Confidence.

Self-esteem.

Self worth.

All these issues come into play when you are competing in business. I like watching athletes and coaches compete in their respective sports. One of the things I take away from a show like HBO’s Hard Knocks, is that when something bad happens, you must shake it off and move on. Sometimes, you even have to laugh.

Last Saturday, I gave a presentation to a non-profit group on fund-raising strategies, confidence, and team building. On every presentation I give, I provide evaluation forms for people to turn in. My reasons are simple. I like to know what they got out of my presentation. I want to know what they liked least. And, most importantly for me, I want to find out if they want more information from me and if they’d like to work together. Overall, the reviews for this program were good. There was one exception.

One person just really hated it. They rated me poor, unprofessional, and irrelevant to their needs in BIG, BOLD letters.

For a lot of people, this would crush them. They might think twice about going back out to speak again. Rejection can be taken personally.

Here’s what I did.

I chuckled and moved on. What I look for is trends. That was the only really negative comment I received. One person’s opinion is not going to impact me. In fact, the person did me a favor because now I have a chance to talk about it on my blog, and actually use the physical piece of paper in a story for another presentation (no name of course – if the person really wanted to send a message they could have put their name on it).

You will not please everyone with your next speech, your next article, or your next big idea. The very best hitters in baseball get out 70% of the time. The reality is that you must be mentally tough enough to get on with what you know you do best. As my mentor Alan Weiss has said, if you’re not failing, you’re not trying.

The next time you receive a bad evaluation, let it slide off. If there is a consistent theme, then learn and improve. But make no mistake, in order not to let one bad evaluation linger and poison your thinking, you’ve got to have a short memory. Confidence is the key to your success. Never quit.

P.S. I’ve got two workshops coming up on learning how to build and enhance your confidence level. If you are too worried about signing up because of what people might think, then it’s just the what you need! To learn more about the classes and to register, click here.

© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved