It’s impossible to live a creative life without dealing with feedback. In someways, it’s a double edged sword. It can be essential to helping us and our projects grow, but it can also be discouraging.
Plus, feedback can also be conflicting. One person might say they love something you did, while someone else might be more critical. So which do you listen to?
Overall, I believe good feedback should be exciting, not demoralizing.
In my experience, getting really good feedback makes me excited to get back to work–even if something critical has been pointed out.
So how do you navigate the minefield of feedback to get to the good stuff? Here are 4 big tips to help you out!
Prioritize your vision for your work
Like we touched on in the intro, feedback can sometimes be conflicting. I’ve found one of the best ways to get clear on which feedback is valuable is to prioritize your vision for your work.
As in, the most helpful and valuable feedback should get your work closer to what you want it to be.
A lot of times, when people offer more critical or negative feedback for something, it’s not because it’s “bad.” It’s because it’s not what they wanted it to be.
Everyone has different tastes, which means not everyone will like your work. That’s fine!
Your goal should be to create something that you are proud of. I firmly believe that if we prioritize making something we would be a fan of if we weren’t the creator, others will be a fan of it too.
The rest of the tips in this post are going to get into how to get this kind of feedback. But I think the first thing to get clear on is that your primary goal for feedback shouldn’t be to make something that’s universally loved or considered “good.”
“Good” is subjective and you can’t control what other people think. You can only control what you create and what you think of what you create.
As a result, you’ll likely lead a happier and more productive creative life if you goal is to make something that you’re proud of and that’s as close to your original vision as possible.
Be selective
You don’t have to take every piece of feedback that’s offered to you. Instead, seek out and/or accept feedback from people who can help you get closer to your vision and support your growth.
More than anything these people should:
- Know what they’re talking about.
- Be members of your target audience.
- Be invested in helping you create the type of project you want to create (and not trying to make your project what they want it to be).
- Be interested in supporting you and your project as it grows (not just leveling harsh criticism).
- Be willing to hold you accountable to your ability, goals, and values.
These people don’t have to be experts in your creative arena, but they should know enough to be able to be helpful.
For instance, as a writer, a lot of people I solicit feedback from aren’t professional writers themselves. But they are readers and lovers of story who have a good understanding of what it takes to tell a successful one.
I also believe they need to know you well enough to be able to truly hold you accountable. Don’t get me wrong, getting a more technical critique can be helpful in developing your craft.
But when it comes to your individual project and overall growth, getting feedback from people who truly know what you’re capable of can keep you and your project much more honest.
All of this also means you don’t need to give a shit about what that random person from the internet thinks of what you made. They’re entitled to their opinion, but unless you can say for sure that person meets the criteria above, you’re entitled not to care about it.
Ask for what you need
Creating is a process. We know this. But it’s important to keep that in mind when you’re asking for feedback.
I think it’s important to get feedback at various points throughout the creative process. But the type of feedback you need in each stage is likely to be very different.
Speaking as a writer, when I hand someone an early draft, I make it known that my biggest concerns are the overall plot, story, characters, general pacing, and other big picture concepts.
Essentially, I want to know if what I have is engaging and appealing to my target audience. That’s my first priority.
I’m not interested in digging into specific plot holes or character development issues yet. And I’m a long ways off from caring about the grammar and more technical side of the draft. Those issues will have their time, but it’s not my concern in an early draft.
So when I hand a draft over to someone for feedback, I’m very clear about what my concerns are and how they can best help me.
This helps me get really useful feedback that allows my work to continue to grow and evolve in a way I can be excited about.
Set boundaries
This is a big one.
It’s okay to decide when you aren’t interested in their feedback and to set boundaries accordingly.
For me, once something is published, I’m not interested in negative feedback or criticism. You don’t have to like what I made, but if I allowed something to be published it mean that I believe it’s the best I could do and it’s as close to my vision as I could possibly get at this point in time.
It means I’m happy with it.
I’m thrilled to know when other people are too, because it’s something we can connect over. I think it’s also important to know that I’m connecting with someone, no matter how small that group is.
When I see positive feedback from strangers who really seem to get what I’ve made and love it, I know I’ve hit my mark. And I do think it’s legitimately important to know that I’ve reached my target audience.
But if someone didn’t like it, then there’s a good chance they’re not in my target audience. And that’s fine! It just means my work is for other people to enjoy, and there’s something else out there for them to enjoy.
There’s a case to be made that getting that kind of feedback can make future projects better, but personally, I haven’t found that it does. Moving through the creative process has made me better, time and time again. That’s what keeps me growing and improving.
I really haven’t found getting feedback on a completed project to be that helpful. Especially when you consider that I don’t know for sure that the person giving the feedback meets the selective criteria we talked about previously in this post.
Because of this, there are two boundaries I set.
First, I have a boundary with myself. I don’t read reviews or online chatter, but I let my friends and family know they can send any positive reviews or feedback my way.
Second, if anyone tries to critique my work in person, I let them know that I’m not looking for feedback now that the book is published. It’s out there, I’m proud of it, and I can’t change it, so anything they have to offer just wouldn’t be helpful.
Your boundaries may be different than mine. You may find you really appreciate critical feedback after your work has been released, or have other boundaries to apply.
It doesn’t matter what your boundaries are, it’s just important that you have them and enforce them with yourself and others.
But, it’s also important to be discerning
Boundaries are meant to flex in certain situations, so it’s important to know when it’s necessary to do so.
For instance, in my case, as much as I’m not interested in post-publication criticism, this doesn’t extend to things that are offensive or factually incorrect/harmful. If I unknowingly got something wrong in this way, that feedback would be important.
It would enable to me to apologize, make it right, and do better in the future. This feedback would be less about my work itself and more about my responsibility as a creator.
So yes, have boundaries around feedback, but also remember to be discerning and flex that boundary.
Are you struggling with your creative project? A tarot reading can help!
As an artist and creator myself, tarot has been a pretty powerful tool to help me understand where my project is at, where my attention should go, what my next steps are, or if it’s time to let it go and set it free.
It can do the same for you!
This is why Foreshadow Intuitive Tarot offers a Guidance for Creators and Creatives Reading, which is designed to give you the guidance and empowerment you need to move your creative endeavors forward with confidence!
This reading can be customized to meet you where your at in your unique creative journey. It can also be structured to help you gain the insights you need for your creativity to flow and your projects to blossom.
I also have a post that shares 7 ways tarot can help your creativity if you want to learn more!
For more on my Tarot philosophy, you can can check out the About page.
If you’d like to know even more about me and my own personal creative experience and how tarot supported me, you can read my story here.
How do you deal with feedback as a creator? Tell me about it in the comments!
