The Hunt For Better

There seem to be two distinct categories of response when it comes to receiving critical feedback.

• Lean in or lean away
• Dig deeper or cover it up
• Embrace or deflect
• Sit with the discomfort or make the hurt go away
• Open or closed
• Detached or attached

The first approach gets to the root. It’s part of the hunt for better. Leaning in, digging deeper, embracing the opportunity, sitting with discomfort, opening oneself as a target. That’s what getting better feels like.

The opposite action set is far more comfortable, and it also moves faster in the short term. Over time, the root causes build up to an intolerable level though, and then the backlog has to be cleared, making for more lost time and more pain down the road.