I screwed up at work... hugs please? - Page 2

[Mosaic]

Oh, timely. About 2 weeks ago I made *the* biggest mistake of my entire professional career. Oh sure, I've made plenty of little mistakes, but we fix them and move on. This one was not 100% my fault, but could have been very, very bad.

In the end, the client wasn't upset and it all turned out ok, but not as ok as if it had never happened. What did I do? I bawled my eyes out in my office half of that day, then burst into tears whenever I thought of it for the next several days, and 2 weeks later I'm past it but not over it.

I'm thinking a year from now, when I'm not in my 9th month of pregnancy and so darn sensitive, I will find this funny. But not yet.

And yes, other people make mistakes, too. Bigger than your mistake. Even bigger than my mistake! And it does help to know that smarter, more experienced, more professional people still royally screw up from time to time as well.

[laohaire]

A few years ago there was this news item about how somebody forgot to tighten a bolt on an airplane after the preflight maintenance, and it was a disaster. Awful, awful.

I don't tighten bolts on airplanes. The worst mistake I could possibly make would cost us a client and/or money out of the business's pockets, and that's it. I don't want to do those either, but it really helped me put it in perspective.

I used to manage a staff (till it dwindled away) and one guy who worked for us was a hard worker and a terrific guy but made a lot of little mistakes. And he was like you, it would just really upset him. I told him about the airplane bolt thing and he said it really put it in perspective for him too. Of course he still hated making mistakes but he used it like a mantra.

If you make the same mistakes a lot, have you considered figuring out a process - like a flight checklist in a way? You can print out as many processes as you need and have them on your desk, and even if you don't actually check everything off just thinking "ok, did I do the process?" might be enough to help. Or just thinking after each step, 'ok, is this the right document? and this is the right place for it? great, moving on...". And after that, just relax and let it be.

[laohaire]

Oh, and another suggestion - if you have to handle lots of "to-dos" and tasks, I highly recommend the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. That book also touches your personal life and helps you get organized at home. But if your issue is that you have 100 things to juggle and you're constantly forgetting things, that's the book for you.

[tangozulu]

People who don't make any mistakes probably aren't taking many risks. And without risks, you don't grow, your business doesn't innovate, and you fail in the long run. I make mistakes every day. All you can do is take responsibility, learn from it, and move on. As a manager, that is what I expect from my team. Being honest and taking responsbility is really, really important. And to learn a lesson from it that sticks - well, it was probably worth it.

[rivkah]

Any pointers on how to stop making mistakes?

I swear, I would be so happy to make it through one, single day without messing something up. lately, it seems the harder I try, the worse it is. I am not chronically unorganized. I am not lazy. I just inevitably misspeak or make a proofreading error or misread something or misunderstand directions. Sometimes I want to hang it up and find some sort of easier job (I am a lawyer).

I seriously wonder if having a baby (have a 10-month -old) and two older kids has just baked my brain.

Does anyone else feel like they can't do anything right the first time?

[Zimbah]

This is a good post for me! I constantly feel like I'm not doing a good enough job at work. I used to be pretty good at my job, I had a good reputation in my department and in different departments, I got lots done. Now I feel like I'm really crap at my job, just about scraping through. I am constantly saying things that are total nonsense, I just can't come up with ideas, I am basically only capable of following instructions. My job isn't hard in the scheme of things, but I often wish I had a job that was easier. I got a promotion while I was pregnant and, aside from the (admittedly crucial ) fact that i get more money and my job is also slightly more secure, I do wish that I hadn't got that promotion so that the expectations of me would be lower and, I think, more fitting to what I feel I can actually achieve.

[texmati]

yes, yes, yes. I 'm back after mat. leave, and my brain is absolutely mush. mush. mush mush.

I sit at work and I have Dr suess running through my brain.

No help here... I'm seriously considering quitting. My heart and mind just aren't in it anymore.