Take both praise and criticism evenly

It’s great to get praise, but I seldom get overly excited about it and jump up and down shouting enthusiastically.When you receive the opposite – negative criticism – you can often observe it calmly without too much wild, negative emotions blocking the way. And you can often appreciate that piece of criticism too (if there is something to learn from it). 

Basically this mindset is about not caring too much about what other people think. If you do then you easily become pretty needy and let others control how you feel. Both how good and bad you feel. 

So you move from depending on external validation to depending more on internal validation. You validate yourself more and more and then you need less of outside validation. Don’t take this too far though. Don’t become that arrogant person who never listens to criticism no matter how valid it might be.

If there is nothing to be learned from some piece of criticism you received or it’s just nonsense ravings and insults then with this mindset you just go: “Ok”. You don’t care that much and you quickly forget about it. Instead of spending the rest of the day being angry, sad and riled up.

Shifting into this mindset isn’t always easy. You can slip quite a bit. But if you learn more about your mind – especially about your ego  – this understanding gives you more control over your reactions and knee-jerk responses.