If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional danc

The program contains success tips which can be applied to other activities as well as dancing. You can, for example, guarantee that there will be at least one critic ready to snipe at you as soon as you attempt anything outside the ordinary. The winning dancers can show us how to deal with such criticism.

Successful competitors learn to get over criticism which they feel is unfair or to use it as motivation. If the criticism is justified, they will try to put right whatever is criticised.

Karen Hardy, the professional dancer, who eventually won the competition with her amateur partner, the cricketer Mark Ramprakash, actually thanked the judges for their criticisms:

"I have to say thank you to the judges because they got me mad."

She knew how to let the criticism motivate her to greater action: "If anybody kicks me down, they will get a tyrant coming back."

However, Karen also knew how to respond to justified criticisms:

"They all had valid points. Len picked up on technical faults. My job now is to get back in the studio and correct my faults and hope they don't show up again."

Carol Smillie and her partner, Matthew Cutler, felt she had been unfairly criticised by the judges in the fifth week of 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

Carol and Matthew believed that they had received nothing but criticism while all of the good things they had done were ignored. No one likes criticism but most of us can accept some criticism so long as it is spiced with some praise and so long as it is consistent.

Carol commented: "I took it on the chin but Matthew was really angry about it."

Craig Revel Horwood, one of the judges, commented:

"It's stupid to blow off about things like that. In my opinion, Carol was a disaster. She just needs to get on and correct it and stop whingeing about it."

Both Matthew and Carol did, in fact, respond well to the criticism.

Matthew said; "Getting bad remarks on Saturday (the day of the weekly show) will make us work harder." Working harder is the key to much success. Even if you learn to work smarter, work is still involved at some point!

Carol had a fighting response to the criticism:

"When Monday morning comes, you start afresh. The slate is clean The bouncing back starts with a Cha Cha Cha. Great! BRING IT ON! "

However, Matthew felt the judges' comments had harmed his partner's ability to do well:

"The judges have made my job much harder. Carol is saying 'I can't do it' in reference to the Cha Cha Cha. She would never have said that before."

Carol admitted: "Sometimes the fight leaves you but it is back."

Claudia Winkelmann, an interviewer, acknowledged her courage:

"Lots of people would lie down in the foetal position and say I'm not going back."

People, who desire any kind of success, have to learn to grow up, stand up and continue to take action when criticised.

Successful people accept the fact that if they want to win a competition, they will have to train and work very hard. They will not master the necessary information or skills in a second.

Karen made this point to Mark: "If you could get it in a second, we would have 3000 world champions wouldn't we?"

If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional dance

"I have to say thank you to the judges because they got me mad."

She knew how to let the criticism motivate her to greater action: "If anybody kicks me down, they will get a tyrant coming back."

However, Karen also knew how to respond to justified criticisms:

"They all had valid points. Len picked up on technical faults. My job now is to get back in the studio and correct my faults and hope they don't show up again."

Carol Smillie and her partner, Matthew Cutler, felt she had been unfairly criticised by the judges in the fifth week of 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

Carol and Matthew believed that they had received nothing but criticism while all of the good things they had done were ignored. No one likes criticism but most of us can accept some criticism so long as it is spiced with some praise and so long as it is consistent.

Carol commented: "I took it on the chin but Matthew was really angry about it."

Craig Revel Horwood, one of the judges, commented:

"It's stupid to blow off about things like that. In my opinion, Carol was a disaster. She just needs to get on and correct it and stop whingeing about it."

Both Matthew and Carol did, in fact, respond well to the criticism.

Matthew said; "Getting bad remarks on Saturday (the day of the weekly show) will make us work harder." Working harder is the key to much success. Even if you learn to work smarter, work is still involved at some point!

Carol had a fighting response to the criticism:

"When Monday morning comes, you start afresh. The slate is clean The bouncing back starts with a Cha Cha Cha. Great! BRING IT ON! "

However, Matthew felt the judges' comments had harmed his partner's ability to do well:

"The judges have made my job much harder. Carol is saying 'I can't do it' in reference to the Cha Cha Cha. She would never have said that before."

Carol admitted: "Sometimes the fight leaves you but it is back."

Claudia Winkelmann, an interviewer, acknowledged her courage:

"Lots of people would lie down in the foetal position and say I'm not going back."

People, who desire any kind of success, have to learn to grow up, stand up and continue to take action when criticised.

Successful people accept the fact that if they want to win a competition, they will have to train and work very hard. They will not master the necessary information or skills in a second.

Karen made this point to Mark: "If you could get it in a second, we would have 3000 world champions wouldn't we?"

If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional danc

Carol commented: "I took it on the chin but Matthew was really angry about it."

Craig Revel Horwood, one of the judges, commented:

"It's stupid to blow off about things like that. In my opinion, Carol was a disaster. She just needs to get on and correct it and stop whingeing about it."

Both Matthew and Carol did, in fact, respond well to the criticism.

