Self-criticism Again
When I wrote recently about self-criticism, I wrote of the need to be balanced, because self-criticism can be the most scathing. Soon after I wrote I found an article about how to deal with self-criticism in golf and I decided to share the thoughts from that article.
The article speaks of both the danger of self-criticism and the flaws in blaming others for problems. It notes that the critic within is always with us and we must learn to deal with it. It offers a simple solution: Whenever we feel like self-criticism, turn the criticism to the situation. Instead of saying "I" am no good, say "that" was no good. It also wisely notes that blaming others is usually unfair and unproductive: Blaming others implicitly excuses us from improving our own performance.
It's true that self-criticism can be self-defeating, can turn our focus to failure instead of improvement, can be over-harsh when we may need encouragement. We still need to look at ourselves and see where we should be improving. I like the idea of blaming the situation but it doesn't eliminate the need to look to ourselves and fix the things that need fixing.
Let's continue to seek self-improvement without treating ourselves too harshly. Blame the situation where that helps but recognize that we have defects that need improvement and work to eliminate them.
10-29-07
Coming next: Another hero