How to deal with Haters

Recently, I dealt with someone who really didn’t like one of the pieces of research I had posted.

They didn’t like the idea I was recommending, for a really pedantic reason.

Watch the video above to find out what it was, and how I reacted.

I recently got some very negative feedback from one individual on social media to a video I posted on Brainstorming, where he was telling me that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

I chose to react by presenting the evidence behind my view.

But usually, the most effective thing to do with Haters (people who leave unsolicited negative feedback) is to just ignore them.

The issue that so many people face is that they worry what everyone might think, even random people on the internet that they have never met.

Remember, these are people who are likely never going to subscribe to your view anyway. You could spend hours upon hours trying to convince them to change their mind, but research also shows that when presented with evidence that contradicts their existing worldview, many people will actually ignore it and believe their existing views even more strongly.

They are not your target audience.

But still, it is human nature to take negative feedback personally. We humans are hardwired to feel negative experiences more powerfully than positive ones, a process I have previously described when talking about the solution to Loss Aversion.

And as such, many creative people and innovators try to develop output which they think will appeal to everyone, so that nobody can provide negative feedback.

Or worse, they might never release anything they are working on because they are scared of the possibility of a hater (even a single one).

However, there is a problem with that:

If you try and please everyone, you will end up pleasing no-one

Everyone has their own views and opinions, and it is impossible to produce anything that will be univerally loved.

And if you think about it, for someone to take time and energy out of their day to leave you negative feedback you weren’t asking for, often there are other negative things happening in this person’s life that leads them to take this action.

So the more productive thing to do is to just accept the fact that your focus, mental energy and emotional reserves are better used appealing to the actual target audience for whatever you are trying to create.

They are the ones who will ultimately determine if you will be successful.

They are the ones that you are actually producing your creative work and innovative solutions for.

So ignore the Haters.

They don’t deserve it.

Focus on producing the best work you can at the time, refining it, building your skills through deliberate practice, and eventually you will get your message through to the people who will actually benefit from it.

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Nick Skillicorn

Chief Editor, Founder & CEO at Improvides Innovation Consulting

Creativity & Innovation expert: I help individuals and companies build their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you can develop the next breakthrough idea which customers love. Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Author / TEDx Speaker / Voted as one of the most influential innovation bloggers.