title: The two-review technique url: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/10/the-two-review-technique.html hash_url: dacfa0c987fe155935337bf217785fe8
As you work on your project (your presentation, your plan, your speech, your recipe, your...) imagine that it's the sort of thing that could be reviewed on Amazon.
Now, write (actually write down) two different reviews:
First, a 5 star review, a review by someone who gets it, who is moved, who is eager to applaud your guts and vision.
And then, a 1 star review, an angry screed, not from the usual flyby troll, but from someone who actually experienced your work and hated it.
Okay, you've got two reviews, here's the question:
Are you working to make it more likely that the 5 star reviews are more intense, more numerous and more truthful than ever, or...
Are you working to minimize the number of 1 star reviews?
Very hard to obsess about both, since they tend to happen together.
The thing is, if you work to minimize criticism, you have surrendered the beauty and greatness of what you've set out to build.