Master Negative Comments: Respond with Confidence, Not Emotion
- Published:
- Updated: February 11, 2025
Doesn’t it feel as though someone always has an opinion on what you’re doing and how you can do it better? Sometimes, the advice can be good; other times, not so much. The question is, how do you filter the good advice from the bad advice? As a healing and leadership coach, I understand that your time is really limited, and you need to know who to listen to and who to ignore.
So, to make your life easier, in this article, we will discuss how to respond, not react, to critical or negative comments from others.
Why does criticism and negative comments hurt our feelings?
Before we dive into the article, it is important to understand why we don’t want our feelings to be hurt. This will help us understand our internal resistance and make us more receptive to our thoughts, ultimately linking them to what is happening to us in reality.
Reason #1: Damaged Self-worth
If you were raised in a dysfunctional home like myself, it is common to feel insecure about yourself, your achievements, or opinions. Consequently, your self-worth was unable to fully develop during your childhood.
Here is a list of some of the many ways your self-worth was negatively impacted by your family, friends, or community during your childhood:
- Consistently by taunted, teased or bullied
- Ignored because there was always a crisis
- Ignored because you were not thought of as the superstar or best performer in the home
- In an emotionally enmeshed situation with one or more family members
- Constantly told to ignore your feelings and fight through the pain
- Held up to near impossible standards in school or sports
The list can go on and on. The point of this section is to say that some of us do not want reminders of our past traumatic experiences. All we want is praise for our efforts and a disregard for our shortcomings.
Unfortunately, this process of sticking our heads in the sand will do little to no good to help you grow professional or personally.
My job as a coach is to help you learn to heal from that past pain so that you can continue to grow in all areas of your life.
In the next section, we will talk about how to respond in emotionally mature ways to negative comments and criticism.
Responding with Maturity: Handling Negative Comments and Criticism Effectively
Challenge Your Life Script
Due to your life script, you may respond to negative comment and criticism exactly the same way as your parent. (Curious about your life script? Take this no-cost quiz here.)
Because of your upbringing, you might react to negative comments and criticism just like your parents did.
Let me tell you about my client Angela (not her real name). She’s a real firecracker. When Angela was young, her mom used to say, “Angie, don’t let anyone make a fool out of you!” Angela took that advice very seriously.
So, whenever someone seemed to criticize Angela or her business decisions, she would respond with quick, sharp comments. Eventually, fewer people dared to say anything that might upset her.
As a result, Angela’s circle of business contacts got smaller, and only those who felt insecure, like her, stuck around. This is what happens when you follow advice without really thinking about it.
Do you still hear messages from your past that bother you today? Here are some examples of things you might have heard as a kid that make it hard to accept feedback:
- They are just envious of you
- Never let them see you sweat
- They are out to get you
- Keep a stiff upper lip
- Nobody offers anything for free
- They just want to control you
- Avoid anything or anyone stressful at all cost
Being honest about these feelings will help you resist another’s ideas and give you a moment to think before you speak.
Its OKAY to ignore advice from people who: prioritize their own self-interest over your goals and agenda, are liars and hypocrites or have negative and divisive personalities.
How To Evaluate Feedback
Just because someone has a voice to speak doesn’t mean they have thoughts you need to hear. As a leader and business owner, you need to exude confidence. And highest form of confidence is being able evaluate what you hear without feeling defensive or insecure.
In general, you want to take advice when:
- They ask clarifying questions to understand your intentions
- The negative comment or criticism is well-intended.
- You respect their values and behavior – meaning that they are not a hypocrite.
- Emotionally mature people
- People who have prioritized their own self-interest over your goals and agenda
- Liars and hypocrites
- Negative and divisive personalities
The graphic below is a flowchart that explains how to evaluate whether the advice or criticism is helpful.
Warning: Everyone is not capable of being mature at all times
Even if you are talking with someone who generally gives advice, please understand that they are humans. Just like you, they have good and bad days. In order to preserve your mental health and quality of your relationship, don’t expect people to be error-free in their communications with you.
Growing your empathic skills will help you during the moments you receive less than helpful advice from others. Even if it is not helpful, please be nice and say, “Thank you.”
You have the power to control who impacts our mindset. Moreover, you have the ability to discern whether their advice is helpful for us. These are your superpowers: Self-Care and Discernment.
Be Someone Who Accepts Comments from Others
If you grew up in a negative or dysfunctional family, it’s normal to feel suspicious of comments or advice. Maybe you were used to hearing criticism that stung more than it helped, or advice that felt more like control than care. But here’s the thing—you’re not stuck in that environment anymore. You have the power to filter out what’s helpful from what’s hurtful. That starts with being open to hearing people out.
Here are some simple ways to help you be more receptive to feedback:
Don’t Take It Personally.
Not every comment is an attack. Sometimes, people just don’t know how to word things well, but that doesn’t mean they’re out to hurt you. Try to listen without immediately assuming the worst. Ask yourself, “Is there something useful here, even if it’s not said perfectly?”Show You’re Open Through Your Body Language.
Your body speaks before your words do. If you want to show someone you’re open to hearing them, try this:- Put away distractions—silence your phone, close your laptop, or turn away from your screen.
- Uncross your arms. This simple gesture makes you feel and look more relaxed.
- Face the person directly. It shows you’re present, not checked out.
- Maintain gentle eye contact. You don’t have to stare, just enough to show you’re engaged.
- When it feels natural, smile or nod. This helps the other person feel heard, and it helps you stay connected to the conversation.
Being receptive doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything you hear. It just means you’re willing to listen, consider, and respond thoughtfully. That’s a skill worth practicing, no matter where you come from.
I hope these tips helped. The image below sums them up. Next, I will share my final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
While I can’t change what happened in the past, I can give you tools to talk better with others now. You can decide how to use advice from others based on what they say and how close you are to them. This means you can handle criticism and negative comments in a grown-up and healthy way. Basically, you can choose who affects how you think.
You can figure out if their advice is useful for you. In other words, you can choose who influences your thoughts. Plus, you can decide if their advice helps you or not.
I’d love to hear from you! How would you describe your communication style? Share with me how you navigate conversations and feedback using this link. Let’s keep the conversation going! And you need help with managing your emotional reactions, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Dig deeper: Click here to listen this episode from my podcast or press the play button below.
