At some point in your work-related life, whether you’re a novel writer, a business content writer, or anyone else in the professional writing community, you’ll have that day where a customer is unhappy.  It doesn’t matter why they’re unhappy or what they’re unhappy about, but they’re unhappy about something relating to your work.  If you’re struggling to find motivation and energy to keep on going with that negative experience fresh in your mind, here are some tips to help you get back up on your writing horse again, as strong as ever.

How to start back to work after negative interaction or review

As someone who has gotten my fair share of negative feedback and just general negativity from customers, I can confidently say that it does get easier to handle as you get used to it.  Here are my favourite tips to help me get my writing mojo back.

• Take a beat before you go back: If you’ve had a particularly insult-laden email from an unhappy customer, or you’ve been chasing someone for an invoice payment (never cool, but it happens), take a moment before you work on another job or interact with another customer.  Maybe it’s 5 minutes, maybe it’s a few hours.  Maybe it’s even the rest of the day.  Take the right amount of time to distance yourself from the emotion of the situation, and go back at it with a level head.  This is crucial for practicing personal and professional self-care.

• Blame the right person: If the negative experience is genuinely the fault of the customer, don’t be afraid to lay the blame on their shoulders (though you may want to keep that in your head).  If it’s on you, though, make sure you put the blame on yourself and take it as a learning opportunity to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  Whatever the situation and whoever is responsible, make sure to never blame another customer for someone else’s wrong-doings!  Taking it out on an innocent customer won’t just lose you a sale, it’ll also make you look totally unprofessional.  Not every customer is out to get you, after all, so don’t act like it!

• Always search for the silver lining: No matter how nasty, ugly, or anger-infused a negative experience may be, make it your job to look for the silver lining in it.  Maybe you’re recognizing warning signs for the future.  Maybe it’s about how to deescalate inflammatory comments, or even something as simple as learning how to control your temper on the job. Deliberately finding something positive to take from the experience can help you stay in charge of it and it also helps dissipate a lot of the negativity so it doesn’t haunt you.

Negativity comes with the job 

Sorry, guys, but it’s true.  Negative experiences and negative customers come in all fields of work, and this includes that of a professional writer.  Even the biggest names and professionals have negative experiences, so you could say it’s an indicator of greatness…?  That sounds like a great silver lining to me!  Have any other tips you’d like to share?  Go right ahead!  

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