When I copyedit and proofread late drafts for my corporate clients, I worry when I don't find anything to correct. No way everything is RIGHT! What have I missed? What typo or homonym or errant comma slipped through? 🤯
If we're asked, I'd wager most of us could quickly rattle off a frighteningly extensive and diverse list of our weaknesses, ways in which we don't quite measure up to an unattainable and ever-shifting level of perfection.
But the positives? Not always so easy to pinpoint.
Remember the praise sandwich?
Voilà !
Two positives, genuinely felt, for every reproof fills any and all feedback with beneficial energy, making the sandwich a lot easier to swallow. This person really cares about me, we think.
(Fictional Stuart Smalley was the master of the self-affirmation. Here, he teaches the technique to a little-known athlete.)
Reader, when is the last time you prepared and served yourself a plate of loving acceptance?
Image: sandwich
Take some time to assess and communicate to your writer self what you are doing well in your draft.
I promise you, dear reader, you are doing this well.
You got this.