Being Critical? Are You Helping or Hurting?

Most of us have heard the expression that a person is “his own worst critic”. We often do not give ourselves enough credit for performing well and regularly beat ourselves up for not performing better.

For some of us it is never good enough, regardless of how well we do.

When we project that same attitude onto others however, we can create some real problems in our relationships with them.

For example, spouses will sometimes complain about feeling criticized by their partners. They might say that they don’t get nearly enough praise for many of the things they do but  get sufficiently criticized.

Employees may say the same thing about their employers, frequently feeling criticized but rarely feeling praised, potentially creating a morale problem in the workplace.

Conveying criticism, even if it is meant to be constructive, sometimes borders on an art form. Read more