Criticism and on being the best

This post is about criticism and what it takes to be the best.

Constructive criticism to me is like eating certain vegetables (eg chokoes). You know it's good for you, but man, does it suck, whilst it's going down.

Firstly I had an email from Coach Dave yesterday, questioning my position in the whole action game by making the choice to pull out from the competition. Whilst I am still adamant I won't compete this year, his words gave me pause for thought - I've been so busy running around these days, I haven't focused on my own training. No strength training for nearly two weeks - not good. It felt at the time, like an equivalent to a JK Rowling "howler" owl.

Then we had a staff meeting at Fitness First. John spoke brilliantly about "creating magic" in our classes - he was very motivating. However, I suddenly looked around at all my other fellow team members and started having self doubts - the "what if I'm not good enough compared to these guys" types of feelings. I then realized later on that I perform so much better when I follow my own path and not worry about what other people think, especially those I don't really know. John's words, however, really made me feel like I wanted to focus on coaching more in classes, rather than feeling nervous, again, about what my class thinks of me.

I'm happy to report that today's RPM class was great - I really focused on coaching and technique (my RPM strength) and my class - and I was rewarded - one participant told me that that had been the best RPM class he'd ever done. That made me feel good.

Moral of this story is that taking on board constructive criticism and working on things helps you to be more successful in the future. It really bit when Dave contacted me - but it turns out I really did need a good kick in the pants.