Take the good with the bad.

Since putting myself into a leadership position I have learned more than most may learn in a year. I have probably aged 10 years, pulled a million hairs out of my head, lost many hours of sleep and said more curse words than usual, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I have learned that with all the bad, there is always something good, you just have to see it.

At first, whenever I head negative feedback, I freaked out. I let it get to me; I cried, wanted to quit, called everyone I knew for reassurance, all the typical girl things. Soon I realized I was acting like a child, and if I wanted to be a good leader, I had to knock it off. I realized I was letting all the bad out way the good, which is backwards form how it should be. Whenever I received positive feedback, I forgot, but when I received negative feedback, I dwelled on it. I was driving myself crazy letting people's words affect me. Unfortunately it took a really big blow to my ego to finally make me step back and take a good look at the whole picture. I realized that with everything negative I heard, I also heard five positive things. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the five is greater than one, so why focus all my attention on to the one? Because no one wants to be disliked, I want everyone to like me, I was everyone to think I am doing an excellent job, but that's not life. Not everyone will always like you or approve of the job you are doing. I realized that when I got negative feedback I just needed to say OK, but when I got positive feedback, I needed to listen.

I always say the proof is in the puddin', and it is so true. My performance as a leader will show in time, until then I just have to let the negativity roll off my shoulders and pay no attention to it. The most important lesson I have learned through this experience is that you need friends you can trust. I would be lost if I didn't have friends to give me feedback that I trusted. It is always good to hear feedback, you just can't listen to feedback of people who are just angry. Angry people are only hurting themselves by being angry. The best thing is to not let other people's bitterness affect you. When there is a choice of listening to bad and listening to good, always go with good.