Criticism is Necessary to be Great

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I'm your host, Thomas Anglero, and I'm going to release you from the bonds of something I've been reflecting on for a long time, and that is criticism. Criticism is a compliment. Criticism is something that all of us, when we get it, All of us don't like it. We don't— we react negative to it. We take it as something deep into our soul. We take it to bed. It's— does— it just wires us up. But what is criticism? What is criticism? When you get criticized, how do we— do you react? From this moment on, when you get criticized, I want you to take it as a compliment. Let me explain. You're being criticized, or you have been criticized, because you have stepped away from the norm. You probably said something, or did something, or went somewhere where other people haven't gone, haven't said, where the norm don't go or don't do. Is anything wrong with that? Isn't that just you wanting, expressing who you are, wanting you to be you? It's going to cost. Of course you're going to get criticized. No one wants to take risks. Most people, really, most people, whatever, 98%, whatever number you want to throw out there, it's a huge number. Look at your friends around you. Look at your family, your fam— yeah, look at your family members. How many of them step out from the norm? The norm of the day, 9 to 5 job, come home, kids, TV, Netflix, sleep, 9 to 5 job, TV, Netflix, sleep, maybe some gym. The cycle repeats over and over and over and over. That's just one scenario of many scenarios, but everything's one big long cycle. What happens when you step away from that? Of course you're gonna be criticized. You're at work and you say something different. You don't agree with the entire consensus of the group. Of course you're gonna be criticized. Criticism's okay. Criticism means that you're taking your moment to be you. Let's look at all the examples if you need examples. Today we have Elon Musk with Tesla. The man is criticized for every time he tweets. Jesus Christ. He sends out a 12-letter tweet and people criticize the hell out of him. The SEC wants to take his job away, put him in jail, fine him hundreds of millions of dollars. Criticism, criticism, everybody criticizes. Yet Elon Musk has changed the world. Elon Musk has changed not just the world, he's changed the way we've seen the world. We can actually have a better environmental world. Jesus, one man who took all this criticism and continues to take criticism for you and for me and for the planet is worth it. It's worth it. Of course there's a price to pay to be you. Of course there's a price to pay to be heard. It's called criticism. But that's you. You must take criticism. And you have to take that and say, take criti— every time you get criticism, you have to take it as if somebody is patting you on the back, rubbing your back. And saying, "Good job, good job. I know it's hard in that moment, but I'm trying to release that thing from you. From now on, whenever you get criticism, I want you to think about what I'm saying, about hear my voice, and it's me. Every time you get criticism, I want you to hear my voice saying, 'Good job, good job. I'm proud of you.'" Say that to yourself. I'm proud of myself. Yeah. Now there's one, there's one big caveat. Don't be mean when you criti— you know, when you, when you speak, speaking out, don't be harsh, don't hurt anybody. But then sometimes you have to, to call out something that's bad, to call out an injustice. But criticism is okay, it's good, it's, it's, it's, it's a reminder you're on the right path. But you're gonna have to be criticized. So let's flip it around completely. Instead of running from those moments of a life of criticism, why don't we run to damn criticism? Why don't we create more moments that we get more criticized? How about that? How about that? If you don't get enough criticism, have you been living? Ask yourself. Or are you playing it safe? Are you really happy that nobody criticizes you? I guarantee you're probably one of those people. I guarantee it. You don't want to be criticized. You don't want anybody to think negative of you. You don't want anybody to think that your clothes are bad, um, that you're poor, uh, that you're not educated, uh, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. Society has put all these damn labels. Who cares? Why do you care? You care because you're following everybody else? What about you being you? Huh? We're waiting for you. Who are you? Speak up your voice. Speak up your opinion. Walk your own way. Walk your own path. Wear the different clothes. Be who you are. But you're gonna get criticized, and that's not a bad thing. Do you know what it takes to change the world? It takes you just being you. That's it. That's it. Every great person in the past was just being themselves. That's all they were doing. And as they were along the way of being themselves and expressing that to others They took massive criticism. And then, in a moment, society and the world understood how great they were. Society and the world understand how great you are. And all that criticism is changed to praise. In a moment. Because we don't see your greatness. You see, when you express who you are, your different opinion, your different clothes. It takes us a long time to understand that, and so we're going to criticize. That's okay. You are amazing, but we don't know that. But it's going to take you to be you, and you're going to have to take a lot of criticism along the way, and that's okay. Criticism is is a reminder that you're on the right path. So I want you to start collecting criticisms. I never thought I would say that sentence, but it sounds beautiful to me. Collect criticism. Have I been criticized today? Have you? Have you been criticized today? And if not, have you been playing it safe? Have you? Did you play safe today or yesterday? Let's go back on yesterday. Did you play safe yesterday? Did you go to bed and go, nobody criticized me, yay? Bullshit. What a horrible way to go to bed. If you're unhappy and you're wondering why you're