Self-criticism

The ability we have to detect our mistakes, weaknesses and weaknesses with objectivity is fundamental when working on our personal development. Self-criticism is precisely the exercise of undertaking the criticism of our own person, detaching ourselves from emotional elements that may bias our attachment to reality and the way in which we conceive the features of our personality. The practice of self-criticism is an excellent mechanism to learn to know ourselves, to understand how our emotions work and to be aware of what we need to work on to improve.

During the development of this guide we will be addressing some of the most important aspects of self-criticism and its positive impact on our personal development.

What elements to consider when performing self-criticism?

There are several factors that must be considered when carrying out the exercise of self-criticism in an effective way. Among them, it is worth highlighting the detachment from emotional elements. Emotional elements play against us and make it more complex to carry out self-criticism in a fair and coherent way. It is common that the action of criticizing ourselves causes us some resistance, since we are receiving a kind of attack from our own person.

Self-criticism should be carried out as an exercise of recognition, what is sought is to deepen in the characteristic features of our personality, not to inflict any damage to our person nor to victimize or belittle us.

Self-criticism for personal development

Our personal development is aimed at building the best possible version of ourselves. To accomplish this task requires that we learn to identify the weak points that we need to improve. Self-criticism is useful for this, since it begins with a critical analysis of our person, where we evaluate each of the elements that concern us to objectively characterize how they relate to us and what we can do to improve them.

Self-criticism is also useful to form a comprehensive awareness of our person. This awareness allows us to understand what our current limits are and what factors are holding us back. By being aware of what we lack, we are able to avoid situations that surpass us or are beyond our current capabilities. The best way to avoid mistakes and failures is to know how prepared we are to face each situation, so that we can objectively measure our real possibilities of success.

Self-criticism does not only focus on the negative aspects.

Self-criticism as a tool for learning and self-perception can generate many doubts in its practice. One of the most common is the belief that the exercise of self-criticism is limited to the study and analysis of the negative elements. The truth is that the negative elements are of special interest during the process of self-criticism, but we should not discard the importance of the positive elements for learning and personal development.

By recognizing and critically analyzing each of our positive elements, we have a favorable impact on our state of mind and the way we perceive our personal capabilities. Being aware of our strengths will help us to know how to use them to our advantage. In the same way, a critical analysis of them allows us to know which ones we should work on in order to perfect our capabilities and accelerate our personal development.

The exercise of self-criticism is undoubtedly one of the best tools you have to work on building the best possible version of yourself.