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Asael Shinder
Asael Shinder

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Thank People for the Hard Feedback

Someone just told you something
you didn't want to hear.

Your instinct is to explain.
To defend. To manage your face.

Do something harder.
Say thank you, and mean it.

Not because they were right —
maybe they weren't, fully.
But because they took a risk
to tell you the uncomfortable thing
when silence was so much easier.

How you take feedback
decides whether you get it again.

React badly once,
and that person quietly files you
under "not worth the honesty."
And the flow of truth about you
dries up right when you need it.

So protect it.
Thank the hard note.
Sit with it before you answer.

The people who keep getting better
are the ones others feel safe correcting.

– Asael Shinder

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