Fogging Technique

The Fogging technique is a way to accept criticism without letting it bring you down.

Just imagine you're like the fog. When someone throws a stone at you, you accept it and you envelop the stone in your fog without throwing the stone back at the other person.

This technique is amazingly practical. So if someone says to you. "You made a mistake", "You're stupid", "You're a dork", "You're too short", "You're too tall", etc.

You simply accept the criticism, or a part of the criticism, even if it's untrue, and you repeat it back to the person who criticized you.

So following those examples, you could say: "Yes, I did make a mistake", "Yes, I am not that smart", "Yes, I am kind of a dork", and "Yes, I'm too tall (or too short)".

And eventually, the person who was throwing stones at you will eventually run out of stones to throw.

For practice, explain this technique to a friend, someone you trust, and have him insult you none stop for five minutes while you respond with the fogging technique.

The Fogging technique was invented by Manuel J. Smith in his book "When I Say No, I Feel Guilty" ISBN 0553263900 . This technique shouldn't necessarily be used when the legal system gets involved, there are other rules you should follow for that.

This technique was originally described as something to do when the other person is trying to manipulate you. It is not meant as a way to deflect criticism in all its forms. The key in the book was that the critic would use emotionally loaded terms to make the subject feel {guilty|bad|whatever} and stop the behavior that the critic disliked.