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Constructive Criticism

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Opinion vs. Constructive Criticism

For the purposes of this lens, I am referring to the casual use of "Opinion" (see definition below), an opinion rendered by a friend, associate or someone you might have just met, as opposed to a "Professional Opinion". The primary distinction is that a "Casual Opinion" is one made and offered with little regard to facts, as is the case with so many opinions, even many offered by the media and in the public domain.

Constructive Criticism is offered to a person and/or situation by an individual or group, having a desire to improve that person or situation, on the basis of specific, pertinent knowledge. As such, by definition, Constructive Criticism has high value to the recipient(s).

One must exercise great caution in distinguishing between Constructive Criticism and a simple Opinion, as well as placing an appropriate value on each.

Opinion or Assessment?

Determine whether you have been offered an opinion or an accurate assessment - then treat it accordingly!

Constructive Criticism

Defined

"Constructive criticism, or constructive analysis, is a compassionate attitude towards the person qualified for criticism. Having higher experience, gifts, respect, knowledge in specific field and being able to verbally convince at the same time, this person is intending to uplift the other person materially, morally, emotionally or spiritually. For high probability in succeeding compassionate criticism, the critic has to be in some kind of healthy personal relationship with the other one, which is normally a parent to child, friend to friend, teacher to student, spouse to spouse or any kind of recognized authority in specific field. Hence the word constructive is used so that something is created or visible outcome generated rather than the opposite."

- Wikipedia

Opinion

Defined

"An opinion is a subjective statement or thought about an issue or topic, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. An opinion may be supported by an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. However, it can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another by analysing the supporting arguments. [1]

An opinion may be the result of a person's perspective, understanding, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires. In casual use, the term opinion may refer to unsubstantiated information, in contrast to knowledge and fact-based beliefs." (Note: emphasis added)

- Wikipedia

Opinions

Do They Have Any Value?

In the Canadian Comedy scene, Rick Mercer has often undertaken trips to the United States for the express purpose of humour at the expense of Americans. For my purposes here, the lesson contained is that such comedy relies upon, and documents, a human weakness.

In his comedy segment, Rick Mercer will interview selected Americans about supposed "issues" in Canada in order to solicit OPINIONS from the American subject. Canadians, knowing the issue is contrived, find humour in the opinions offered by our American counterparts in a vacuum of information and fact, simply that provided by Rick Mercer. It is important to note that Americans seeking further information upon which to base their opinions are not shown, as this would be counter productive to the segment.

The program relies exclusively on the fact that people, not just Americans but all of us, are often ready to render an unambiguous and strong positional opinion DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE HAVE NOT ASCERTAINED THE FACTS.

On the basis of this statement, one must be careful with respect to how much value to place on someone's opinion of you, what you have done, what you represent, etc. as they may not have relied upon some, or even all, the facts in order to formulate their opinion.

Constructive Criticism

A Valuable Resource for Personal Development

Constructive Criticism should be carefully considered, but not necessarily acted upon, as it represents a potentially valuable resource with regard to evaluating oneself as part of your ongoing program of Personal Development. Unless, of course, it is simply an opinion.

Using the definition above, Constructive Criticism is founded upon compassion and a healthy relationship between the source and recipient of such criticism. Furthermore, it is, ultimately, intended "... to uplift the other person materially, morally, emotionally (and/)or spiritually." Therefore, legitimate Constructive Criticism is intended for constructive purposes, to help oneself improve and address possible weaknesses or undesirable charater traits not recognized.

Almost by definition, someone offering Constructive Criticism should be altruistic in their motivations. Constructive Criticism should, ideally, be offered for the benefit of the recipient, not the source.

However, life is not ideal and motivations are generally not altruistic. Therefore, one must always consider the context of any advice in an attempt to determine whether it is an Opinion or Constructive Criticism.

Constructive Criticism vs. Opinion

Your Opinion?

Interesting little issue here, don't you think? I have been arguing against Opinion and here I am asking for it!

However, I am not wanting your Casual Opinion. After reading the above article, I would like your informed Opinion! ;)

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

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Further Lenses of Interest

The following is a list of other lenses available from the Integrated Success Program. These lenses represent additional information for some of the classic Personal Development texts available through the Integrated Success Program web-site. In addition, these lenses mirror some content on the Integrated Success Program blog.

Note, however, that there is considerably more material on both the web-site and the blog that has not been posted on Squidoo and, as such, are worth visiting for more information.
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Integrated Success Program

Available Resources

The Integrated Success Program consists of an integrated set of resources, comprised of a web-site featuring the original, classic texts of classic authors, a blog site with a wealth of supporting material, a Yahoo Group and a Forum to provide forums for discussing the myriad of topics under the "Personal Development" theme.

Please feel free to leave your comments on this site (above) and make use of the other resources provided. I would sincerely love to hear from you, your opinions (Pro and Con) on my posts, thoughts, opinions and interpretations. I would love to initiate a dialogue in either or both of the forums.

Your input will only serve to improve this site, as well as the other resources provided.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Integrated Success Program web-site
WALKER ENTERPRISES has gathered many of the worlds classic, most sought after personal development, self-help, self - improvement and /or New Thought texts providing inspiration, insights, methods and/or personal success philosophies dedicated to improving your life as the initial component of our INTEGRATED SUCCESS PROGRAM. The wisdom contained in these texts is timeless, explaining why they are still so much in demand.

Integrated Success Program Blog
WALKER ENTERPRISES has developed the Integrated Success Program Blog in support of its INTEGRATED SUCCESS PROGRAM web-site. The blog is intended to provide supporting and background information on the many authors and their respective texts, as well as to provide a forum in which to present opinions, reviews and commentary to, and from, those seeking such information.

Integrated Success Program Forum
This Forum is dedicated to Personal Development in support of the Integrated Success Program web-site and the Integrated Success Program blog. The web-site contains many of the classic personal development texts, including Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" and "Law of Success", Charles Haanel's "The Master Key System" and the inspiration books of James Allen, including "As A Man Thinketh".

The Blog site provides a forum for distributing additional material, including YouTube video clips, articles and posts, pertaining to the broad field of Personal Development.

After exploring the content available in this forum, please visit the web-site and blog for further content.

Integrated Success Program Group on Yahoo
This group was created to discuss thoughts, opinions and interpretations originating, in part, from the classic personal development texts (James Allen, Charles Haanel, Napoleon Hill, etc.) and other related topics of interest (i.e. Law of Attraction, Creative Visualization).

Researching the power of the mind and, more specifically, the sub-conscious mind over the past twenty years has allowed me to discover of many gems of wisdom buried in these timeless texts, as well as more recently published texts. The recent release of "The Secret" has had the result of drawing considerable attention to the "LAW OF ATTRACTION", however, I believe the process underlying its application to one's life was missing from the movie.

Contrary to the hype attending release of "The Secret", the LAW OF ATTRACTION is not a recent discovery in metaphysics, nor has it been actively suppressed by the Church or hidden societies. It simply passed into relative obscurity through the passage of time. It has been, and remains, available to everyone who searches for it and is willing to actually apply it to their lives.

The formula is available, and is, in all likelihood, well known to most. In its simplest form, it was concisely summarized as follows:

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened

Matthew 7:7 (Luke (11:9) NIV

In short, visualize your desired outcome, then take the appropriate action to receive its manifestation. ACTION is an integral, necessary part of the three part formula to realize (manifest) your desired outcome.

RT Walker

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Dynamic1

I have been a student of personal development for over 25 years, with specific interest in the ability and latent power of the mind, particularly the subconscious.... more »

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