Richie Benaud Quotes

Self criticism must be my guide to action, and the first rule for its employment is that in itself it is not a virtue, only a procedure.

Be your own biggest critic. Don't let someone else beat you to constructive criticism.

For me, my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength: I'm a complete overthinker about everything.

Being critical of yourself is important sometimes: not during the season, because you need to be confident, but during the winter, it's always a good time to look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'This, this, and this I need to improve.' That's how it is.

When I am talking to someone, I can constantly see whether I am failing or succeeding. I am regulating what I am saying in terms of how I think I'm doing. I'm always searching for the truth of a subject or person, and I look at every meeting as a grand experiment.

I'm definitely a perfectionist. I started entertaining so young. I think, naturally, my personality is that of a perfectionist, and then on top of that, growing up in the industry, I became very objective and analytical of myself early on, and I find myself doing that in everything.

If you can get really good at destroying your own wrong ideas, that is a great gift.

I'm always looking at things and seeing how I can improve upon them. I think it's my responsibility to focus on how I can do better, as opposed to what I've done well.

Part of being successful is about asking questions and listening to the answers.

I don't just study my opponent; I study myself. It's something you have to do to get better.

I will always be my hardest critic. Nobody else will ever be able to come at something I do harder than I come at myself.

Improving, for me, is quite natural as I'm always critical of myself.

I'm big on watching film, and sometimes it hurts myself because I over-calculate things, or I overthink sometimes.

After a good training camp, pushing myself, learning new things, I always feel confident coming back to New Zealand.

You have to go out there and focus on yourself and not who you are up against.

You have to appreciate the finer points of your work; criticise, too, if needed. I am also my own worst and most honest critic. I can say things which nobody will ever dare say. Even the best of friends will stop at a point, whereas I can go beyond.

I'm demanding and critical about myself. It's something my parents passed on to me.

I have many aspects of my game I need to improve, and that's what I am focusing on. I prefer not to say what they are in public - for me, it's a secret, and I just want to work hard.

Every player has to figure out what works best for them. So yes, I like the way I work, and if that gives me a competitive edge, that's great and if it doesn't that's okay too.

My style is part of my lifestyle and part of my preparation to get ready to play in the game. It's my preparation for life, I should say.

After every game I analyse my performance with the goalkeeping coach in a very critical manner. There is certain criticism you will take on board and other things that do not affect you. You cannot look too far into that because it can destruct you in a certain way.

It is always good to self-analyse and be self-critical. That is how I've got through so far and improved.

Active questions are the alternative to passive questions. There is a huge difference between, 'Do you have clear goals?' and 'Did you do your best to set clear goals for yourself?' The former is trying to determine the employee's state of mind; the latter challenges the employee to describe or defend a course of action.

I'm always my hardest critic.

I am very self-critical and always will be. I think this makes me want to improve, always. But just because I'm self-critical and say what I thought of my performance in a game, it doesn't mean I will bring myself down, ever.