Today I had a co-worker send me a message about one of my articles. There were a lot of errors in that article, written when I was half-sleep, and it was rightfully pointed out. But it was the tone of the message that really startled me.
We live in an online world, a world where we are messaging others, video-calling them and so on. And as such, there’s little opportunity to capture the tone or the attitude a person may have towards someone else.
Receiving a message that sounds very strong, and definitely negative is never good. But in an online conversation where that might be the extent of your interaction, it might inadvertently have an impact on how you perceive that person. It did, for me.
It’s important to portray your character in your conversations with others. Yes, others might make mistakes. Being a perfectionist is the ultimate mistake I’ve seen many content creators and professionals make. One of the best things that happens in programming is errors. They are quite often the best way to learn and if I am not wrong, often the only way to learn. That being said, the tone in which a message is conveyed is so important, and it became apparent to me when one was conveyed to me in a very negative manner.
I tend to give people a long lease, in fact, I remember I was very worried about the same person’s experience just a few days ago. But this interaction has pushed them down in terms of how important their feelings are to me, and I would attribute my experience with this message as a major tipping point.
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