Everyone is a critic. We have all heard this line. But it is true. I once sat at a local restaurant with a successful business associate. We were discussing how to overcome the fear of criticism. As the waitress walked to our table the associate whispered to me, “Pay close attention and watch this.” The waitress approached us and asked if we would like a cup of coffee. He asked her permission to allow him to put her on the spot. She paused and agreed. He took out a crisp twenty-dollar bill and held it up towards her. He asked her to tell us anything she could think of that would be critical about his character, anything. He said if she did so she could have the twenty-dollar bill. Pure and simple. She smiled hesitantly. Then she responded with resistance and told him that she couldn’t do that. She refused, even though she knew him well enough to be able to deliver a simple piece of criticism about him. She forfeited the twenty-dollar bill.
After she walked away to get us our coffee the business associate told me to glance back at our waitress chatting with a small group of her peers at the coffee station. She was telling them about what just happened at our table. It was obvious. She was not praising us. He said, “There you go, exactly predictable. She is now criticizing my twenty dollar bill offer with her friends…for free!” He continued, “Criticism has absolutely no value. You are witnessing this truth. It’s free. And when offered to give it out for pay, they get confused and immediately retract. I rest my case. Criticism has no worth. Zero. Stop placing so much value on it.”
We run and try to hide away from criticism as if it has the power to ruin our lives. It truly ruins relationships. No value, no real power, yet great destruction capabilities. Criticism is one very interesting component to life.
We run and try to hide away from criticism as if it has the power to ruin our lives. It truly ruins relationships. No value, no real power, yet great destruction capabilities. Criticism is one very interesting component to life.
Why do we place so much worth on criticism when it carries no value? Can you deposit it into your bank account and earn interest on it? It has no value.
Most people hold others to standards they themselves are unwilling to perform, yet criticize others for doing the same.
Shooting the lights out does not help them glow. Next time...take the twenty bucks!
Criticism is one of the six basic fears. It runs more dominate in our lives than the fear of death!
Criticism is one of the six basic fears. It runs more dominate in our lives than the fear of death!
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