tim ferriss the author and podcaster is all about optimizing his performance in every way
his books the 4-hour chef and tools of titans have helped me tremendously and when he spoke
about his process in acquiring feedback i knew his approach was tried and true
in episode 538 of the tim ferriss show in a casual conversation with author chris hutchins
tim explained how he gathered effective feedback especially in the early stages of a project
if you've ever asked a friend to read your work and give feedback you know how stressful time
consuming and unproductive that process can be this is especially true if all you've given them
is the manuscript and vague instructions like give me feedback or let me know what you think such an
experience could cause unnecessary tension between friends to avoid that scenario allow me to share
with you tim's method for getting clear succinct and useful feedback for his writing and interviews
before we get deeper into this my name is elliot i make videos about writing and the creative process
if that interests you please subscribe now let's get back to how tim ferriss asks for feedback
break chapters into self-sufficient pieces that stand alone when writing tim makes sure that each
of his chapters can stand on its own as a kind of modular like a feature magazine article if you're
writing nonfiction each of your chapters can be treated like a blog post if you're writing fiction
each of your chapters could have a story arc and could be published as a short story
with each chapter as an individual piece tim's friends and editors only need to read one chapter
instead of a whole book to have the context necessary to give useful feedback share the
single chapter with three to four writer or lawyer friends when picking who he would share his work
with tim usually chooses friends who are writers or lawyers or those who have attended law school
he picks these people because they have the proper training in reviewing texts and spotting ambiguity
these professionals also have a keen eye for superfluous details that should be cut
understanding your network and the strengths and weaknesses of the individual is essential because
you don't want to waste time and get frustrated when the person sharing feedback isn't qualified
in a scenario like that it might be better to have no feedback at all
sharp observant and capable of proofreading are qualities you look for in beta readers and
writers and lawyers tend to have those traits however getting a diverse sample of feedback
is also important that's why tim doesn't only share with one person but with four
love it or hate it it can't be confusing once tim has a team of reviewers he approaches them with
one or two ask for the first tim requests please read this and if anything is confusing please
note that you can love it you can hate it i'm fine with either of those but if it's confusing
it's no good for anyone so if anything's confusing please note if your mind starts to wander please
note where that is whether with audio or text the goal of the piece is to inform and captivate
if the reader or listener gets bored distracted or confused by a certain part it's important for
tim to know where that is so he can modify or remove it the point is not to get a rave review
the personal taste of the reader doesn't matter at this point the goal is to figure out whether
it's useful to anyone and if it's unclear or dull it's useless ask which 20 should i cut
his second and preferred request is to ask if i had to cut 20 percent which 20 percent would i cut
knowing what's the core and what's excess is important this gives you an idea of
where you should focus your attention when you're editing how concise and sustained can you make it
this forces you to take a closer look at the remaining 80 percent and examine the substance of
your piece the thing is when you ask four people not all four of them will have the same opinion
so when a situation like that occurs tim has a firm rule if one out of the four love it keep
it if three people tell tim to cut out a section while one person says that they love that section
he will keep it he does this because something that resonated so strongly with one person
is a good enough reason to keep it if he cut it it might have saved some room but it would
have potentially failed to impact one out of every four people which is a big percentage
to cut out a part for the sake of the majority is not how tim approaches his editing you cannot
serve everyone but when you know you can serve someone serve them don't ask for feedback if
you don't plan on taking it lastly perhaps what i found to be the most important piece of advice
is to not ask for feedback if you don't plan on using it in some way if you know you're not
willing to make changes then why bother taking up someone else's time when tim received his writer
or lawyer friends feedback and the suggestions are valid he would apply it to his work and improve it
if you've picked the right beta readers respect their opinions and trust that they have your
best interest why wouldn't you keep an open mind when receiving feedback we need to lose the ego
otherwise it might be better not to ask for their thoughts at all when asking people for feedback
we're requesting their time and energy they're doing us a favor and as such we should be grateful
that is why i think tim ferriss's process is solid because first he makes the request digestible
then he chooses those that are qualified for the job and ensures what he needs is clear finally he
prepares for how the feedback will be used so he doesn't lose sight of the bigger picture which is
to provide captivating and valuable content to the largest group of people possible thank you
for watching my name is elliot i make videos about writing and the creative process if you enjoyed
this please give it a like and for more videos about editing check out these ones right here