Being Your Own Worst Critic Is A Blessing

I was talking to a colleague and he was explaining how he had pursued various entrepreneurial startup ideas. For various reasons, there have been stumbling blocks, issues, problems – He told me that he wouldn’t trade the experience for he world, because he has come out of it all with a “mental resilience” that serves him well now.
We discussed this. There is a lot of reading about how failure gives us the experience to succeed. But there is a different perspective to this as well. It is not just about gaining the experience. This is about a skill. It is about the ability to face and address tough situations; the ability to step back and assess, in the moment, and to have the perspective to see the situation as it is and determine a path to resolve.
Often we are stymied by big issues because we are in the weeds. It is a skill to be learned, to be able to create distance and perspective before reacting, and not letting a particular situation drive us out of action.
Perspective, the ability to see broader perspective is a skill. It is honed by taking the time to objectively look back and assess why certain things occurred and how they might have been prevented. It is about doing post-mortems when results don’t materialize; this applies to large-scale issues, but applies to our daily interactions as well. Over time the post mortems become quick self-assesments.
We need to make time, have a process of self-awareness.
There is truth in the saying that we are our own worst critics. But that can be a blessing if we experience that with perspective and self-awareness.