I’ve been getting a lot of amazingly nice praise recently, which has .given me a chance to practice receiving praise gracefully.
I use a method that helps me avoid some common mistakes in receiving praise:
- Don’t explain the praise away – as in “Aaww, it was nothing special”
- Don’t reject the praise – as in “You don’t need to thank me, I was just doing my job”
- Don’t ignore the praise – as in “How about them Dodgers!”
Remember when people take time out to praise you or something you’ve done, it’s nice to accept the praise in the spirit it’s given.
I recommend this 2-step process for receiving praise:
- Shut up
- Say “Thank you!”
Step 3, jumping up and down, pumping your fist in the air while yelling “I’m the MAN!” is optional and should probably be avoided in many situations.
I TOTALLY agree. Some, mostly women, tend to excuse themselves when someone praises them. I have often heard replyes like: “Oh you say I look good/did a great job/etc. It must be some kind of mistake – it wasn’t on purpose!”
That’s really a funny reaction!
Funny, this is exactly the same advice I got from my metalworking teacher, only his steps were 1. Say “thank you.” 2. Shut up!
He expanded on it by saying that most people have a tendency to point out the flaws in their work when complimented (“Oh, it could have been better here, and I wanted to do this part differently but…” ). “Nobody will know it’s wrong UNLESS YOU TELL THEM,” he said. And he’s right – I’ve never had anyone say “This is nice – except for this flaw here.”
Lexica: Tell your metalworking teacher he’s a smart guy :o) I agree completely – we shouldn’t try to explain away our accomplishments. We should shut up and enjoy the praise!