If we trust the source of the criticism, we're more likely to take it well. Most of the time, what we're up against isn't someone else's opinion but our own, reactive defensiveness. Slowing down that reaction and hearing before feeling can make us better at processing criticism.
Systems aren't about living in a rigid box, they are really about freeing us from trying to make it up as we go. What can we automate in our lives? What can we take out of the realm of burden and into some kind of system that fits how we live?
One of the benefits of thinking like a CEO, is that you get some clarity. Q4 is all there is, what am I doing NOW that I'll be grateful for in December (remember our conversations about 'future you'?)