Ideal Job and Handling Criticism

How many times have you been asked, "What is your dream job?"

Even if you document a dream job on paper, will you be happy every day in that job? Unlikely. Heck, you could work in your dream job for two different companies and end up being happy in one and miserable in the other. It's not just the responsibilities and the day to day activities that identify a job as enjoyable or miserable. It's also the environment, mentality, morale, and management styles.

When all the factors are positive (job role, management, environment, and so on), there will be days when you're frustrated or angry. The happiest marriages and parents who love their kids all face bad days. Everything in life has a "bad" to it. But does that mean it's not your dream spouse, dream family, or dream job? Not at all. It's like your body -- it's going to have its bad days no matter how good you take care of it.

Now that I am full-time with meryl.net, I'm loving the job and experience. I've had a few down times, but they don't last long and I handle them well because I love the overall work I'm doing. I just read a commentary from Robert Ringer in Early to Rise, it's not about the negative situation, but how you handle it. Here's an example Ringer used:

"...tabloid headlines were screaming that New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was gay. Piazza did only one interview, and said to the interviewer in a calm, straightforward manner, 'I'm not gay.' No anger, no hysteria, no scowl. As a result, the story died in a matter of days."

It's like "fighting fire with fire" or "adding fuel to the fire." If Piazza had come back in defensive mode with all sorts of rantings and ravings, you can bet the tabloids would've run with it for a little longer. If Clinton had simply apologize for his "relations with that woman" instead of denied it, perhaps it would've quickly died away.

We encounter criticism no matter how good we are. I remember the first time I was slaughtered in my blog, I was in shock. Not mad, but in shock that someone thought this of me. But then I stepped back and reminded myself that we all have one critic in our life no matter who we are. Accepting it rather than fighting it is a lot easier on the soul.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl's notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn't wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.