticizes, rather than celebrates your high performance and your vision and your positive energy, instead they criticize you. It's because they're in an emotion called fear. They've been threatened. And then finally, just remember the very nature of leadership. And you are a leader without a title. In this world of ours, not only in business, but in society needs more heroes and leaders. The very nature of leadership means you will be criticized. Because as you step into a higher vision, people will not understand you. Because you're seeing possibility. You're seeing something that people around you don't see. That's what being a visionary is all about. And what happens is it's the very nature of leadership to attract criticism. If you listen to your critics, you'll never do anything great in your life. Close your ears to the critics, focus on your vision, play with possibility and, and keep moving forward.