If you need people to support your goals and ideas, you won’t reach many of them. This doesn’t mean encouragement is bad. Having people who do support you is great. However, needing those people to support you often guarantees failure. The first reason for this is that, unfortunately, people often aren’t supportive. If you rely […]
Criticism and Praise are the Same
If you do anything unique, people will attack you for it. Self-motivation depends on having a thick skin, persisting in spite of criticism. But equally important is the ability to not let praise consume you, either. Because, praise and criticism are just reflections of each other. In order to properly handle criticism, you also need […]
Honest Self-Evaluation
Few skills are more important to self-improvement than being able to take a step back and honestly evaluate yourself. Self-reflection allows you to expose problems early, before they become too painful to ignore. Unfortunately, honest self-evaluation is one of the hardest skills to master. People tend to be self-serving in their thoughts. For most people, […]
How to Develop a Thicker Skin
“I wrote for twelve years and collected 250 rejection slips before getting any fiction published, so I guess outside reinforcement isn’t all that important to me.“Â – Lisa Alther “Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.” – Jessamyn West “Oh, great reviews are the worst. They mislead you more than the bad […]