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Serve Yourself the Praise Sandwich

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?


  • Deliver a positive comment or observation, bread slice #1.

  • Slip a criticism or opportunity for improvement in, the filling.

  • Then quickly slap another affirmation on top, bread slice #2.


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.




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