Whose critique do I listen to?

“If you’re not in the arena, I’m not interested in your feedback.” - Brene Brown

To me, there are two types of people “in the arena” whose feedback you should be interested in.

The first type is the people you are trying to serve: your target audience/customer/student. These people are important because they reflect why you started doing what you are doing.

The second type is the people fighting similar battles to yours. They can be your colleagues or anything you identify with: other creators/ founders/ educators.

These people are important because they have skin in the game. They are not bullshitting from the cozy outsider's seat.

As a founder or writer, as you show your work publicly, you will be criticized by a lot of people. You will feel terrible and question your ability. You will think about quitting.

In those moments, ask yourself if they are “in the arena”. If not, why should you care?

Know why you start and who’s got a say in your work. Not every opinion matters.

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MỞ is recruiting one content writer. JD here: https://bit.ly/MO-Content-Writer-JD Writing on The Net’s admission starts at the end of this month. Here’s the waitlist for the latest updates: https://bit.ly/Wait-List-Writing-on-the-Net