The Most Important F Wordfeatured

I didn’t realize the importance of powerful teamwork until high school water polo. I was never any good but I honed in on being a team player. With my lack of skill, I heavily relied on my teammates to win the games. I did everything I could to be a good defender and passer. I constantly used the F word to ensure I provided my teammates with exactly what they needed exactly when they needed it.

I was truly introduced to the F word in college. This is when it hit me that this F word would be what would take me from being a mediocre person and writer to a skilled and exceptional one.

I wrote an essay. I mean, I poured my heart and soul into it. I did all the research and made sure all my syntax was perfect.

I was so incredibly proud to turn it in.

I got my paper back a day later. It had a big fat “D” written in red marker all over it. Nothing more and nothing less. It didn’t make any sense. This was an insult to my character.

My professor set up a meeting with me to further discuss the scarlet letter. He told me my paper was written incredibly well and that I deserved a D because he knew I could still make it a whole lot better. He said the point of this exercise was to catch my attention, to make me see that none of my writing would ever be perfect and that there would always be room for improvement.

This was the rudest and rawest form of the F word I would ever experience.

Have you guessed what the word is yet?

When the F word hit me it hit me hard. It threw me to the ground and dragged me alongside it. As a writer, it was a feeling that would return to me time and time again.

Without the F word the world would be stagnant, nothing would ever change, evolve, improve or grow. We would have no technology and nothing could ever get smarter.

You can’t form a winning team without the F word and you can’t have the F word without a team. It is what makes you an exceptional student in the school of life. If you don’t work with the F word, life can become extremely difficult and you might even lose some of your most meaningful relationships in the process.

I’m sure you have it figured out by now.

Feedback.

I have the gift of feedback. I can give it and I can receive it and I can sculpt it into a masterpiece. But it hasn’t always been this way. I can’t say it doesn’t sting to have to face your flaws but you must know your flaws in order to correct them, to improve on them, to have them propel you toward greatness.

It is often hard to separate your pride from your work or to set it aside while receiving feedback. But it is a powerful tool that separates the Haves from the Have-Nots.

The Haves have taken feedback throughout their lives and built businesses from the ground up with it. The Have-Nots have wallowed in the same spot for years refusing to accept any of the feedback as constructive. They have condoned it as negative criticism – attacks on their character!

I use the F word every single day. I rely on it. I write drafts and I have my team share their most honest F words with me so that I can, in turn, create the best work possible. I am transforming each day because of the power of the F word.

Do you use the F word to its fullest?