ENDA Episode 20→ The time when the Endless Apprentice learned the importance of listening to critics (Part 1)
It was a slow process, because one thing is to “hear” critics and another very different is to “listen” critics.
As a VFX student or a beginner VFX artist, the fear of being criticized is always present, no matter what is your area of specialization. Here we will refer to “critics” as those given in a work or education environment.
I’ve myself experienced that feeling of my work being torn apart and told to be redone again or to change things. Most of the time from clients, supervisors or teachers and sometimes from colleagues or friends.
Thankfully, I eventually stop to feel that way, when I saw that my work improved thanks to that feedback. However, it was a slow process, because one thing is to “hear” critics and another very different is to “listen” critics.
“Hearing” critics is either one of two things:
➡️ You do not pay attention to what are you being told: it is very rare to see, but I’ve seen some cases and obviously, those did not end up well.
➡️ You are paying attention, but you follow blindly the critics and make all the changes suggested: I’ve done this one in my college years, and in some projects I’ve done. It made me either compromise the quality of my work or that I ended up overworked for trying to fulfill every comment I was given, instead of considering if they made sense.
“Listening” critics will mean only one thing: you analyzed every one of the suggestions and after thinking about them thoroughly, you will act according to the circumstances:
➡️ In a personal project: you’ll apply the changes that you know will help you improve your project without sacrificing their identity or their initial objective.
➡️ In a professional project: you’ll follow all the demands that are non-negotiable from the client, but for the few ones where there is flexibility, you’ll find a way to propose another solution.
This comparison may seem simple today, but at the moment I wish I had known about that difference, it would have helped a lot.
I know that by this point you are asking one important question: What could happen when someone does not know how to listen to critics?
Well, that would be for the next episode.
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