Lately at work or while cycling with a group or something of the sort, I’ve been getting a few number of compliments. For example, I just started working at my job about a month ago. A couple weeks ago one of the ladies that has been working there for years upon years asked me which restaurant job I had before this one (I’m working in a pizzeria, similar to a restaurant). I then told her that I didn’t work in a restaurant and that I have pretty much no cooking experience other than hard boiled eggs, grilled chicken, and rice. She said “wow, you’re doing really really good for not having done this stuff for a while, you’re a natural.” So after receiving this compliment I thought “hey, I’m doin’ pretty good.” Then 5 minutes later or so, I spilled a buncha greasy-ass water on the floor.
The point is, I’ve noticed that whenever I start something new, I tend to stay back on my heels and stay alert and make sure that everything is done right. But then whenever somebody tells me that I’m doing a good job or something I always manage to ease up and screw up.
Its almost getting to the point where I just don’t want people to give me compliments anymore.
I say thank you and forget about the compliment - I know how easy I can screw up at something Im not good at, and I dont get hung up on how good somebody else might think I am - because I know it might not be entirely true.
You can’t let the praise of others go to your head. Whether it’s pertaining to your accomplisments with school, work, training, relationships with people, etc, remember where you came from. People will give you compliments, but they really have no idea what it took for you to achieve your goals. Only you know the work you put in. If you start to believe everything people say about you, sometimes it’s easy to become complacent. In my mind, the same goes for criticisms from others. You have to take these things for what they are. I’m just speaking from personal experience being on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve had some low points when nothing was going my way, and I learned who my true friends were and who were fair weather friends. When you achieve success, there are going to be people who admire you as well as people who want to tear you down. When people have negative things to say, don’t let it get under your skin. Just use it for fuel to prove them wrong because you know yourself better than them. When people have positive things to say, enjoy it for a second and realize that you got where you are because of you, not them. And remember that people who aren’t your true friends can and will turn on you in a heartbeat if things change. So surround yourself with good people who truly care about you and weed out the others.
Just my two cents on personal success. I think this holds true with cooking chicken and eggs as well as being a professional.