From birth onward, life is an endless circle of feedback. Crying gets us food. We get star stickers for turning in work or good behavior. We lose and win basketball games.
Somewhere around middle school, feedback stops being a natural part of learning. And as we start getting letter grades for our work, feedback starts feeling like judgment or a bar we need to meet to progress.
It can hurt when delivered in the “wrong” way.
It feels very personal.
It’s not always helpful.
But when you’re learning new skills, feedback is a must. So don’t avoid feedback. Ask for it in a way that helps you:
1. Write down the specific feedback you want on your project in the form of questions. If you’re writing, do you want to know if your writing is clear or you’ve used correct punctuation?
2. Identify who the best person is to give you that feedback. This might mean asking a few people to give you feedback on the same project. If you’ve got just a few go-to people, focus their feedback on 3-4 questions. And give them all the same questions to see where feedback is the same. This tells you what to focus on.
3. Ask your reviewers to give you specific feedback, not global, and suggestions for how you might improve on what they're pointing out.
By focusing on the project itself and giving clear guidance on what you're looking for, you can walk away with actionable next steps--and keep your confidence throughout the learning process.