Quotes About Improvement

Feedback—both the act of giving it and taking it—is our first step in becoming smarter, more mindful about the connection between our environment and our behavior. Feedback teaches us to see our environment as a triggering mechanism. In some cases, the feedback itself is the trigger.

We can always get better at something, even if it's just preserving the progress we've made. I

The Four Commitments. I need them to commit to: 1. Let go of the past. 2. Tell the truth. 3. Be supportive and helpful—not cynical or negative. 4. Pick something to improve yourself—so everyone is focused more on "improving" than "judging.

Stop Asking for Feedback and Then Expressing Your Opinion

Marshall Goldsmith

Feedback—both the act of giving it and taking it—is our first step in becoming smarter, more mindful about the connection between our environment and our behavior. Feedback teaches us to see our environment as a triggering mechanism. In some cases, the feedback itself is the trigger. Consider

We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don't spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don't need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.

the best solicited feedback is confidential feedback. It's good because nobody gets embarrassed or defensive.

Masters become masters because they practice in the little moments. Every pause, every moment to yourself is an opportunity to try again. Every tiny shift matters, and the more you practice, the better you will become. Besides, if not now, when?

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.

Feminists have often claimed a moral equivalence for sexual and racial prejudice. There are certain affinities and one or two of these affinities are mildly and paradoxically encouraging. Sexism is like racism: we all feel such impulses. Our parents feel them more strongly than we feel them; our children, we trust, will feel them less strongly than we feel them. People don't change or improve much, but they do evolve. It is very slow.

The obstacle: for the improvement of the capacity for experience and use generally involves a decrease in man's power to relate—that power which alone can enable man to live in the spirit.

If I don't practice for two weeks, my audience notices. If I don't practice for a day I notice.

First, I think the science of monetary economics has clearly gotten better.

When you find you have to add a feature to a program, and the program's code is not structured in a convenient way to add the feature, first refactor the program to make it easy to add the feature, then add the feature.

Other than when you are very close to a deadline, however, you should not put off refactoring because you haven't got time. Experience with several projects has shown that a bout of refactoring results in increased productivity. Not having enough time usually is a sign that you need to do some refactoring.

In almost all cases, I'm opposed to setting aside time for refactoring. In my view refactoring is not an activity you set aside time to do. Refactoring is something you do all the time in little bursts.

I've found that refactoring helps me write fast software. It slows the software in the short term while I'm refactoring, but it makes the software easier to tune during optimization. I end up well ahead.

Life being what it is, you won't get your names right the first time. In this situation you may well be tempted to leave it—after all it's only a name. That is the work of the evil demon Obfuscatis; don't listen to him. If you see a badly named method, it is imperative that you change it. Remember your code is for a human first and a computer second. Humans need good names.

It reminds me of a statement Kent Beck often makes about himself: "I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habits." Refactoring helps me be much more effective at writing robust code.

People sometimes ask me what length I look for in a method. To me length is not the issue. The key is the semantic distance between the method name and the method body. If extracting improves clarity, do it, even if the name is longer than the code you have extracted.

It's hard to figure out what the right amount of hiding is. Fortunately, with Hide Delegate (189) and Remove Middle Man, it doesn't matter so much. I can adjust my code as time goes on. As the system changes, the basis for how much I hide also changes. A good encapsulation six months ago may be awkward now. Refactoring means I never have to say I'm sorry—I just fix it.

The third occurrence of the words4 fits our own and the last times, where the lukewarm, the presumptuous, and those easily offended abound, whom of all people it is most difficult to move forward to better things.

Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes better;