The false positive

There are a lot of up-and coming bloggers out there, writing original material and receiving tons of feedback from befriended community members. While regularly hearing that they’re onto something amazing and that their opinion is valued and appreciated, it just might act as a limiting factor to their blogs success.

I’ll tell you why: People grow, reach beyond their own potential and create incredible things, because they are hungry. Thats right, they are hungry for self-expression, personal growth, admiration and success (in what they love to do).

The up and coming mistake

Imagine a motivated, young writer, with his/her head in the clouds and incredible amounts of unleashed creativity at hand. Satisfaction only to be reached when something truly worthwhile is written – sounds like the beginning of a beautiful career.

Now what if that writer is in company of strong supporters, people who romanticize the idea of writing, more than the writing itself. They applaud his/her contributions, say they “love” the article, and convey a sense of appreciation and respect.

What happens, is, the writer becomes content. He/she stops trying to reach for harder, more challenging topics, and continues hovering in the comfort zone. The own output stagnates and stays on the same, mediocre level of professionalism.

Only way out of this spiral: Ask for critical feedback. And when you receive it, ask for some more. Its the most valuable piece of information you can get about your writing, because it has the potential of boosting you to another level of creative work.

Here are some pointers to help you receive the right feedback:

• Do you trust the feedback provider?
• Is the feedback given in an interactive manner?
• Everything clear? Do you know exactly what is meant and how?
• Its nothing personal – always remember that
• Ask if you can return the favor – you learn a lot  by understand how hard it can be, giving someone a true, authentic feedback