You can’t begin to improve at something until you are “knowingly bad”.
If you are not aware of the lack of something, you haven’t got “taste” yet. If you think you are the best blogger in the world, two things could be true:
- You really are the best blogger in the world
- You are blind to the real criteria for what makes a great blogger
Taste is the beginning of Knowingly Bad
The development of taste is the beginning of “knowingly bad”.
Taste is the ability to tell what is good. Taste is what you develop as you progress that actually grows your disappointment with your results. As you go through development, your talent grows slowly, but if you are going to be good, your taste grows rapidly.
As taste grows, the disappointment grows.
Ira Glass says “For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.”
Don’t Quit at Disappointment
When you have posted your 8th blog post and you feel it is going downhill, your posts are getting worse, your progress feels like it is backwards… do not be afraid. This is the beginning of “Taste”.
I know 2 types of anxiety-free public speaker. Type 1 has never developed “Taste” and so has no capacity to concern himself that he could do poorly. He is blind. He makes no connection between the audience’s use of email on their phones and the bad-ness of his speech.
Type 2, if you are interested? Type 2 cares so much about the message that the speech is not about him or herself. The message is so important that his own performance doesn’t even enter the equation. The message is so important that he has given the speech 100 times, over coffee, in airport lounges.
If I want taste in writing, I have to read a lot. I have to know why one author is better than another, and specifically what that author does that I am not yet able to do.
If you are writing and and not satisfied with the paragraph you are producing: Great! You have taste.
If you are speaking and are not satisfied with your quality of impact on the audience: Great! You have taste.
If you are leading a team and are not satisfied that you are a good enough leader: Great! You have taste.
If you are a parent, and are not completely satisfied that you are doing it well: Great! You have taste.
The Role of Teachers
Great teachers focus on developing taste as well as developing talent – because with taste, you can grow beyond the teacher. If they don’t help you with taste, you depend on them. I spend more and more time these days helping the participants in my seminars give structured feedback on themselves than I used to. If I tell them what to improve, that’s ok… but if I help them develop that ability in themselves, they are getting “Taste”.