01/18/2026
The people who grow fastest have one thing in common—they actively seek out critics and completely ignore enemies.
Most people do the opposite. They surround themselves with people who nod along, then spend hours thinking about the haters.
That's backwards.
Your critics are an unpaid advisory board. They're telling you what your friends are too polite to say. The investor who passed and told you why. The customer who left and explained what was missing. The mentor who pushed back on your "brilliant" idea.
That feedback is expensive to get. Most people just ghost you. When someone takes the time to tell you what's wrong, that's data.
Enemies don't have data. They have resentment dressed up as opinions. Nothing you do will satisfy them because their issue isn't your work. It's your existence.
The trap is treating them the same. Either you armor up against everyone and stop learning. Or you let everyone in and get paralyzed by noise.
The skill is knowing which is which. Then chasing the critics and starving the enemies of attention.
One makes you better. The other just drains you.
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