Good feedback stings for a day and helps for a year. That’s a great trade.

The pain of hearing something true about your work is short and loud, while the benefit is long and quiet, so your body only registers the first part. That mismatch is why people avoid asking. Get through the first day and what remains is a map of the thing you could not see by yourself, and it keeps paying out long after the embarrassment has faded.

Ask one person whose opinion you actually respect what the weakest part of your work is. Do nothing for a day. Then act on whatever landed hardest.