First Man In: Leading from the Front

by Ant Middleton

You should stand in front of the mirror and be brutally honest with yourself. You won’t want to be. Every atom in your body may well resist. Criticism from other people is bad enough – the last thing you need is criticism from yourself.

Name the things you need to change about yourself. Look yourself in the eye and say them out loud, every single one. And don’t hold back. This is about brutal honesty. The moment you can achieve this level of honesty is the moment you can start accepting yourself for who you are and make those changes to become a better you. This level of honesty frees you. It also bulletproofs you against the criticism of everyone you’ll ever meet.

Again, look yourself in the eye and say it out loud. Be relentless. Rip into yourself. By accepting and believing that you’re responsible for your life, you’ll find a way to process your weaknesses, accept them and move on. You’ll make progress, sometimes rapidly and dramatically.

It starts with honesty because, as soon as you’re honest with yourself, you’ll stop fearing what other people think about you. You’ll be less afraid of criticism because you’ll have done all the criticising yourself.