What to do with a bad review…

by Jan Yuill

Talk it out!

I was listening passively to Q on CBC this morning, when I realized the conversation had turned to “what to do with a bad review.” Bob Martin, Don McKellar, and Matt Watt were talking with Jian Ghomeshi about the new CBC TV program called, Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, which premieres tomorrow, September 14 at 9 p.m.

Their remedy for criticism? Read it over and over again, out loud, until it no longer stings.

I think this is a useful idea, even for those of us who don’t get reviewed in public. Think of it as a technique for handling a poor performance appraisal or the Dear John letter. I suppose if the criticisms don’t come in writing, you could even just repeat the nasty bit of humiliation exactly as you heard it over and over again. Maybe in front of the mirror. Making funny faces at yourself.

This has real possibilities.