{"id":80935,"date":"2014-09-11T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=80935"},"modified":"2014-09-10T17:52:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T22:52:48","slug":"the-art-of-making-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=80935","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Making Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Senior Editor, INALJ NYC,<\/a> INALJ New York State<\/a>, and INALJ Texas<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The Art of Making Mistakes<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Claire.Schmieder.SeniorEditor\"<\/a>Confession: I make mistakes all the time – at work, at home, with friends.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, these mistakes are minor with smaller, manageable consequences. Things like\u00a0not giving myself quite enough time to meet a deadline at work; not making sure my kids have\u00a0all of their school supplies ready for the first day of school; being more than 15 minutes late to\u00a0meet up with a friend. Occasionally, I make not so minor mistakes that are accompanied by more\u00a0serious consequences.<\/p>\n

There is no way for anyone to avoid making mistakes. We\u2019re human and we\u2019re fallible. The\u00a0art of making mistakes doesn\u2019t mean complete avoidance of them, however. Rather, it\u2019s in\u00a0understanding how to react to them, how to acknowledge them, how to learn from them, and\u00a0how to move forward from them.<\/p>\n

Reacting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t panic! Your first internal reaction might be that panicky, \u201cwhat-the-hell-did-I-do?\u201d feeling\u00a0in the pit of your stomach. Don\u2019t let that feeling guide your external reaction. Take five minutes\u00a0to calm down and think about what happened before you talk to anyone about what happened.<\/p>\n

When you do react to your error, do not let your internal negativity or disappointment manifest\u00a0outwardly in any way. Allowing negative emotions to dictate your reaction will only end up\u00a0reflecting poorly on your ability to be professional.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging & Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can be really, really hard to admit when you\u2019ve made a mistake. There are lots of reasons for\u00a0this: fear of losing authority by being wrong, not wanting to be chastised, internal fear of failure\u00a0are just a few of them.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging a mistake doesn\u2019t mean endless apologies and groveling. In fact, those are the\u00a0last things you should do. When you admit your error, make sure you\u2019ve taken time to reflect on\u00a0what happened, how you fell short, and what you can do to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

Maybe you double-booked a program time. Or you forgot to book a program at all. Or you didn\u2019t\u00a0meet a deadline. Consider why it happened. Can you address the oversight by adding calendar\u00a0alerts? Can you color code events? Can you establish an end-of-week session to review logistic\u00a0details for the upcoming week? Further, your solutions should always address the short- and\u00a0long-term issues at play. A quick, one-time fix isn\u2019t going to solve a larger, more complicated\u00a0problem. In fact, it could actually make things worse in the long run.<\/p>\n

When you address your mistake with your supervisor, acknowledge, apologize, and explain how\u00a0you\u2019ll address the issue in the future. They may have additional feedback or suggestions for you.\u00a0Listen to them \u2013 they\u2019re a supervisor because they\u2019ve got experience. Other employees have\u00a0likely made the same mistake that you have.<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the proverbial dust has settled, don\u2019t let your mistake haunt you forever. How to do this?<\/p>\n

Avoid acting like nothing happened. Rely on your friends and coworkers for support. Getting\u00a0their perspective on your mistake will be helpful and productive. And, jump right back into your\u00a0work routine with your new plans in place. Don\u2019t let one mistake make you permanently afraid\u00a0of trying new ideas, taking calculated risks, or being creative at work.<\/p>\n

For further reading about this topic, check out these blog posts from Ask A Manager:
\n– How big of a deal are mistakes when you\u2019re new to a job?<\/a>
\n– My manager wants me to take more responsibility for my mistakes<\/a>
\n– What to do when you make a mistake at work<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also try these books on the same topics:
\n– Mistakes I made at work : 25 influential women reflect on what they got out of getting it\u00a0wrong<\/a>
\n– Whoever makes the most mistakes wins : the paradox of innovation<\/a><\/p>\n

And, please share your stories of mistakes you\u2019ve made at work in the comments below. We can\u00a0all learn from, and support, one another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Senior Editor, INALJ NYC, INALJ New York State, and INALJ Texas The Art of Making Mistakes Confession: I make mistakes all the time – at work, at home, with friends. Most of the time, these mistakes are minor with smaller, manageable consequences. Things like\u00a0not giving myself quite enough time to meet a…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":76790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[146,69,3592,3858,3665,3655,3658,4503,4605,6326,4604],"class_list":["post-80935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-advice","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-claire-schmieder","tag-inalj-new-york-state","tag-inalj-nyc","tag-inalj-texas","tag-job-advice","tag-job-mistakes","tag-life-advice","tag-mistakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Claire.Schmieder.SeniorEditor.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-l3p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}