Constructive Criticism – 10 Tips How To Take Criticism Better

How can you improve your own critical faculties? If you are looking for an answer to this question, you have come to the right place! Being able to take criticism means accepting objectively formulated and justified criticism in order to develop yourself further. I used to see that a little differently - and hated feedback. Today I love factual and constructive criticism in all colors and forms - even if it was a rocky road until then!

In this article, I would like to give you some valuable tips on how to deal better with criticism. Because a well-developed, good critical faculties is probably one of the most important social skills and positive character traitsin order to develop personally in the long term. Let's go!

Here you can find a short overview of the article in advance:

1. Listen attentively
2. Take distance and nothing personal
3. Pay attention to body language
4. Deal with what has been said
5. Compare self-perception and perception by others
6. Refrain from justifications
7. Place inquiries
8. Postpone the discussion in case of too much emotionality
9. Always be open and grateful for criticism
10. Grow from feedback

1. listen carefully

A lack of critical faculties can usually be recognized by the fact that your counterpart does not let you finish or does not even listen to you properly and instead is already waiting to be able to defend himself directly.

But listening is really essential to learning how to handle criticism! This is the only way to find out what your critics have to complain about. Therefore, let him or her finish and then react to the individual points that were raised. You can calmly refute some of them logically and use justified aspects for yourself.

Tip: Listening attentively, by the way, is also an important means to Convince people. In the linked article you can also learn many tips for better argumentation.

2. Take distance and nothing personal

We humans love to be liked by others. A critic or a critic on the other hand, recognizes quite obvious errors and weaknesses, which is why feedback often inevitably elicits a defensive, justifying, or even attacking response from us.

So if you want to improve your critical faculties, you should internalize that critical feedback is rarely really directed against you personally. Rather, it is about situations, facts, or decisions. So consider it by default as Chance of improvement and not as an attack on your person.

3. pay attention to the body language

And on your own, but also on that of your counterpart. When we have a person in front of us who crosses his arms in front of his chest, makes snide gestures, and then puts on a look of disbelief, it tends to show defensiveness and poor handling of criticism.

Are the Arms and hands rather open in front of the body and understanding gestures like nodding, this tends to indicate that your counterpart can accept criticism and understands you. Either way, body language helps you better understand your counterpart's intentions.

4. Deal with what has been said

There's a reason you're being criticized - and it is an exciting chance to find out! However, anyone who doesn't even respond to the critic's spoken words, but directly voices inappropriate counter-criticism, reveals poor critical faculties and plenty of potential for improvement.

"To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it."

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (more under Criticism quotes)

Instead of getting angry about it, you should be use justified and constructive criticism for your personal development. And if the criticism is unjustified? Then it is advisable to explain your criticized action and present the advantages in order to bring about a solution and agreement.

5. Compare self-perception and perception by others

If someone criticizes you for something, it can of course be a single opinion that hardly anyone would share in that way. But for many people, self-perception (how do i see myself?) depends very much on the external perception (how do others see me?), so that the greater this difference, the more frequently critical disputes and differences of opinion arise.

In order to be able to improve your critical faculties, you should therefore always check your self-perception and the perception expressed by others. soberly, openly and honestly match each other. Is the criticism justified? Then learn from it. And if it is unjustified, you again justify your actions logically so that a conflict resolution can be brought about.

Tip: Seeing criticism as something great has really been extremely good for my personal development, in my opinion. In a separate post, I'll also introduce you to some more Books that have changed my life for the better. Feel free to take a look!

6. Refrain from justifications

When criticism comes our way, spontaneous justifications are a typical reaction. Many strike with empty phrases or Whataboutism around and also simply blame others - whether other people or circumstances. But to seriously evaluate what has been said and to be able to respond appropriately, our brain simply needs some time to rest.

Therefore, you should let the criticism sink in first, instead of directly counterattacking with justifications. Take a breath and then respond with some distance. If the criticism is justified, then accept it and learn from it for the future. And if it is not, then you justify your actions soberly and logically, as always. Basically, however, you should be open to any words of your critics and also be ready to change (positively) at any time.

7. post inquiries

Anyone who does not even listen to the content of the critic obviously has no interest in learning from the criticism. This is a clear sign of non-existent or poor critical faculties. If you want to improve it, you should instead listen and, above all, ask questions, if you feel that what has been said has not yet become completely clear or you need more information for your answer.

On the one hand, this shows your counterpart that you have interested in her or his Opinion and also provides you with valuable information for your response and learning from the criticism. By asking questions about the content Understanding and interest is a clear sign of really good critical faculties and creates opportunities for one's own personal development.

Tip: If you yourself are the critic, you should also praise your counterpart. Because praise gives criticism more weight and increases the likelihood that it will get through and make a difference.

8. Postpone the discussion in case of too much emotionality

If one of the two people discussing the issue is not capable of criticism, a disagreement can quickly degenerate into an emotional argument. If it gets louder or even comes to fisticuffs, this is more a sign of poor critical faculties and low potential for timely agreement.

In such cases, try to take a breath, remove the emotions from the conversation and return to the core of the criticism. If this does not work, it makes sense to postpone the conversation until the next day. With a little distance you can then try to keep it sober, factual and purposeful.

9. Always be open and grateful for criticism

Many find criticism fundamentally annoying, annoying and nasty. But actually it always represents a Opportunity for positive change in one's own personality as long as it is constructive. Always be aware that your counterpart also knows that criticism is unpleasant for most people - and usually only wants to help you with the feedback.

"He who flatters me is my enemy, he who rebukes me is my teacher."

Chinese proverb

Accepting objective criticism and learning from it is therefore much easier if you see it for what it is: a Suggestion for improvement that shows that you are important to your counterpart. With this attitude, you will improve your critical faculties.

10. Grow from feedback

Criticism points us to potential for improvement and thus to challenges. Some of us may shy away from challenges - yet they are actually the most exciting thing in our lives and our personal development. By improving your critical faculties, you can ultimately only improve yourself..

The Will to grow from critical words You should show your counterpart quite openly that you don't want to do this. This makes it clear that you accept their opinion, are adaptable and can handle feedback very well.

Improve critical faculties with really simple means!

Objective criticism is something great! How you deal with it shows me as your counterpart whether you strive for improvement or whether you shy away from conflict and rather see the faults with others.

A lack of critical faculties will close many doors in your life - Constant openness, honesty and the courage to change one's own opinion, on the other hand, are valuable keys to these doors. So use critical feedback for your development instead of getting angry about it and mistakenly seeing it as an attack on your person!

How do you rate your personal critical faculties? Do you often feel triggered by other opinions and then react angrily or unobjectively? Then I would definitely like to give you the Book "From today no one offends me anymore" by Doris Wolf* to the heart. It will teach you strategies to never again take rejection and criticism personally.

I hope my tips from this post can help you improve your critical thinking skills. Do you have any questions, suggestions, or your own experiences with handling criticism that you'd like to share? Then just write me a comment.

Keep an open mind,

PS: You want to know, why we humans find change so difficult? You can find out now in the linked article.