There is growing evidence compliments benefit both the giver and the receiver, but that people give fewer compliments than they probably should. In my last piece for Fast Company, I focused on some factors that might make people shy away from giving compliments. Now, I want to turn to what you should do if somebody compliments you.
It is hard for many people to take a compliment. There are a few reasons for that difficulty. The first is that most people do not want to be seen as vain or boastful. So, when someone compliments you, it creates a mild embarrassment in which the recipient feels like accepting the compliment will make them seem as if they are publicly acknowledging their own greatness—which isn’t far from bragging. In addition, many people have reservations about their own performance, and so they may not feel as though they deserve the compliment they have received.
Because of this discomfort, people develop a number of deflection strategies for compliments. One is to deny the thing they have been complimented for (“No, I’m not really that great a writer.”). A second is to minimize the achievement they have been complimented for (“Honestly, it wasn’t that big a task.”). A third is to point to all of the other people responsible for the achievement (“Really, all the credit should go to Sarah, who carried the load for this work.”)
Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.