There's Feedback In Everything

Something that is fundamental to improvement is feedback. Feedback fuels a cycle of giving something a try, observing the result, understanding the factors that led to the result, and trying something else. Tom Bilyeu calls a version of what I just described the “Physics Of Progress” and John Assaraf has his process of “Think Plan Do Review”.

What I wanted to highlight today though is how commonplace feedback is, and how we’re constantly using it in ways we aren’t even aware of. And I want to demonstrate that by providing a few examples.

Earlier this week I was preparing lunch and trying to get a thin plastic film off the top of the container. I gripped it with my fingers once and slipped off. Twice, and slipped off. A third time and slipped off. Then I took a corner of the shirt I was wearing, pinched the film through the material, and was able to rip the plastic off.

The results of the first three attempts gave me feedback that my technique wasn’t working. I identified what the problem might be, having wet hands, neutralized that with a different technique, and it worked.

Another example - I’m focusing on my hydration right now. Two days in a row I missed my goal for the day, so I paused to understand why. I had realized that for those two days I wasn’t using hydration salt and was drinking flavorless water. So I took that feedback, made an adjustment by prioritizing using my hydration salt, and started hitting my hydration goal again.

And the classic example, someone who puts their hand on a hot stove. They experience pain, associate the pain with the stovetop, and change their behavior to be more careful next time. That all happens unconsciously as a feedback loop.

Feedback is simply observing the results you achieved, interpreting them to understand how they vary from what you expected or wanted. With feedback you can then take action to implement a new strategy that you think will get you better results, do it, then observe and interpret those new results. 

When you seek feedback from someone else they’re doing the same thing - Observing the results and interpreting them. They’re communicating their perspective on why things went the way they did, pulling from their experience. Multiple perspectives on a problem present a more well-rounded understanding, which accelerates your ability to solve the problem.

If you’ve been trying to improve or get more consistent in an area, but you’re doing so blindly and don’t have an intentional feedback system in place, I’ve got something for you to check out.