How Do You Handle Praise?

How Do You Handle Praise?

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
Mark Twain

What do you do when someone gives you a compliment? Do you blush and stammer … dismiss the compliment with a self-disparaging statement …  smile and say “thank you” …  laugh?  What about the online version of praise – compliments about your comments or about your blog or your web site? How do you handle that kind of praise?

Not many people are well versed in the handling of praise especially when it is delivered directly. A direct compliment is probably the most challenging kind of praise to handle even for people who have  strong self esteem. There are two “indirect” ways to deliver praise, however, which are less likely to make the recipient feel uncomfortable and which make it easy for them to accept and enjoy the compliment.

1) Praise someone in their absence in front of someone else who you know will deliver the compliment. This indirect compliment doesn’t push any insecurity buttons because the one delivering it is not the one who offered it.

2) Describe the action of the person or talk about how you felt about the action, rather than placing a value on the person. For instance, instead of saying  “You’re such a good writer,” you could say, “When I read this I could imagine how it would feel to be there!” at which the person would think, “I’m a good writer!”

How do you respond when someone  praises you? I’m taking a page out of Griddy’s book on this one. When I said something nice about her in a comment on another blog she responded with “Awww thank you so much I’m truly touched with what you said here!” She delivered her gratitude brilliantly; she didn’t judge or dismiss what I said but simply shared her feelings about it.  I knew my compliment had been accepted.

How do you deliver praise?  How do you respond when someone gives you a compliment or praises something you’ve said or done?

photo credit: tinyfroglet

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About The Author


I have always loved writing and community building. I’ve written a book about healing and happiness, The Happy Place, as well as a Community Building book, Sounding the Drum: Community Building in the Digital Age,both available at any Amazon store. I’ve been through life changes that I thought were the end of my world, but I’m still here. You never know what will happen next. Isn’t that what makes life interesting?