The Art of Making a Mistake

When you think of a mistake, we always think first “Who is around or who saw the mistake or who was involved”

The chemistry builds up and then we realize it goes from a mistake, to protective mode, simply human nature to put ones beliefs first above all else.

We all make mistakes, the law enforcement in all large cities can site you for simply not stopping long enough at a stop sign or a red light, is that a mistake, to you it may have not been but to some people, often times when a rule is in place, it is.

Knowing the rule and how to differentiate between acceptance of making a mistake and breaking of a rule is clouded by a thing called “human nature”.

We naturally don’t see ourselves as making mistakes, we see it in task orientated way, a simple mental list that gets ticked off each time we do an action or have to take action.

In my honest opinion, which that’s exactly what it is, an opinion, we should look closer at how our mental checklist can be disrupted, the smallest thing such as a ringtone, someone chewing gum, lights being left on at home, the smallest of these things can disrupt that working order. Some people in the world have the ability to block out things that they know will disrupt that mental list, others do not. Even the best thinkers in the world get disrupted by the smallest things, this is the very smallest beginning of stress and understanding how that turns into a larger disruption is key to stopping the smaller things on an infinitely smaller level.

The people that see your mistakes as what they are, simple disruptions of your list should also remember that they can be in the same position within seconds of passing judgment onto someone else, it’s easy to make a judgment call from a position of authority, most of the times there is no one else that you have to answer to but yourself, but do those people ever wonder what kind of ripple in the water they make when they do that? No, I’m sure that most of it is done unconsciously to the fact but you often have to wonder, is that something I can control?

If you know that an apparent mistake has been made, opening up and talking about it as a team or from a constructive point of view will build that organic reinforcement that your mental list needs.

Stay safe and build lasting working relationships with your teams out there!