Feedback Strategies

I read Be a Mirror and found it had some very good points. I almost always give feedback starting with "I think" or "I believe". I liked the article focusing on how we should do everything to keep the attention on their style and not pleasing us. Feedback has always been hard for me. I feel like I'm not qualified to give someone feedback on something I myself am not familiar with. It's challenging, for sure. How do I know if they need to add more or what if their style is just different than mine? One thing I really liked about the article was how it empasized focusing on what is on the page and not on what is missing. If you're a mirror, you can't show something that isn't seen. I also read Presence, not Praise which was a fascinating read. I thought the study was very interesting. Since I don't like to critique, I usually stick to praise. I always feel bad saying things that might make the writer feel bad. I liked how it said to identify the unique things as opposed to praising it all without really looking at it. I will definitely try to use some of these tips when I'm critiquing in the future.

Be a mirror. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Feedback Thoughts

For this assignment, I read the articles Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head and The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop. I enjoyed reading both articles a lot. As I'm sure a lot of us do, I'm usually pretty hard on myself when I'm working on something. I liked what Nawaz wrote in the first article about having one positive voice for every 5 negative voices. I realized that the positive feedback means just as much as the negative. I definitely find myself passing over the good words and immediately hooking on to what I need to fix. I liked her example of how most people react when they're complimented. We tend to minimize it, but when we get a negative comment, we are so curious to find out exactly what was disliked and figure out a way to fix it. Nawaz was saying we should also try to do that with the positive instead of brushing those words off. It's also hard to give feedback to others sometimes. I always look for the good, but am too scared to say anything critical. I know that I have to try to help others succeed and that means offering them advice or correcting something. The second article tackled another subject: comparison. It's so easy for people, myself included, to see someone else's success or work and compare it to yours. We measure our value based on other people's successes, which isn't good. It's hard not to, especially when it's something you're struggling with. I always do this with my cousins. They all know exactly what they want to do, and they are well on their way to accomplishing their goals, so often, I feel like I'm behind or that I'm not as good as they are. However, I have to remember that every single person on this earth has different strengths and weaknesses, so I can't use them as my ruler for success

Words to live by. Image: Flickr