You have to know how well or badly you are doing. The quicker and more accurately you can find out, the faster and the better you can perform, whatever the task. For this reason, if for no other, accurate feedback is essential in any task or activity.

Some feedback can be unsought (as when you burn your fingers on an iron that you assumed was cool), but we shall be mainly concerned here with feedback that is deliberately sought in order to speed up activities or tasks.

Research has shown that it is a characteristic of skilled performers in many activities that they appear to know what is happening at any stage of a task, that they take pains to check their performance periodically and that they consult others in order to obtain further feedback which may well, since it is a second opinion, be more objective and reliable.

No one really understands how feedback on behaviour works in making improved performance possible, but the fact remains that it does. It seems to be an indispensable part of any learning process. It may be that what is usually referred to as the central processing part of the brain uses information obtained about actions to modify subsequent behaviour in some subtle way so as to permit smoother, problem-free performance and the achievement of a greater degree of skill.

The mechanism by which this kind of information is obtained is usually called a feedback loop and there is a need to provide for such loops in learning models. The flexible performance strategy PAPA-ROMEO-OSCAR which we shall encounter later in more detail is an example of such a model. The main feedback loop in that can be illustrated thus:

In other words, the information you gain from evaluating your performance after a period of training can help you to decide whether to proceed to the ‘Ongoing’ stage or to return to the ‘Review’ stage and repeat the process, making such modifications at each stage as are necessary. This is a broad application of the principle of feedback loops, but it could well be in many activities that there should be a feedback loop between each stage back to the previous one, so that you can make more frequent but smaller adjustments in approach. An example of where this would be desirable would be in applying the P-R-O approach to improving decision-making ability, where feedback might be needed on each decision made.

Research shows that knowledge of results is desirable in any activity, but especially in learning experiences. Where people are kept in the dark about how well or how badly they are doing it becomes extremely difficult for them to make progress. If feedback is denied, as when a teacher fails to mark students’ exercises regularly and as soon after the work is done as practicable, bad habits are acquired which then become highly resistant to change, faults persist, individuals lose motivation and performance generally deteriorates.

You do not need to become obsessed about obtaining feedback, however. Just build it in to your approach. A simple method is to select an activity. Tackle it in a reasonably relaxed way. Don’t try to do better, but don’t try not to. A little effort will not go amiss, but don’t get into a situation where the more you try the worse you get. Aim for smooth, confident, flowing action. Recite to yourself what is happening, keep your objectives in mind and let your brain do the rest.

Sometimes feedback can mislead, especially if you make a false connection between cause and effect. For example, if you walk under a ladder and some paint falls on you, faulty feedback might lead you to conclude that it is always unlucky to walk under ladders. A more rational use of feedback would be to conclude that, when walking under ladders, you simply need to keep your wits about you. If someone is painting overhead, then on that occasion it may be sensible to walk round rather than under.

You should also guard against becoming too conditioned by feedback. In his book, The Mechanism of Mind, Edward de Bono, the originator of ‘lateral thinking’, likens the operation of the mind to a jelly. Trickle hot water over a jelly and a pathway is melted out. Trickle more water over it and this water will tend to follow the path created by the first trickle. In other words, feedback can make you react in stereotyped ways if you are not careful to appreciate the unique characteristics that differentiate one situation from another. Because an approach has worked on one occasion does not mean that it is the best one to use on another, so feedback needs to be treated with some caution.

You need to remember that there are two kinds of feedback.

• 1.Positive feedback, or reward, tells you that things are going well.
• 2.Negative feedback, or punishment, tells you they are going wrong and that some form of corrective action must be taken.

You can use a combination of both to strengthen desirable behaviour patterns and weaken undesirable ones. For instance, you can reward yourself in some way (it need only be small, a sweet or something else you like) every time you beat a previous best time for an activity or finish before a deadline, and you can punish yourself (by foregoing a favourite TV programme, say) when you fail. It is worth remembering, though, that research evidence suggests quite strongly that rewards are much more effective in developing desirable behaviour patterns than are punishments. As the old quip has it, the best way to knock a chip off a person’s shoulder is to pat them on the back.

Not only is positive feedback better than negative feedback, but any kind of feedback is better than none at all. Generally speaking, where feedback is unavailable or removed, performance deteriorates. Where the amount given is increased, performance improves (always bearing in mind the qualifications expressed above).

Feedback is, in fact, almost a training method on its own. Given clear objectives and a choice of proven methods, the provision of accurate feedback can take you a long way towards your goals.

As far as obtaining feedback is concerned, there is a wide choice of methods and some have already been mentioned, but others can be suggested.

• You can use tests to find out how well you are doing.
• You can make your own observations of what happens.
• You can make sound or video recordings of activities.
• You can obtain the observations and comments of other people.
• You can rely upon a ‘gut’ feeling about the success or otherwise of a response.
• Perhaps the simplest and most effective way is to keep records in a notebook.

Where you obtain timings and other results, it can help to record them in graph or chart form. A pictorial record of some kind is more useful to most people than a simple tabulation of results. Such a record will help you to monitor your progress sensibly, especially if you consult it regularly.

No method can succeed entirely, no matter how good it is, unless you are prepared to be flexible and to make changes in your behaviour in the light of what the feedback tells you. The attitude you need is one in which you are always actively seeking ways to enable you to make faster responses and so achieve a better performance. Given this, accurate feedback can form the basis of your collection of effective time creation techniques.

If you really are a headless chicken, the sooner you find out the better. Then you can really do something to begin becoming more of a laidback bear.