Your 2026 Prep Starts with Feedback.
Days are shorter, nights are longer, and you're finally home maybe with a book or bingeing House of Guinness (10/10 the family drama is legendary). Use this season to your advantage: review this year's event feedback and and start planning your 2026 calendar.
The Uncomfortable Gift of Growth
Growth only properly starts when you step outside your comfort zone. We need to learn to see feedback not as a personal attack, but as a friendly nudge towards getting better.
Constructive criticism, when embraced with a healthy dose of humility, is one of the most powerful tools in our professional journey. It challenges us to refine our skills, sharpen our vision, and expand our capacity to lead with wisdom. When someone takes the time to offer genuine, thoughtful feedback, they are essentially giving us a gift an opportunity to become better than we were yesterday.
The Golden Rule: Separate Ego from Excellence
The key to successful growth is to separate your progress from your ego. Our first instinct may be to defend ourselves, explain, or justify our actions. But here’s the secret: when we pause, genuinely listen, and reflect instead of reacting, we discover the golden insights hidden within that feedback.
Learn to see criticism not as a wound to your pride, but as a window to progress. Remember, your confidence grows not from being flawless because let’s be honest, who is? but from being teachable.
Drawing the Line: Criticism vs. Crudeness
However, growth does not require you to accept disrespect. Constructive criticism builds you up; disrespect simply tears you down. You must draw a clear and firm line between the two.
Feedback that comes from care, experience, and honesty strengthens your foundation. But words spoken with arrogance, rudeness, or condescension are not feedback; they’re usually a poor reflection of someone else’s insecurity. You are not obligated to internalise rudeness, no matter who it comes from.
My best friend once gave me the perfect tip: print off or save in a special folder all the positive feedback you receive! That way, when you’re knee-deep in a critical review, you can take a moment to look at the good stuff. For example, looking at my own feedback as a top seller on Etsy, eBay, and Vinted makes me feel reliable, warm, and happy to serve. Keep those kind words close.
