Criticism

A Quick Riff On Criticism And Allowing Comments

A Quick Riff On Criticism And Allowing Comments

Garth Beyer

Why allow comments on your website?

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For two reasons. One, people will try to piss you off, they will hate your ideas, they may even hate you for having them.

Ever heard of desensitization? Nothing makes it happen faster than allowing comments online. Being capable of handling any form of criticism pays off in the best of ways. You’ll see.

Second, percentage wise, we’re no shorter on critics than those in the 70s were. They just had the option of trashing (more commonly burning, I’m sure) letters of unpleasant and unhelpful criticism.

Now, today, the letters, the comments, they stick. What matters, though, is not the 100 letters of criticism, but the one comment that offers you an opportunity to connect.

If you’re going to burn any letters or delete any comments, let it be the ones that bash on the one person who is being human and giving you a chance to connect. Let’s face it, they’re more important than you are.

That’s the biggest problem with bloggers that I see. Authors will often guard themselves, but forget about guarding the ones stepping up and speaking out (commenting) in support of them.

Your eyes don’t deceive you. I don’t allow comments on my blog for two reasons. The first is this. The second is because if you really want to write to me, you can email me at thegarthbox@gmail.com If you want others to read it, by all means, start your own blog and email me the link.

Stay Positive & By All Means, Shun The Critics (don’t think it will stop the criticism though)

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How They Will View It

Garth Beyer

is going to be different from how anyone else will view it, read it or gather from it.

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I’m not one for math, but I am one for numbers and trends. If you have a small group of people saying that your work needs to be restructured or that it’s not good, keep asking more people before you make drastic changes to the way you do things.

In college, a professor put up a picture of a magazine spread and asked people in the class what was the first thing they noticed and then asked the order that they would read the content. Five people answered differently.

Fortunately there was enough people in the class to come to a majority conclusion about the best method to layout the spread.

On a similar note, I’ve written a lot of articles that have been criticized up the kazoo, but by the same token, those stories were remarkable to many readers. Had I not sought out massive feedback, I may not have created such strong content.

Yes, there is the Law of the Few, but there is also the Law of the Many.

 

Stay Positive & The More (Feedback), The Merrier

Garth E. Beyer

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Some Now. More Later.

Garth Beyer

People are talking now. Not so much about you, but to you. That you’re crazy, that you’re weird, that what you are doing isn’t going to work out. Some are even saying (for a fact, they are at least thinking) you will fail.

I am amazed at how many people have the guts to say things to our faces that they would normally have only said behind our backs. This leaves us – the dreamers, those with ambition, and those who try new things all the time – with a new challenge to face.

So for those that are being talked to (negatively) now. I have one piece of wisdom that will meet the challenge.

Just remember that people talk later more than they talk now. Will they say that you gave up? Or will they say how they used to know this crazy person that actually went off and made it as an artist, a fitness expert, a writer? Will they say how they got you mad and upset and question if you’re doing the right thing? Or will they say how despite all resistance, you carried on doing what you knew was right?

People talk. Some now. More Later.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Going

Garth E. Beyer

A Decrease In Critics

Garth Beyer

Let me note real quick, there’s a heavy difference between a critic and a hyena. The critic has lived life to understand all aspects of a subject. The hyena just yelps at everything until the creator backs away.

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Criticism used to be about showing that someone is wrong. Now, because everyone can be right, criticism is about guiding a person to become even more right – and to show others that they are right. This is tough work for the critic, extremely tough. The critic takes partial responsibility in making something work – so the critic sees it as this – if they don’t fully believe in the idea, they don’t criticize it.

In more simple terms. To critique means to discover a way to improve. Creators gather so much input before they launch products that it takes extreme talent to come up with a successful idea for improvement. Thus, there has been a serious decrease in those willing to critique any piece of work.

The reason to understand what a critic is and does is so you don’t confuse hyenas with critics. When creators do that, well, that’s when they get in trouble and the hyenas fill their stomachs.

 

Stay Positive & Keep Searching, There’s A Critic In The Group Of Hyenas

Garth E. Beyer

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More On The 2nd Part Of Being Scared

Garth Beyer

There are two parts to everyone being scared.

