FeedForward with Mirroring

At college while pursuing my degree in psychology, I had a funny habit.

At the outset...Folks... this blog is about learning... what better way to learn than from the blunders we all make. So here is mine...=)

Yea... So I had this habit. I used to drum a rhythm with my fingers on the table while listening to lectures. I had some beat playing in my head and I would try to imitate it. Well, thatz what I thought I was doing. Over time, this became an unconscious competence =) so much so that I never knew when, where or what I was doing with my fingers on the table.

Well... once I received good feedback =) from a priest who was talking and felt I was not listening to him. I ended up telling him that I always had this habit and it didnt have anything to do with me listening. The incident was embarrassing but it didnt change anything for me.

Until one day I was at restaurant with a friend for lunch and we were waiting to be served when my drumming habit reappeared on the table. Again I didnt know I was doing it till my friend started drumming on the other side of the table. Reality struck no better than this!

                                                             Image courtesy of Liza Gross/Public Library of Science

Mirroring helped me that day... I learnt my lesson pretty well.

I also now believe that 'some' lessons are best taught this way than giving people verbal feedback and making them feel super upset. Also, rarely does sumthing "constructive" come out of all our feedback exercise.

Lesson#1 : Feedforward with Mirroring. No words needed. People learn faster. Especially because they teach themselves =)