not loved or making enough money or all these other things, let me ask you Did you do anything today to stand out enough to be criticized? How's that as a flip, huh? And that's gonna drive a lot of people crazy. Good, I'm making you uncomfortable. Good, it's supposed to make you uncomfortable because it's supposed to make you uncomfortable. The emphasis on you. For you to be you, for you to be who you are, for me to recognize who you are, I have to see you. But if you're doing everything that everybody else is doing and you're falling into all that pressure, I don't know you. I don't see you. I don't recognize you. You're just a part of the mass. Is that who— that's, that's where you want to die? I played it safe. Yay, I'm dead. I never pissed anybody off. Yay, I'm dead. What the hell? Seriously, take this moment now. Commit to yourself. Of course it's gonna hurt. Of course it's going to be difficult. Of course this goes against everything you've been taught by your parents, probably by society, probably. But so the hell what? So what? Every great person took criticism. You want greatness? You want to be loved? You want to be recognized? You want money? You gotta take criticism. That's it. That's the path to greatness. The more criticism you get, the more you know you're on the path to greatness, the more you're on the path to where you are meant to be. If you're not being criticized, then you are not at all being who you're meant to be, period. Criticism is necessary unless you just want to be safe, and that's okay too, but then you have no right to criticize anybody else who's trying to be different. Touché. Haha. I will make a promise to you. I guarantee you this, to the day I die, if you ask my parents, because they know me since I've been born, they criticize the crap out of me. To the day I die, I guarantee you I will get criticism. I'm gonna collect them sons. Oh baby, you know how people collect trophies? I'm collecting criticism. Not to be negative, not to be disruptive, but you know what? I got to be hurt the same way you got to be hurt. This world is meant for all of us to be heard and to enlighten each other, to educate each other, to lift each other, to embrace and give each other a hug when we need it. But I'm not going to get it, you're not going to get a hug if we're all playing it damn safe. Think about it. Remember back in high school, somebody's crying. Did you go over to hug that person, or were you with your friends and you played it safe? Said, no, no, no, I can't, you know, my friends aren't going over there, so I can't do that. Are you that type of guy or girl that would go over there and give that person a hug? You are? Great! Then you're on the way. If you're not, get away from the damn masses! Be yourself! Step up! See, this is the whole thing. It costs to step up, because then you're going to be seen, you're going to be criticized. But that's okay! I'm fired up because, you know what, man? The more I talk about this criticism thing, the more I get it. The more you should get it too. Criticism is good. Thank you for criticizing me. I recently got criticized and I think I learned something, a lot. I think the person brought up something. I think they had a point. Now, when I— when you get criticized, the people may have a point. It's not that they're right or wrong, or it's not that they're wrong in this case. They may have a point. Thank you for the criticism. I've learned. And I matured because I took in that criticism, and now I'm a better person for that. But then I go on YouTube and I see other people putting comments in there, and I don't learn anything from that. That's just interesting. Thank you for spending your time criticizing. That is what you think when you get criticism. Thank you, thank you. Collect criticism. Do things to be criticized, not just for the sake of criticism, but is a criticism is a reminder that you just had a moment where people saw you, people heard you, people felt you. You made a difference. The Earth actually shook because of you. You can shake this planet. You shake this planet every single time you express who you are. Do you realize that? The other day I wrote a, um, I commented on an article on artificial intelligence, how negative it was. I forgot where it was. I commented on LinkedIn, Twitter, I don't know where, somewhere on social media. And I commented and I said, hey, let's look at the positive side to that. A few hours later, that comment was picked up by USA Today magazine and they published it in their magazine. Their online magazine, and that went viral. It was picked up by hundreds of thousands of people. And I realized in that one moment that by me expressing my one thought, by me saying, "This is what I think," 100,000 people got to hear my voice. Whether they agreed with it or not, who cares? My point is, is that I took action and I was willing to be criticized, and because of that, 100,000 people shook. All it took from me, took from me, was to write a few words about my opinion. I want to hear your opinion. All of society wants to hear your opinion. We want to see you. We want to feel you. Are you there? Do it. And collect criticisms. They're a blessing in disguise. This is Thomas Anglero, and I hope from this moment on I have completely changed how you see, how you react to the criticism you get in the future. And you're going to get them because now you're going to collect them. I release you from that societal crap that put us on, that somebody put inside of us, that criticism bad. Criticism is good. Collect criticism. By being you. I love you from the bottom of my heart. Go forth and spread beauty and light and realize that you're never alone when you get criticized. The next time you get criticized, and it's going to happen, it's probably going to happen sometime today, remember my voice and remember seeing me rubbing you your back. My hand is on your back, and if you need it, make believe I'm giving you a hug and going, "It's okay. It's a compliment. It just hurts in the moment and will lift you forevermore. It's okay. It's great to be you." Until next time.