Matthew said; "Getting bad remarks on Saturday (the day of the weekly show) will make us work harder." Working harder is the key to much success. Even if you learn to work smarter, work is still involved at some point!

Carol had a fighting response to the criticism:

"When Monday morning comes, you start afresh. The slate is clean The bouncing back starts with a Cha Cha Cha. Great! BRING IT ON! "

However, Matthew felt the judges' comments had harmed his partner's ability to do well:

"The judges have made my job much harder. Carol is saying 'I can't do it' in reference to the Cha Cha Cha. She would never have said that before."

Carol admitted: "Sometimes the fight leaves you but it is back."

Claudia Winkelmann, an interviewer, acknowledged her courage:

"Lots of people would lie down in the foetal position and say I'm not going back."

People, who desire any kind of success, have to learn to grow up, stand up and continue to take action when criticised.

Successful people accept the fact that if they want to win a competition, they will have to train and work very hard. They will not master the necessary information or skills in a second.

Karen made this point to Mark: "If you could get it in a second, we would have 3000 world champions wouldn't we?"

If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional danc

However, Matthew felt the judges' comments had harmed his partner's ability to do well:

"The judges have made my job much harder. Carol is saying 'I can't do it' in reference to the Cha Cha Cha. She would never have said that before."

Carol admitted: "Sometimes the fight leaves you but it is back."

Claudia Winkelmann, an interviewer, acknowledged her courage:

"Lots of people would lie down in the foetal position and say I'm not going back."

People, who desire any kind of success, have to learn to grow up, stand up and continue to take action when criticised.

Successful people accept the fact that if they want to win a competition, they will have to train and work very hard. They will not master the necessary information or skills in a second.

Karen made this point to Mark: "If you could get it in a second, we would have 3000 world champions wouldn't we?"

If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional danc

If anything is worth doing really well, it isn't going to be easy. Karen, like most successful people, had the sense and the training to accept this.

Karen and Mark always put in an exceptional amount of work. She commented: "You just hope that all the work you've put in will pay off. We've put the hours in. Practice makes perfect and that is how I've been trained. "

Brian Tracy, the great business guru and motivator, says much the same thing in relation to business success:

"The only way to learn to be successful in business is to practice, practice, practice. And if you're not willing to practice; if you're not willing to put in the time to learn, then it is not possible for you to succeed in business."

Sometimes the professional dancers lowered their standards to make life easier for their amateur partners. But one, at least, of the most successful amateurs refused to allow them to do this. She wanted to achieve the same high standards as the professional who partnered her.

During the week after the fifth performance, Erin Boag was asked what she considered the best dance of all the series. She referred back to week three of the second series when Darren Bennett, a champion professional dancer, and Jill Halfpenny, an actress, danced a jive to 'I'm still standing':

"It was just spectacular. It had anything and everything that you could ask for."

Both Jill and Darren decided they would produce a kick ass jive in response to the criticism that their rhumba in week two was 'pedestrian'.

Darren was full of respect for his partner: "Jill's desire to learn to dance was absolutely amazing. Jill would just work and work and work. You cannot ask for more than that. We went out there and literally danced full on."

The speed of the jive was the most difficult part of the dance for Jill. You don't have time to think. Jill asked her partner if he was dancing at his full speed. He said "No".

She said "What I want you to do is always to try to dance at your pace because I want to pick up your pace. I don't want you to pick up my pace."

The audience could see how hard she was working physically and responded.

They danced the jive again in the final.

The hall erupted after the performance and the judges all gave them a ten - the maximum score. They won the championship of the second series.

In the current series, the women amateurs realised that they would have to give everything to do well in the competition. The women professionals always looked stunning and the women amateurs realised that they too had to go in and give it the full wow factor. Someone remarked:

"Louisa Lytton's dresses have got smaller as she gets braver and as she gets better at the dancing and feels more confident."

The amateur men had to accept that they, also, had to do whatever it took to look the part. Arlene, one of the judges, gave her view: "Mark should cut his hair even if he is not happy about it - anything to win."

Another lesson from the show is that confusion will eventually dissipate if you keep working. The amateur dancers would frequently make comments like:

"It's very confusing. Why am I not getting it? I don't know what I'm doing. I'm so confused. I get so confused about where we are. I don't understand that. What are we doing here?"

However, as they kept working and training, the penny would eventually drop and they would come out on the show night and give a half decent performance.

Carol Smillie said: "Every dance I do, I have two or three mental blocks where I think: 'I can't get this right'."

Matthew Cutler, her partner, commented: "Even when she has mental blocks she's done the dance so many times that by Saturday she does it alright."

At one point, Mark Ramprakash said: "I have lost the will to live. It is my usual feeling of confusion and feeling a total beginner."

However he kept going: "I am not going to let this Viennese Waltz get the better of me."

That afternoon, it all came together.

To sum up the success tips above:

Do not lie down 'in the foetal position' when criticised.