The year of crawling out of the pit of mediocrity

The only sin is mediocrity, said Martha Graham, an American dancer. To begin with, everybody hates mediocrity. As a consequence, you will find tons of quotes on mediocrity on the internet. However, most of us are mediocre. But we are blissfully ignorant of this fact until a fateful day someone in the crowd calls out the truth. On that day, we become the naked emperor in the children's tale. Likewise, I have been called dull many times in past few months, both professionally and personally. Words fall short to describe the painful experience. As it arises from both professional and personal fronts, you are conflicted about sharing these experiences. As a result, you bottle these resulting emotions in you which in turn produces undesirable side effects.

As luck would have it, I received feedback on one of my blog posts which turned out to be an easy one to share. The author of the feedback has always been honest about my blogs. After providing feedback a few years ago, he sidestepped and refrained from giving any for an extended period. Who wants to be that person urging for improvement all the time when it falls on deaf ears? So a feedback, literally out of the blue, was surprising. I knew I had to share the feedback. Knowing who reads my blogs, there was skepticism as it might make me a target for ridicule. According to Mark Twain, courage is resistance to fear. I would like to be courageous, even if it lasts only for a few seconds. The feedback has snippets in Malayalam (which you can translate easily using Google Translate) and SMS-speak like ur for your, u for you etc.

I finally gathered courage to read ur blog after a long time..here are my ramblings about the post..
Ningalkku yathoru kala bodhavum illa nnu pande enikku thonniyirunnu.. athil valiya maattam  onnum vannittum illa..
However ur writing have come off ages.. amidst the random conclusions u draw and the "wtf" , "so what", state u create in readers mind:
There's a better flow, there's something to read, there's a link between what u r saying and the topic itself giving a sense of fulfillment (albeit occasionally) for the reader, most importantly there's a great start, chose a reasonably intriguing topic to attract a reader..
Last time I read ur blog, it felt like reading a disjointed project documentation about legacy systems. Now atleast it looks like an attempt by a wannabe writer..there is a shape..
u come across as a simple guy and so does  ur writing, however the difference now is that, u seem to be happy being in ur limits. U haven't littered it with cryptic/complicated words or drama or even wit outside the league of ur writing style. Although, it's dangerously too simple that one (like me) could still ignore reading/following the blog, there is an air of honesty n integrity, desire (to write) about it..and that for sure will guide u to new pastures .....

If you scrutinize the feedback, it is good. It highlights the strengths and weakness. Besides, it emphasizes the right things and the pitfalls. To summarize, It is way much better than the first feedback I got from the same person. The personal attacks have dwindled down a lot.

Since you have stayed and read till here, I do not want you to go away empty-handed. So, the rest of this post is for you. While we solicit feedback, there is no guarantee that it will be palatable to us. Despite how critical the feedback is, there are two things in your control.

1. Repeated practice. Do not give up doing what you do because someone spoke harshly about the outcome. I continued to blog although not as regularly as I desire. Practice makes perfect. Remember Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule. 10,000 hours of training is needed to become world-class in any field.
2. Learn a new way of doing things. Change one parameter. In my case, I decided to link my sentences in a better way. It is only one parameter in my writing. To accomplish a change in your behavior, you need to have a growth mindset. Most of your detractors think you have a fixed mindset. You can learn the differences between two mindsets by searching for Carol Dweck.

These two things are your takeaway.

Photo Courtesy: shrinivasa sharma