Athletes Don’t Fear Feedback... We Fear Silence

As athletes, we were raised on constant feedback. We didn’t always like what we heard (maybe even struggled with it at times) but it was always there.

During practice:Keep that elbow high. How many out of ten did you make? Great! Now try it like this.

During training:Get lower on your squat. Lock those elbows out. Knees behind your toes.

During games, the scoreboard was real-time feedback. No ambiguity. You knew exactly how things were going.

And then there were film sessions: a giant screen where your successes and failures were right there for everyone to see. Not always fun, but always useful.

We got feedback quickly.

Game on Saturday? By the end of it you knew if you won or lost.

Film session on Monday to analyze what happened and why.

Monday’s practice: corrections, adjustments, reps. Follow ups the next days during more practice.

Then another chance the following Saturday to see what you had fixed. And what still needed work.

Talk about a fast feedback loop.

This multi-pronged, rapid system wasn’t always comfortable, but it gave us something invaluable:

a plan, clarity, and an educated place to focus our energy and desire to improve.

And then… we left sport and entered the workforce.

Feedback loops in the workplace are not the same.

Sometimes they don’t exist at all. You’re left guessing whether you’re doing things “right” or “wrong.” You’re trying to read people’s silence, which is basically like trying to scout a team without game film.

Even when feedback does exist, it’s slow. Quarterly reviews. Annual reviews. Year-end reports. The silence in between stretches so long that it starts to feel like failure.

And then there’s inconsistent feedback, the kind you only get when something goes wrong, or only sometimes. Nothing destroys confidence faster.

Athletes don’t fear hard feedback. We fear no feedback.

And when there’s silence, we do what athletes naturally do: we fill it.But without a system in place, we fill it with the wrong things:

noise, anxiety, doubt, and the belief that we must be screwing something up.

Imagine playing a college game on Saturday and not being told the score until the following month. No idea whether you won. No idea what went right or wrong. No film. No plan. Just silence.

Eventually? You’d stop playing.

Slow, inconsistent feedback loops don’t just feel bad, they create performance issues

In sports, that leads to inconsistent results or injury.

In the workforce, it leads to inconsistent results and burnout.

So what do we do?

Here’s the thing most athletes don’t realize until they’re already frustrated:

In the workplace, you won’t get the feedback loop you need unless you build it yourself.

But the good news is, you can build one. And you don’t need a full coaching plan or a 50-page performance review system to start. You just need three things:

1. A rhythm

Athletes thrive on rhythm.Practices. Games. Film. Reset.

In the real world, you need to recreate that same cadence:

• a weekly check-in with yourself

• a quick review of what worked (your “wins”)

• a quick review of where you drifted or missed

• one or two adjustments for the next week (you “next play”)

Not complicated. Just intentional.

2. A simple scoreboard

No, not a giant LED scoreboard on a wall, but something that tells you whether you’re moving forward or drifting.

This can be:

• a few metrics that matter in your job

• a small list of non-negotiables

• a progress tracker

• or even a set of questions you answer honestly every week

The point isn’t perfection.

The point is data, your new version of film.

3. A place to get real feedback

This is the hardest part.And the part most athletes avoid because we don’t want to be “annoying” or “needy.”

But here’s the truth:

If you don’t ask for feedback, you won’t get any.Not because people don’t care but, because most workplaces don’t have systems.

That means you may need to:

• schedule quick “pulse check” conversations

• ask your manager focused questions

• request clarity on expectations

• or create your own reflection system when feedback isn’t available

These three things: rhythm, scoreboard, feedback, give you the structure you lost when you left sports.

Here’s What’s Really Going On

Most athletes know they perform better with structure.

Most athletes miss the clarity and rhythm of consistent feedback.

And most athletes fully intend to build something similar for themselves in the “real world”…

…but actually doing it? That’s where things get messy.

It’s not that we don’t understand the concepts.

It’s that it’s hard to recreate an entire system on your own, especially when the environment around you isn’t built for it.

And when you zoom out, you realize something important: this is just another missing system from our playing days. One more thing athletics gave us that the “real world” doesn’t.

So if you’ve been feeling stuck, doubting yourself, or wondering why you can’t recreate the same momentum you had in sports, you’re not imagining it. You’re not broken. You’re not behind.

You’re an athlete in a world without a playbook. Still wired for clarity, rhythm, and fast feedback in a system that doesn’t naturally give any of those things. Of course you feel off. Of course the silence feels heavy.

The challenge now isn’t changing who you are.It’s learning how to build the kind of feedback loop you need to perform at your best. The kind you used to get every single day in sport.

Once you have that, the momentum comes back.

The clarity returns.

And everything starts to click again.

See you next week.— Jill

Want help creating your own feedback loop?

If you want structure, clarity, and consistent accountability, I built something for you:

➡️ Athlete’s Weekly Feedback Loop — $19 PDF

Just 20 minutes a week.No fluff. No guesswork.The same type of rhythm and structure you excelled in during sports, now for your career.

Print it, add it to GoodNotes, or type directly into the PDF.It’s built to keep you focused, confident, and moving forward.