Useful Feedback, Not Reassurance

Reassurance—while it’s calming—never lasts. Godin says: 

There’s never enough reassurance to make up for a lack of commitment to the practice. 

Reassurance is short-term. It amplifies attachment. It shifts our focus from pursuing the practice to maneuvering it to ensure success. So—useful feedback, not reassurance. For example, in my Swedish language learning, there is little use if my Sfi teacher just reassures me that I will do great in the language without giving me feedback on where I had made mistakes or how I could improve on my sammanfattning (English: summary) writing. She is wonderful in that she gives both reassurance AND feedback. It’s beneficial to me.  

Through practice, we share our work. Will our work land well with (the right) people? There will be uncertainty and risks involved. I have had people asking me the point of my blog. I’m practicing, and I’ve been blogging for over 15 years. I’m aware not everyone will see the point of it, but over the years, I’ve made friends with book bloggers, authors—my blog didn’t land with everyone, but that is helt okej. I’m not famous either, but I derived a lot of joy from it. Who knows what will happen in the future? 

The practice is agnostic about the outcome. The practice remains, regardless of the outcome. —Seth Godin