You give a talk and the auditorium claps, but one guy boos you loudly.
Or you write a LinkedIn post and get 99 positive comments, but one guy calls you scum. Will you feel 99% positive, and 1% negative?
No. You will be 100% infuriated — that one negative incident will override all the positive feedback.
Our mind is strongly wired to amplify the negatives and undervalue the positives.
That is why we overlook our successes, and latch on to that one failure. That is why we shrink from taking risks, because one criticism outweighs ten plaudits.
This bias won’t go away. But we can act despite it.
If you avoid doing things to avert criticism, you will spend your life as a spectator — you will never play the game. And the latter should scare you more than any criticism.
The spectator stand is not your place. Take your place on the field.
Then play, and win or lose. What matters is that you played. Everything else is secondary.
– Rajan