For almost all of my life, I’ve taken feedback very seriously. I wanted to stay out of trouble, so I learned to do this to make sure figures of authority—parents, teachers, etc.—knew that I was listening to what they said. In a way, this became one of my strengths. I learn and adapt very well.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, I also started overcorrecting. This wasn’t a great adjustment. In a sense, it’s like an overreaction, but in the form of fixing something. 

I might become very sensitive to feedback when there wasn’t any. 

Or, when there was feedback, I might swing too far with my correction. For example, when an editor worked on my draft and said the intro needed work, I spent the weekend writing two different introductions. 

They were both great—in fact, the editor used the second one to introduce one of their own pieces (and gave me credit)—though I did notice the instinct that drove me to write two introductions when I could have potentially just made some simple, easy, revisions.

As I’ve gained more experience, I’ve also become more mindful of this and getting a better feel for how much effort a correction actually needs. 

More often than not, I remind myself, I just need to get started on a correction and do what it says—nothing more. There’s a time and place to overdeliver, and the technique is most effective when used scarcely.