Met with the other mentor of the program today, and she had nice things to say about my paper too but it was to frame her comments on my oral, public performance on the day of my seminar: "But you write so beautifully and with such confidence and I just couldn't believe how you stumbled in your seminar . . . . I just don't understand it. What happened??"
Oy vey.
It is so difficult to hear when it comes from someone you adore! And it is oh so difficult to hear it from someone you adore who looks as if she is reading your very soul. But then again, this is precisely why I adore her. She will not let me get away with delivering anything less than the absolute best. It doesn't matter that I did my best, or even if a few others do think that I performed well enough, if what I did was not the best of how it can and should be done, it is just not good enough, and I need to get on it.
At least you write beautifully! But yeah, Toastmasters, here you come!
ReplyDeleteFeedback is good but feedback from the people whom you respect and trust is more important.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of what the Apostle Paul said (different context though)
1 Corinthians 4:3-4: I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
In case I was not clear ...
ReplyDeletesorry :-)
I was thinking that it is good to know that you have people whose feedback is important to you. People you know have your best in mind and who know what they are talking about. This kind of feedback is the type that matters.
For me I am learning not to pay too much attention to feedback from people that are not "important". By this I mean people whose opinions actually "do not matter.
So for example, what my wife thinks of me is more important that what a grumpy church member might think of me or for that matter, even a happy church member. The feedback I get from my church's former pastor is more important to me than that of a leader of a megachurch who will hardly know me or can identify with who I am and what I do.
And ultimately for me what God thinks of me is much more significant that what anyone else thinks of me - whether good or bad.