The Feedback Distortion: Why Asking 'Was I Right?' Trains the Wrong Skill

Today's Lesson When you finish a reading and immediately ask someone 'Did I get it right?' you're training yourself to perform, not to perceive. This feedback loop—reading, guessing at accuracy, seeking confirmation—teaches you to optimize for external validation rather than internal signal strength. Your intuition becomes a people-pleasing mechanism instead of a perceptive tool. The person you're reading for becomes your grader, and you unconsciously start shaping interpretations toward what might earn approval. This is why readers who constantly check their accuracy often sound confident but feel hollow—they've built an impressive skill at reading reactions, not cards. Intuitive development requires a different feedback system entirely: track not whether you were 'right,' but whether you spoke what you actually sensed. After a reading, journal what you felt but didn't say, what you almost said but edited out, what flickered through your mind before you reached for a 'proper' interpretation. When you review these notes weeks later, you'll often find your unspoken impressions were startlingly relevant—but you'll only discover this pattern if you record the raw signal before you polish it for an audience. The skill you're building is fidelity to your own perception, not accuracy in someone else's story. This doesn't…