Feedback

Every action in life drives some sort of feedback. Feedback is a response telling you what the outcome of your actions was. My college football Coach and his staff lived by the mantra “Feedback is a gift and honest feedback is a luxury.” Their thoughts were honest feedback is hard to hear, but people who care about you will provide it to you so you can improve. They lived in the black-and-white of what worked and what did not. Everything we did was tracked and monitored by numbers and compared to our peers. For every action, there was direct feedback. With a culture of feedback, the only option was to improve.

Feedback in my life can be boiled down into everything I do. I use feedback to assess how I use my time, how a run feels, to understand why I am tired, to realize the source of my headache— anything and everything in my life has a basis in feedback. Feedback is also applied from a cause-and-effect perspective specifically with my inaction. If I feel rushed during my day and do not accomplish what I need to do, I most often can bring it back to my inaction of not getting up early. That is a simple black-and-white truth for my own life. It is never that I am too busy, it is almost always that I choose not to act in a way that sets me up for success. It is never that I don’t have enough time, it is almost always I used my time in ineffective ways.

Not everyone takes feedback positively. Growing up playing sports I played with countless teammates who would get mad at or talk back to a coach correcting them. I never understood those responses and still don’t. I relish the idea of feedback. Hearing people criticize me is met with open ears because I believe anyone taking their time, their words, or their thoughts, to tell me how to do something differently is doing so because they believe they are helping. Anyone who believes they are helping me, I give them the time of day. This is not to say I agree with all feedback nor do I implement all feedback I receive, but I do listen with respect. I believe receiving feedback is a simple mechanism that enables the opinions of others to help mold you into a better version of yourself.

I recognize a lot of people get offended when they hear things they can improve on. I believe a lot of these feelings of offense are centered around insecurities already felt. I do think this response is a choice and I think my perspective of how I frame feedback can help those who react negatively to feedback. By believing people who provide you feedback are trying to help you, you can remove your ego and listen to what they have to say. Feedback is a part of everything we do. Being receptive to honest feedback is one of the best ways to improve and realize your true potential.