Why constructive criticism is important?

Have you ever wanted to give constructive criticism on something, but held back from doing so because you did not know how to convey your ideas across? Let’s face it, it can be hard to give or receive criticism no matter how it is delivered. But getting comfortable with offering and receiving practical, constructive criticism is helpful to deliver better results, find motivation, and strengthen relationships.

In this episode, I will discuss the following:

• What is constructive criticism and its importance.
• Practical strategies to give and receive it well, and what to avoid.
• Benefit of accepting constructive criticism.

Hello and welcome to the not so Travelling Introvert. Today, I want to talk about why introspection, retrospection, and criticism can be the key to success. Constructive criticism -- That's feedback that you get from others, intending to help build you up and provide you with more information and data or tools to help you improve in some way. It's not meant to harm you, it's not meant to be personal, it's not meant to feel like an attack.

And, a lot of people aren't very good at giving constructive criticism, but also in general, accepting criticism. Proper criticism can open-up doors and opportunities that you might not have been aware of before, leading you to more success and happiness closer towards your goals as long as it is provided respectfully. And I want to talk about reasons why accepting constructive criticism can lead to more success. It tends to improve your awareness and your focus. When others provide criticism, it unlocks key bits of information that you might have otherwise overlooked and over time, in doing retrospectives and reviewing, it can help you notice patterns and vital details on your own, and therefore improving your skills and understanding of what to do next time to be more successful, the more information and data you have that you actually review and take action on, the more that you can improve.

And by improvement, I mean it inspires personal growth. When you know that others will provide a valuable feedback, it motivates you to do better before the information is even given. In addition, consistent feedback improves your awareness, which fuels your determination to keep improving and growing. And, this is why, lots of companies should have regular reviews, not just once a year. If you want to provide someone with valuable feedback, the more often you do it and the more constructive you do it, the more the better you're going to get out of that human.

Because at the end of the day, it's helping somebody understand themselves. So, when you're thinking about constructive criticism and accepting it, this helps you increase your understanding of yourself.  Within constructive criticism, of course, there are likely to be variables that detail who you are as a person as opposed to something else. For example, your boss may have noticed how you deal with completing an important assignment, which it may not ultimately affect the results, but they want to provide you with the tools to help you get the results, maybe more efficiently in the future.

In addition, your actions can easily affect other areas of your life and also work assignments, so the feedback gives you richer knowledge of who you are, what you've done well, and what you need to improve. And this, will inspire you to take action. Without action, there is no success. You need to take consistent steps in order to get where you want to go and achieve your goals. No one else can provide this. No one else can do this. Only you can do it yourself.

And taking action is normally the most difficult step in process to overcome. However, receiving constructive criticism can be a great reminder of just how important the right steps are and data is and can provide you with the inspiration you need to keep going and will make better decisions. And with that, it inspires you to take action based on data.

So many times, people are like, well, X, Y, and Z and it's answered by how do you know this? Where is the data? A thought is not a fact. Do you know that you work harder than somebody else? Do you know other people have more experience than you? In what way and does that matter?

Another thing that accepting criticism means is that you get it. You look at it, you digest it and you go ahead and make tiny improvements on the data that you are given and then learn measure and repeat. You learn from it. There's a measurement taken data given back and then you adjust and then you repeat criticism is not harmful nor should it be avoided. In fact, you should seek it out from those you admire the most and those who know you best and have your best interests at heart. The more knowledgeable and more perspective that you gain upon yourself, the better you will become.

Thank you for listening. This is janice@thecareerintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.