What happens when you make a mistake?

By Rachael Downie
Business Success Mentor

Do you get that dropped sinking feeling in your stomach, the sweaty palms?

That self- talk of what will others think of me,

“I can’t believe I have done that”,

“Who have I let down?

The foreboding feelings of guilt, shame, and disappointment perhaps?

Most people have been conditioned to not make mistakes, based on the parenting, experiences and schooling you have received. This can set you up for the fear of failure. But the reality is very different. Mistakes happen every day in the workplace and it is how you handle them that is key.

Imagine that you have been booked as a key speaker for both a morning and afternoon session for a conference. You have sent off your worksheets and activities for the handouts to be printed. You have a presentation ready in your mind from a previous session that requires a bit of tweaking. You have booked your accommodation. You have organised after school activities and overnight stays for your children while you are away. You have re-organised appointments with current clients and just taking the dogs for a walk before you head off for your destination. It’s a beautiful day and you are enjoying the sunshine, the waves on the beach. You  A text comes through on your phone indicating that you are meant to be presenting that day in 10 minutes. Where are you?

Oh dear. A BIG mistake has been made. The wrong date has been in put in the calendar. The sessions were THURSDAY not Friday !!!! The conference is 2 ½ hrs away. You are not in work clothes, 5 minutes from home and your presentation needs tweaking !!!

HOW DO YOU RESPOND?????

This happened to me last week. Exactly as I have described above. Thankfully I am what I call a reformed perfectionist, controlling personality ( do you know anyone like that? ). If this had happened to me in the past I would have been absolutely mortified and fallen to pieces. I would have been stressed out, and felt terrible.

Having learnt to master my mindset and come from a place of confidence, I completely owned what had happened. And let the person know (who was freaking out) that I had made a mistake, all that was needed to be organised was a computer and a zoom login and I would deliver a brilliant session and show up for every single person in the room. There was no sinking feeling, no shame, no disappointment, let down or guilt. I owned my mistake and took control letting the organisers know that all would be well.

This didn’t come from an overnight tweaking of my mindset. This came from a practised belief that “Everything was always working out for me”. “A professional is always at their best at all times” and “I’ve got this”. I had also learnt being calm and relaxed was critical. I had 10 minutes.– I got the dogs home, changed into my outfit, fired up the computer, opened the presentation and registered in my mind what needed to be done to it in between the breaks. And it was game on. Where did the confidence come from? I had built it up internally and I knew my craft. I had practised it over and over again and delivered many presentations prior. 

I truly believe that it is 95% mindset and 5% strategy. I know that every single person in the room benefited from the mistake that I made that day. The roles in their organisations meant that they had to minimise or clean up the mistakes of others. All was well. My vulnerability and mistake showed the people attending in the sessions that there is always an alternative. The goal never changes but the plan can.

Do you come from a place of reacting or responding? Are you able to create a pause or gap and allow yourself to come from a place of opportunity rather than being stuck in the problem?

Mistakes are how you learn and grow. Shift your perception from them being a failure to being a learning opportunity

 
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