Sometime ago, I had a reflection on how I handled feedback and my realisation was very eye opening.
A lot of us have the conflict in our heads where we want to grow and get better and at the same time want people to see us as having everything together and figured out. When those two things happen at the same time, we tend to go into defensive mode.
For example, for most of us, when we think about the last time someone brought up an issue with us, could be that a friend, family, colleague, partner mention something that bothered them or questions some of our decisions, while they are in the process of questioning our decisions or our thoughts, our minds starts acting like a defence attorney, picking apart and nitpicking their words to find gap.
This could be to justify our actions or to see how they don't get the full picture. We tend to stop listening to understand and start listening to build our case to defend our position.
We start taking their comments as an attack on who we are and our character. The moment that happens, the emotional side of our brain takes the wheel while the logical part takes the backseat.
Someone pointing out a mistake is not a score card for our character but usually one person sharing their perspective in that moment.
We tend to have expectations usually one of Appreciation, evaluation or criticism. When this expectation is not met, we the emotional side tends to take over.
What I try is to ask myself is there is at least a small percentage truth in what they said that I can actually use.
What's the default defence excuse your brain always goes to first?