Worth More Than an Hour of Praise

In this class example, we were talking about legibility and readability. How to know when to break up a word from a creative perspective, or just leave the word in its normal format. I intentionally broke up the word encouragement so my students could see what I meant. I then wrote the text of the quote in very small letters, which forces people to look very close to read the words…which lead us to a great discussion on legibility. Here is the quote:

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more
than an hour of praise after success. 

 - Anonymous

As the week went on, I encouraged people to share their works in progress with the group to get praise and feedback on their questions. It was fabulous to see people welcoming the encouragement and ideas from the group, AND to then see those ideas and to hear the cheers of joy once their piece of art was completed. So much of art is subjective, which means we need to hear about what other people are seeing in order to better understand how we can improve the way we are working to present our ideas. It also helps us understand when what we THINK is being portrayed is not working for the audience. I reminded my class that sometimes you only create a piece for yourself, for your encouragement and growth, and what anyone else thinks is not really important as long as you like it. Pick your battles, pick your opportunities for feedback, pick your audience.

During the week, everyone made a mistake. Misspelled words, smeared inks, illegible lettering and layout issues…it is a great way to learn before and after the fact. For the many decades I have studied calligraphy, I had really great teachers – kind, thoughtful, and respectful of your ego. I also had very cruel teachers – arrogant, unkind, and thoughtless about what they said about my work in front of the group. I learned a great deal from both types of teachers. I mostly learned about the kind of teacher I wanted to be once I began teaching. When it was my turn to point out an error or area of improvement, I NEVER shared it with the group unless I had that student’s permission. One person’s lesson learned can prevent someone else from making that same mistake. I was overjoyed during the week to hear the class working together on each other’s pieces to critique and improve the work by enjoying the learning process.

Learning to be self critical (not a perfectionist, not that!) means being able to see your work with an objective eye, improve what you want to improve AND teaches you how to encourage yourself along the journey. We are all our own worst critics, so being tough on yourself is normal, yet give yourself space to make the changes then see the work improve…THAT is when the great learning happens.

Let me encourage you to be open to help from others, sometimes in the midst of your greatest failures. When we are open to hear what other people think, know, advise, DURING the process, we can save ourselves a lot of heartache and rework. It might sound strange, yet encouragement in the midst of failure can be the best words you hear to become a better version of yourself.