Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions for a Reason

"True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes." - Daniel Kahneman.?

If you look at all the domains of your life and how you have grown personally and professionally in these domains, you will realize that it wasn’t accomplished through your solo efforts or ingenuity.?

You were constantly helped along the way, i.e., through someone’s faith in you, someone’s mentorship or guidance, someone nudging you just to try out something and it working brilliantly, or some random act of generosity that catapulted you on the side of abundance.

Someone else always played a defining role, not intentionally, though, since it was an act of kindness from their perspective, but it altered your life.?

I remember volunteering with Landmark Education in Mumbai, where I was part of the Production Team that set up the room, aligned chairs and tables, cleaned up the entrance and exit, and even the toilets—all intending to make the attendees' experience wholesome.?

We had a Senior volunteer (Rohini) to whom I was accountable. She would ensure that I didn't drop the ball on my assigned tasks, and if I did, she would give me a piece of her mind in the most caring and constructive way. Those conversations have left an indelible mark on my mind and etched the importance of doing my job well because it affects many others.

Like Rohini, many have graced my life and shaped my thinking in good and bad ways. Some shaped me through conversations, and some shaped me without any conversations. Observing some was good enough feedback for me never to repeat that kind of deplorable behavior.

Feedback doesn't have to be vocal. It could be experiential if you are intuitive enough, observational if you are mindful enough, or vicarious if you are curious enough.?

But without feedback, you cannot become a better version of yourself.

All feedback rarely comes to you most pleasingly and delightfully. It will come to you in constructive tones; sometimes, it could appear in its most toxic form.

At that moment, your ego will not like it as it will try to rationalize why you were right, and the other person doesn't see it. But it would need maturity on your part to see the gold nugget in that feedback, e.g.?

• you may need to draw lines next time
• you may not need to be friendly with everyone
• you may need to toughen up to express yourself clearly next time
• you may lower your expectations since many people will disappoint you, and that’s the truth of life
• you may need to learn to remain calm instead of getting provoked and later regretting your actions or words for life.

There could be so many lessons hidden when feedback comes to you in varied forms.

Will you remain open enough to see the lesson hiding in there?

If yes, that alone could elevate you to the top of the game you have taken on, personally or professionally.

As Ken Blanchard would say, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”

So don't hesitate to take a bite. If it doesn't come, seek it on your own. There are enough resources around you to help you. You may just need to ask!