Many of us experience some degree of concern or fear at the prospect of making a mistake – realistically we’d all like to be right all the time, right? But when we reflect, most of us also recognise that mistakes don’t have to be a bad thing - they’re certainly great to learn from if we can step back and embrace the opportunity.
Give these tips a read – they might help you to shift your perception of mistakes over time. Your reluctance to make a mistake isn’t going to vanish overnight, but with persistence you may be able to reframe your approach, both for yourself and those you work with.
Know that you’re not alone
Know that you’re not the only person to make mistakes. Perhaps you’re in a new role, taking on more responsibilities, or doing a project in an area you’re not familiar with. Remember that you’re not going to be letting everyone down by making an error here and there. You’re going to encounter learning curves throughout your career and mistakes will help to identify the gaps in your knowledge so you can address them.
Mistakes are great learning opportunities
At the end of the day, mistakes can provide remarkable value if you embrace the opportunity to learn from them.
Some steps to help when you identify that a mistake has been made:
Pinpoint what the mistake is and what would ideally have taken place.
Work out how to fix it, at least initially. This might include seeking advice from others with more knowledge or experience in the area, or simply working through each step again.
As well as fixing it for now, identify how to avoid the situation or error in the future.
Implement the measure or changes needed.
Acknowledge to yourself what you’ve gained through the experience.
Have some faith in yourself
As the saying goes, ‘Believe and you will achieve’. If you have a negative cloud hanging over your head and you’re allowing pessimistic thoughts to take hold, you’re not going to be performing at your best. If you can get to a place where you back yourself, you’ll be able to approach things with more confidence, and in turn will make less mistakes over time. And when you do err, keep reminding yourself that, “It’s ok - I can learn from this!”
Own your mistakes
Where relevant, take responsibility with those impacted for mistakes you make, and let them know how you’ve rectified it and will avoid it in the future. Keeping yourself accountable for your mistakes will enhance your learning and success in the long run.
Destress and take some pressure off yourself
You might find you’re stressed or uptight when you make most of your mistakes, so here are some tips to help you to relax.
Take a minute for yourself. Take a few deep breaths, focus on your breathing, get some fresh air, and clear your mind. Eliminate negative self-talk.
Where possible, surround yourself with cool, calm, and collected people. If you’re surrounded by stressful people, then you’re most likely going to be stressed too.
Figure out what’s making you stressed and whether it’s something that you really need to worry about. Are you overthinking it? Put it into perspective - what’s the worst possible outcome? The answer 99% of the time isn’t going to be life threatening.
Do some meditation/mindfulness for a couple minutes to reset and collect yourself. Freshen up your thoughts and change your thought process. It will help you to take a step back for a minute.
Talk to someone. Sometimes once you vocalise what you’re worried about, it becomes apparent that it isn’t something you need to be worried about after all.
Do something that makes you happy. Get some endorphins going in your body to get rid of negative thoughts and feelings.
The Augmentum team provides a broad range of consultancy and management services, supporting healthcare business owners and decision makers in other key areas such as business coaching, strategy development and action planning, building effective foundations and teams, keeping your finger on the pulse, and driving growth and success. Get in touch to find out more, or check out our website www.augmentum.com.au.
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