Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to keep score at least of the
Speaker 1: right things.
Speaker 2: While it can be bruising.
Speaker 1: To the ego to see exactly where we stand, it
Speaker 1: is ultimately an efficient way to improve.
Speaker 2: Today's tip, like some others this week, comes from Scott H.
Speaker 2: Young's new book Get Better at Anything. This book features
Speaker 2: strategies for how people really learn and improve. One of
Speaker 2: the key components of improving at anything is getting feedback.
Speaker 2: In many cases, it is quite possible to see how
Speaker 2: we are doing on things, but sometimes we don't avail
Speaker 2: ourselves of the opportunity. As young rights. For skills where
Speaker 2: outcomes are highly variable, we can easily mislead ourselves about
Speaker 2: the long run accuracy of our decisions. Keeping score can be.
Speaker 1: Ego bruising if we realize we're not as proficient as
Speaker 1: we believe, but it's necessary to calibrate our approach. Numbers
Speaker 1: don't tell the whole story, but they do keep us honest.
Speaker 1: So for instance, if you are sending a newsletter, it
Speaker 1: is worth seeing how many people are opening it. If
Speaker 1: you are writing various blog posts for your company website.
Speaker 1: You want to see how many people are reading various pieces.
Speaker 1: If you are giving presentations, it's helpful to get audience
Speaker 1: scores and perhaps even to see in a conference set
Speaker 1: which presenters were rated better than you were. If you
Speaker 1: are practicing a musical instrument, it can feel like the
Speaker 1: mistakes you make and a piece were small, but maybe
Speaker 1: you should.
Speaker 2: Keep track of them. You might see that you have
Speaker 2: actually never played that piece perfectly, so perhaps it is
Speaker 2: not quite ready for performing without a little more work. Now,
Speaker 2: I know that we can become obsessed with numbers and
Speaker 2: other things. I know a lot of podcasters don't like
Speaker 2: to listen to themselves. Certain things will never change. I
Speaker 2: cannot fundamentally change my voice, but there might be certain
Speaker 2: verbal tics I overindulge in during interviews. By listening to myself,
Speaker 2: I can figure out if I am doing more or
Speaker 2: less of those than before. I know a lot of
Speaker 2: authors don't like to look at book sales, But again,
Speaker 2: if this information is available, looking at it helps you
Speaker 2: figure out if there's anything you can do to move
Speaker 2: the numbers. Maybe there isn't, but you probably won't accidentally
Speaker 2: figure it out without knowing where you stand. So if
Speaker 2: you are looking to improve.
Speaker 1: At something, figure out if there is a way to
Speaker 1: get feedback and ideally numerical feedback on your performance. How
Speaker 1: does that compare to your performance in the past or
Speaker 1: to other people's performances. Seeing the score gives you accurate
Speaker 1: information and ultimately that is what leads to breakthroughs. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, This.
Speaker 2: Is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 2: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 2: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 2: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 2: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows.