{"id":75732,"date":"2022-08-04T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T15:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=75732"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:26:37","slug":"creative-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Ask for Creative Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is creative feedback important for artists? How can feedback make you better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>The Practice<\/em>, Seth Godin shares tips and tricks to improve your creative skills. He says that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/post-project\/\">after you finish a project<\/a>, you should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ask-for-feedback-at-work\/\">ask for feedback<\/a> from others, but also not pay attention to a lot of criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out Godin&#8217;s advice for effectively using creative feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-creative-feedback\"><strong>Creative Feedback<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/society-culture\/arts\/sharing-your-art\/\">share your work<\/a>, some of it might work for some people, but not others; some of it might not work at all. The goal is not to get reassurance from your audience; it\u2019s to incorporate useful, creative feedback to make your work better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Godin points out that <strong>a lot of criticism isn\u2019t worth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-pay-attention\/\">paying attention<\/a> to<\/strong>. This includes criticism from internet trolls or people who aren\u2019t your intended audience. For example, people who like meandering, lyrical ballads aren\u2019t going to like your rap music, so it doesn\u2019t matter what they have to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only criticism worth paying attention to is criticism from people who tell you what\u2019s not working for them without indicting you personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Use Creative Feedback Effectively<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s one thing to say, \u201cShare your work (even if it\u2019s bad!),\u201d it\u2019s quite another thing to actually do it. Many of us are afraid of what others will think of our work\u2014not only do we want to avoid criticism, but we\u2019re also overly attached to praise. So what can we do to handle feedback effectively and use it to our creative advantage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Godin addresses this to some extent when he talks about reassurance and how seeking praise won\u2019t help your work. He also discusses the difference between useful and useless criticism. Other books on creativity overlap with this advice, while also presenting additional ideas about evaluating, filtering, and incorporating feedback. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316209\/playing-big-by-tara-mohr\/\"><em>Playing Big<\/em><\/a>, for example, Tara Mohr shares the following tips for detaching ourselves from caring too much about praise and criticism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. It\u2019s not about you.<\/strong> Feedback doesn\u2019t tell you about your own worth, it only tells you about the person giving the feedback and their preferences and opinions. Mohr also says that the purpose of feedback is not to inflate or deflate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-ego\/\">your ego<\/a>, or to tell you whether your work is \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cgood\u201d; it\u2019s to give you information about whether you\u2019re reaching your intended audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Don\u2019t worry about what family, friends, or \u201cexperts\u201d think.<\/strong> Family and friends may try to be supportive\u2014or they may project their fears onto you\u2014but usually, they don\u2019t have the information you need to properly evaluate your creative project. And if you\u2019re working on something brand new, experts in your field may not understand what you\u2019re trying to do either, or they may feel threatened by it. The most important people to get feedback from are your intended audience and the decision makers you need to influence or reach. Then, take the feedback that\u2019s strategically useful to you and leave the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Criticism doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve done something wrong.<\/strong> Criticism doesn\u2019t mean you&#8217;ve made a mistake. On the contrary, criticism is inevitable whenever you put important work into the world. Need proof? Mohr suggests reading the top positive and negative book reviews for any bestseller to bring home the point that any significant work draws a wide range of reactions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is creative feedback important for artists? How can feedback make you better? In his book The Practice, Seth Godin shares tips and tricks to improve your creative skills. He says that after you finish a project, you should ask for feedback from others, but also not pay attention to a lot of criticism. Check out Godin&#8217;s advice for effectively using creative feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":10158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,43,30],"tags":[718],"class_list":["post-75732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-self-improvement","category-work","tag-the-practice","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why You Should Ask for Creative Feedback - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To be your best creative self, you have to accept feedback. 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