Richie Norton

Are critics stealing your lunch? Picture source: NORTH NEWS .

Had a great chat with a friend today who described how she is paralyzed by the fear of critics. I understand how she feels and I think many of us share this same fear. Sad to think how much creativity and life are lost on fear of what someone might say. I often have an inner battle with myself when my work is criticized. Sometimes it’s healthy. Sometimes it’s not.

Here’s what I have to say about critics:

The best advice is to ignore them.

My fear in ignoring critics, however, is that I can’t use the feedback for improvement–if I’m not listening, how can I improve? This thinking is flawed. The definition of a critic is “a person who expresses an unfavorable opinion of something.” A critic isn’t out to help me, he’s out to hear himself talk. Scary.

The second best advice (if you can’t ignore the critics) is to realize two things:

1. They don’t get it. They don’t have the background and experience and understanding to get it.
2. They are not your market. It’s ok. It’s better to be noticed (and criticized) than to be obscure.

I like what the rappers Kris Kross once said, “when ya diss it just let’s me know I’m on your mind and it’s alright.”

It’s not the critic who counts.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Read this post by Seth Godin.

Here’s the link. Here’s an excerpt: “No one has ever built a statue to a critic, it’s true. On the other hand, it’s only the people with statues that get pooped on by birds flying by.”