Criticism to Grow on

Read an interesting article on PetaPixel about taking criticism. But it wasn't the primary article that caught my eye, but a comment posted by 'Mark'. Which I shall quote right now.

"There is no successful entrepreneur or artist in the world that can attribute success to a delicate and gentle criticism of their work. As artists, we are inherently selfish and egotistical. It takes a mighty heavy sledgehammer to shatter that shell and allow us to grow outside ourselves and outside of our comfort zone. This is probably the one limiting factor that keeps the "rest of us" from attaining the recognition we may feel we deserve."

It is so easy for us to create in our own zone and get overly acceptive of our own ideas, we begin to reject other criticism as negative attacks. As creatives we probably all like to think our ideas are unique and special, but the truth is there are always new and better ways that can only discovered through another persons eye.

(Original article: http://www.petapixel.com/2012/10/23/why-you-need-thick-skin-when-learning-photography-from-bruce-gilden/)