Taking a compliment at work

The praise lands and something in you flinches. The deflection is out before you chose it. It was luck, it was the team, it was not that good.

The person who said it now has to argue with you, or let it drop. Either way, the thing they gave you is on the floor.

Compliment Deflection is the name for pushing praise away the moment it arrives. You may know it as a reflex you cannot catch in time.

Thank you is the whole reply. The second line is optional, and it is there for the pause, which is the hard part.

The third version is for work that really was shared. Notice it still begins with thank you. Crediting others is not deflection when it comes after the thanks.

Keep the two words. Drop the sentence that follows them. The silence is not rude. It is the compliment, received.

The flinch has a place in the body. Heat in the face, a wish to look away. That heat is the body signal, and it comes before the deflecting words.

Catch: Feel the body signal and name the pattern before it becomes the behavior. The name is the deflection.

Intercept: Interrupt the usual response and choose a different action before the old pattern completes. The different action is thank you, and then closing your mouth.

Rewrite: Repeat the different action until it becomes easier to reach when the signal returns. Praise is rarer than the other moments, so take every one.

Not it was nothing. Not anyone could have. Not a compliment fired straight back, which is the deflection in a better coat.

Not a list of what was wrong with it. They did not ask for the list. They told you something, and thank you is the receipt.