A great man is hard on himself. A small man is hard on others. 

A great man is hard on himself. A small man is hard on others. 

CONFUCIUS

Are you your toughest critic? 

There is a continuous fire within us, to better ourselves, in countless unique ways, such that we might be an ever greater version of ourselves today, than we were yesterday. 

Our ability to self-monitor the qualities about ourselves that we wish we could improve, and to make a determined effort to improve upon those, in any way that we might, is part of the overall process necessary to achieve greatness. 

It is only through our internal compass, pointing us in the direction of growth, that we are able to regularly review aspects of ourselves and evaluate whether or not we are improving or falling behind. 

There are many who are more than willing to overlook their own personal flaws, such that they might readily point a finger at someone who is not living up to everything that is expected of them, regardless of whether that person is aware that it is expected of them or not. 

Acting as a harsh critic of others, proves very quickly to be a foolish strategy, in the sense that direct criticism of another person usually does not engender a desire to improve, but rather engenders irritation and resentment towards the person delivering the criticism. 

Any wise leader will tell you that in order to best stimulate the greatest performances of the people around them, a methodology of constructive discussion and motivation provides substantially more positive results than criticism or negative commentary. 

If you are walking that line as an employer, teacher, supervisor, parent, coach, or other, you will quickly learn that the only opportunity that you have to achieve your greatest success in that role, is by learning the delicate art of constructive conversation. The parties with whom you are working, will be more joyous in their contact with you and inspired by the feedback that you were able to give them, because you are more often than not providing them a pathway to improve incrementally or substantially. 

I believe that almost everybody is desirous of finding improvement within themselves. They may not necessarily have the motivation, nor do they necessarily know how to go about improving themselves, but if each person were straightforward and honest on this topic, I believe we would discover that the majority of people would readily appreciate a way to improve, if they just knew how. 

So whether you are criticizing yourself, too harshly, or whether you are doing same to another human being, the better choice is to find a loving, nurturing and constructive methodology for explaining what has transpired and communicating intelligently what would be expected, in order that the months ahead will go as per plan. 

Happy Tuesday!

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