The second is my favorite because it has the potential of making you feel better than you ever have before. At my work, I have evaluated applications from students that have put in more than 2,000 hours of community service over a span of four years. But when I think of the second part of fear, I can’t help but realize that more empowering results can be created by talking to someone for two minutes.

Online example

Despite Twitter’s popularity, it’s far from perfect. In fact, I gave their ads a try and was revolted. They gave me $50 to start running ads and I quit before it was spent.

They also required you to have a debit/credit card on file before they gave you the money. Once I quit my ads, I wanted to delete my debit card information. I could not find any place to do this. So, I emailed them.

Within a day I received an email saying that the feature I requested was not available and that they would work on it – in the mean time I would basically have to deal with it.

Since then, a few weeks have passed. The other day, I opened my email to find this:

Twitter

There is always room for improvement

Whether the person, company, or client you’re talking to follows through with your suggestion – or in Twitter’s case, takes your unfulfillable request and turns it into something real – it’s still your responsibility to make that suggestion.

Out of the millions of Twitter users, I have no clue how many will be happy that they can delete their card from their account. I have no clue how many employees it took, how much red tape it had to go through, or how successful their actions really were. What I do know is that they took a request, an idea, and made it happen. And for that – although I still can’t stand the ads, – I will stick by Twitter’s side.

Personal examples

An old friend of mine wanted to start a blog about teen dads. I gave him roughly five lines of hard encouragement. I told him exactly what he needed to do. He never did. I didn’t let fear get to him, he did.

Another friend of mine was applying to law school and asked if I would review his personal statement. I gave him a few suggestions but explained more about human personalities and how those reviewing the application are real people. He understood, realizing that there was fear that the person reviewing his application might misjudge him. Because of fear, he wrote a safe statement. Once I called him out on it, he made some changes and while he has yet to hear back, I’m sure he will get in.

I shared a speech I wrote with a respectable entrepreneur. She critiqued the staleness and boredom out of it. Because of her, my speech became more remarkable. I also gave the original draft to a friend who said it was good, providing a couple grammatical corrections. You can guess which one had more of an impact.

Criticism is tough work

So is encouragement, accountability, and inspiration – all of which are required to back up another’s dance with fear. I’ve always thought that doing your own work is easy, well, maybe not easy, but always easier than helping someone else do their own work.

I suppose that’s why I love giving people feedback. Maybe, just maybe, they will see how valuable it is to them, that they give feedback to someone else.

 

Stay Positive & Let Others Know What You Think And Feel

Garth E. Beyer

Numbing Emotions

Garth Beyer

There’s actually no way you can. You can hide them but they don’t play that game very well. By default emotions do the seeking. You can fake them, and sure, sometimes you fake it until you make it, but rarely.

Rarely because emotions are the effervescence of your pursuit. It’s not the way you painted the portrait that an observers falls in love with, it’s the emotion that they can see was put into it.

On the other side of the spectrum, you can’t numb the negative emotions of vulnerability, of being rejected, of getting criticism that you couldn’t handle. And that’s okay.

The way I see it is this: falling down doesn’t cease the pain.

The only options you have are to either keep creating art despite how much it may hurt or to find a new way to make better art by leveraging your emotions. You may not be able to numb them, but you can always leverage them.

 

Stay Positive & Lean Into Discomfort

Garth E. Beyer

When To Talk About Your Work

Garth Beyer

Running it by someone who might not understand is waste of your time.

Sure, you may get some variant input, but no serious support.

Instead, follow the motto: run with it and review.

Talk about your work after it’s shipped, not while you’re working, not while you’re creating, not while you can be manipulated by poor forms of criticism.

“Talk about what you have written, by all means, but do not read from it while the work is in progress. Every gratification procured in this way will slacken your tempo. If this regime is followed, the growing desire to communicate will become in the end a motor for completion.” Walter Benjamin, One-Way Street

 

Stay Positive & Until It’s Shipped, Follow The First Rule Of Fight Club

Garth E. Beyer