Latest / The Daily Writer / Audio Journal: Don't Take Criticism Personally

Transcript

Audio Journal: Don't Take Criticism Personally · The Daily Writer

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want to take a moment to talk about something that we all deal with as writers sometimes, and that is the temptation to take feedback or criticism personally.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, uh, as you probably know, I'm a ghostwriter in my business, and um I'm currently writing a book for actually a couple of clients.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: These are co-authors, and I'm writing a book for them.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh the book I'm working on as a follow-up to a previous book that they had out.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I sent drafts of the first couple chapters to these clients uh two or three days ago, and this morning I got some feedback from them, and generally they really liked what I was doing.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they appreciated it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's going definitely moving the right direction.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: But they had two or three suggestions that I need to um incorporate into the book, and as I think back to what I created, they were absolutely right.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um one thing that we deal with as writers, though, sometimes is whenever we get feedback, it's very easy to take it personally.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is what separates amateur writers from professionals.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Amateurs will oftentimes get defensive, they will immediately snap back, uh, they will take things personally, as if that criticism or that feedback somehow reflects on their value or worth as a person.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But professionals approach feedback and criticism differently.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: We we understand that our work is a separate thing apart from us as individuals.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: We understand that our that our writing, our creative work is something that exists apart from us.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: It has value, but it's something that is wholly different than what we are as people.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a really helpful perspective because whenever you create something and you put it out into the world, it's probably gonna get critiqued, it's gonna get criticized.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're going to get feedback on it from different people, whether that's a podcast or whether it's blog posts or your own books or your own content, newsletters, social media, or whether you're doing work for a client.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: That client is probably gonna have feedback.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And as I told these clients, I've I've emphasized this to them multiple times, um, and I told them I would keep saying this is what I keep saying is I'm here to serve your vision for this project.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: That means that I get my ego out of the way.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here to help you create your vision for this book, and I'm here to serve you.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not just true of client work, that's also true of any work that we create, I think.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: We are here to serve other people.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're here to serve our readers, I'm here to serve you as my podcast listener.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we are creating because we are serving other people.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if we keep that perspective of serving others, that means that any constructive criticism or any feedback that makes the work better, any feedback that improves it or takes it to a higher level, is good.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to encourage you as you get feedback on your own work, and you know, sometimes you'll look on Amazon and you'll see a negative review, um, you know, that kind of stuff happens.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um just really take it in stride and and don't take things personally.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's sometimes it's so hard not to take things personally, but I think we have to approach our work as professionals and realize that our work exists as something outside of us.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when someone criticizes our work, um that's okay because maybe they're right.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe their criticism is correct.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they've identified something in our work that we can use to make it better.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, we should be thankful for that, even if sometimes the criticism or the feedback comes in a way that we don't like.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm so thankful for these clients that I got feedback from.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: They're uh super, super wonderful people, and I'm so grateful to be working with them.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thankful that they are helping me to make this book uh better than I can make it on my own.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that all of us approach our feedback and constructive criticism that way.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And even when criticism is delivered in a in a way that's maybe not so friendly, oftentimes there is a little bit of a kernel of truth in there that can that we can use to make the work better.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So just wanted to share that with you today.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is something I'm looking at as I look at these emails from the clients that is definitely making the work better.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's not take it personally and let's use it to uh take us to even better heights as we create and as we serve.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: See you in the next episode.