4 ms·
I’m not necessarily a fan of telling people “you’re an X person” (other than whimsically like as in “you’re a gentleman and a scholar”). But I am a fan of biasi
by peatmoss 8y ago
I’m not necessarily a fan of telling people “you’re an X person” (other than whimsically like as in “you’re a gentleman and a scholar”). But I am a fan of biasing feedback in favor of praising good actions rather than condemning the faults.
I had a two music teachers back in the day. One would call me on every flaw in a fairly negative way. I got to the point of dreading my weekly lesson. I got to college and the prof there gave targeted attaboys for things I was doing well, or (this is key) showed signs of improvement at. I worked much harder for the attaboys than I did to avoid disparagement.
That’s not to say flaws can’t be corrected ever... it’s just that positive encouragement is typically more effective than negative signaling in my experience.
- slededit 8y agoThere are people that respond better to (constructive) criticism than praise. To me praise has zero meaning and I can't really do anything with it. A good criticism however gives me information on how to improve.
- specialist 8y agoI just hired a life, wellness coach. (I'm trying to get out of rut after a long stretch of health challenges.) Even though I know the praise is part of the program, what I'm paying for, I still bask in the glory. So I guess I'm open minded about this sort of thing.
- toasterlovin 8y agoFWIW, my most formative experience as young adult was working for an boss who was impossible to please and only expressed negative sentiments about my performance. I started working for him as a boy and quit having become a man.