Pretend you're a great painter. (You may be no more elaborate than unisexual stick figures, but work with me here!)
I come to you and ask for a masterpiece. Here's how our conversation might go.
Me: “Would you paint a masterpiece for me?”
You: “Sure! Masterpieces are my specialty. What would you like?”
Me: “I don't know, but I know that I want a masterpiece.”
You: “I'm good at judging character, so I think I know what you want.”
One week later.
You: “Here's a masterpiece for you, based on everything you like.”
Me: “I don't like it.”
You: “Why?”
Me: “I don't know. I just don't like it. Maybe the trees should be mauve.”
You: “Will you like it then?”
Me: “I don't know.”
You: “What would you like?”
Me: “I don't know.”
You: “Here's a new masterpiece, using more mauve.”
Me: “I don't like it.”
You: “Why?”
Me: “I don't know.”
And on, and on, and on.
As silly as this sounds, this happens a lot and we may be the guilty ones. This recently happened to me, and I'm pretty sure that's how my face looked.
If you don't like something, tell someone why. If you don't have a reason why you dislike it, then no one has a reason to fix it, except to make a new revision.
Maybe you're the artist. Then my suggestion when you meet this kind of person is to start taking mind-reading lessons now.
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