“You've just faced harsh criticism at work. How can you regain your focus and bounce back stronger?”
LinkedIn briefly introduced “collaborative articles”, which were questions that anyone could answer. They wound up abandoning the feature, but I enjoyed responding to them with my own brief mental health focused rants. I also only had 750 characters and no options for gifs, so this is WAY better. :)
Let’s get into it.
“You've just faced harsh criticism at work. How can you regain your focus and bounce back stronger?”
Let’s start with the obvious: not all criticism is worth your time. Some feedback is thoughtful and useful. Some is irrelevant. And some is just bad. Pretending it is all valuable is the fastest way to waste your energy on noise that does not deserve it.
Step one is always checking the source. Who gave you the feedback? Do you respect them? Would you actually seek their perspective if you did not have to? Do they have a track record of helping people grow, or do they mostly point out flaws without offering solutions? Do they even care about your success, or are they unloading their own frustration and calling it feedback?
If the answer is no, then you know what you are dealing with. That is not feedback, it’s static, and it’s probably just that person being kind of an asshole. You are under no obligation to absorb it, and you certainly do not have to twist yourself into knots trying to satisfy it.
If the answer is yes, then you can lean in. But even then, you do not just nod along. You get specific. The most powerful thing you can ask is: “How would you like to see me action that feedback?”
That single question separates the useful from the useless immediately. If they can describe what change would look like in practice, now you have something concrete and useful. You can weigh it, decide if it aligns with your goals, and actually do something with it.
If they flounder or are just kind of vague about it, that’s not feedback that matters. It’s just a vague complaint with no path forward. And if it cannot point to action, it does not deserve space in your head.
This matters, because too many people waste hours replaying garbage feedback, trying to decode it, trying to fix something that was never theirs to fix. That is how you burn out on the job. You end up internalizing every offhand comment, every vague criticism, every lazy piece of advice, as if your worth depends on pleasing whoever threw it at you. It does not.
Real feedback points somewhere. It names a behavior, identifies impact, and sketches out what better could look like. Fake feedback is just complaining without actual action or value.
So yes, shake off the sting if you need to. Go for a walk. Breathe. But when you come back, focus your energy where it actually matters: your own mission, your own growth, your own values.
One piece of criticism does not erase your value. One person’s bad mood does not define your potential. And you do not owe anyone a flawless performance just to soothe their discomfort.
Feedback is a gift but WOW some people are BAD at gift giving, and it’s okay to throw that junk away.
The Threadsmith Group Approach
At The Threadsmith Group, we don’t believe in cookie-cutter advice. We believe in real answers for real people, backed by experience, strategy, and a healthy dose of common sense.
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