10 Tools for Dealing with Criticism and Rejection

Ouch! Whether it's feedback we've asked for, an unsolicited remark called out from the audience or a simple "no" result of an audition or submission process, criticism and rejection are a huge part of our lives as creative artists.

Sometimes we're so fearful of being criticized or rejected that we keep our creativity bottled up and don't let it out.

Other times we constantly adapt what we create, focusing only on the "market" and what they seem to be liking or disliking this week. Then we end up feeling like we're not truly expressing our creative impulses.

10 Tools for Dealing with Criticism and Rejection


1. Be Open.You could be looking for a particular reaction or reaction to your work, or a particular result of an audition, studio submission, performance or contest entry. If you have done your best and you are denied or criticised, you might believe that you have "failed", and it is doubtless tough to see anything positive about the situation. Attempt to be open to the chance this "failure" is essentially leading you to something else, generally better than what you presumed you wanted. As I read once in Cheryl Richardson's newsletter, "Any rejection is God's protection".

2. Be Consistent. Keep going, doing the small things each day that keep you creative and that keep you attached to other artists and to your clients. The dramatic moments and giant wins and losses will are transitory. Have a steady routine you can keep returning to, and this may help to set any criticism or refusal into proportion. Today is a new day, another day you can be an artist.

3. Be Targeted . Keep your end goal to mind, and always be aware of why you are doing what you are doing. Which will help you target the enormous picture and not get tripped up by each bump in the road along the way.

4. Be Resilient. Remember that your sense of self-worth comes from within of you. When you are able to be assured in yourself without reference to the feedback you get from external sources, you're in a position to rebound back much simpler from any negative feedback that you may get.

5. Be Positive. Target your attention on the positive and you may attract more of it. This is the basis of the "law of attraction", and I have actually seen it work in my life. Hear the positive feedback you receive and replay it over in your mind whenever you must.

6. Be Clear. Approach helpful feedback with a correct point of view, not muddled with thoughts from your own inner critic. Take it as a useful tool for your own expansion and remember that eventually the sole opinion that matters is your own - because you want to be cheerful with what you are manufacturing.

7. Be Thankful . Be gracious to your critics, accept all the feedback you receive, sit silently and let it sink in. Be thankful to be actively making - to have got past the fear and other roadblocks. Be thankful for the chance to have your work seen and heard. Some never get the possibility.

8. Be Responsive. Decide consciously what to do with feedback before replying, instead of reacting with the 1st thought or words that spring to mind.

9. Be Selective. Once you have decided what to do the feedback you have received, be selective and ready to let go of the harmful feedback.

This typically does not have anything to do with you any way ; it's a mirrored image of that person's own contentment, mental condition and comfort with themselves.

10. Be Loving. Be loving of your critic and Particularly of yourself. Plan some self-care gifts for the day of the audition or submission. Without regard for the outcome, you merit it!

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)