In Praise of Criticism By Dr Timothy Sharp
(Sydney Morning Herald article) April 27, 2008 12:00am
I READ an interesting article recently in which reference was made to the
phenomenon of people setting up websites detailing what they don¿t like
about (mostly) big companies.
It's referred to as (and please excuse my language) the Google Sucks
Index.
Apparently, if you enter a search term into Google followed by the word
"sucks", you'll find a plethora, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands,
of
comments expressing disgruntlement and dissatisfaction.
If you search for "Wal-Mart sucks" you'll find more than 150,000 results;
search for "Disney sucks" and there's more than half a million; search for
"Google sucks" and you'll find more than three quarters of a million
comments.
Positive negativity
The point for companies is not that some people might be unhappy with
their
products or services - this will always be the case - but that, for the
first time in history, they can publicise their thoughts and make them
instantly available to millions of other people. Many businesses are not
too
thrilled about this, as I'm sure you can imagine.
At the same time, however, some companies (including Dell, the computer
makers) are using this relatively new phenomenon to their advantage.
Instead
of taking these criticisms to heart, they are taking constructive action.
In short, they're taking customer comments on board and integrating their
feedback into product development and improvements in all areas of their
business.
This got me thinking: why don't we all do this? None of us really likes
criticism (even when phrased in so-called "constructive" terms), but how
many of us stew and grumble and just get upset when a work colleague,
friend
or family member makes a less-than-positive comment? What does this
achieve?
In contrast, what if, like Dell, we were able to carefully consider these
comments (which isn't the same as liking them or agreeing with them) and
then try to do whatever we could to improve ourselves as a result: learn
something from the suggestions, or even make something positive out of the
situation?
The basic tenets of positive psychology, which are practised by the
happiest
and most successful of people, do not suggest that we should ignore all
negatives and focus on positives.
Happiness and optimism are not about burying your head in the sand. What
we
know about happy people is that they do focus more on positives but, in
addition, they face the cold, hard realities and deal with them
constructively, actively and positively.
So why don't you learn from the Google Sucks Index and take a good hard
look
at the criticisms levelled against you in recent times? Then consider what
you might be able to do to turn these into positives.
If you're struggling to do this on your own, don't be afraid to reach out
to
those around you (a friend, family member, or an independent and objective
professional such as a coach) and work towards turning "sucks" into
"success".
from
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23592275-5006012,00.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google results ......
4300 hits for "Christianity sucks"
7520 hits for "church sucks"
9160 hits dor "Christians suck"
15600 bhits for "Jesus sucks"
36700 hits for "religion sucks"
Think about it.
--
MY BLOG - MARK T - my thoughts on Christianity & links
http://www.blognow.com.au/strooth/
MY SOUNDCLICK PAGE- download my original songs in mp3 format
http://www.soundclick.com/marktindall
FUNDY FUNHOUSE -
http://fundamentalistfunhouse.blogspot.com/
- a resource on the current Fundamentalist Dark Age and Christian
fundamentalism.
PASTOR DALE K WHANGKE
http://dalekwhangke.blogspot.com/
Wyrst Pentacostal Church
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