The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
What kind of feedback helps you improve? I always like to think that life has a good balance of good and bad. My culture has a tradition, every New Year, of partaking in a special drink: it starts off sweet and pleasant, then hits you with strikingly bitter undertones. The idea is to provide a metaphor for life; sometimes sweet, sometimes unpleasant. I’ve always appreciated an appropriate balance of these two poles, both from other people towards me and from myself. I don’t appreciate when people are all compliments, but no one appreciates a brutally honest jerk either. That’s why, when I want feedback or help, I also want a good balance of these. Improvement is virtually nonexistent if you’re constantly told you’re great, but there’s minimal motivation to improve if others' feedback is overwhelmingly negative. That’s why I’ve always found that balanced feedback has been the most effective for me to improve on my work. Something that preferably, I’ll admit, appeals to my ego, but...