Tessie’s Two Cents

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Username

Password

Login

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.

Email

Submit

← Back

WE MUST ALL ACCEPT THE RISKS OF OUR DAILY LIVES AND WORKING WITH OTHERS 

Dear Tessie,

I messed up bad at work. It worked out fine, and nothing happened, but somebody could have got hurt or worse! I feel like such a dummy and I’m so mad at myself. This is terrible and now I’m so anxious and I can’t shake this failure feeling.

RG

 

Dear RG,

My friend, sometimes, despite our best intentions and extra efforts… mistakes simply happen. If you were being careless, it’s worth being concerned and maybe even chastising yourself, but not worth beating yourself up over.

We must all accept the risks of our daily lives, and working with others. We must all also accept that we are human, and imperfect, and therefore will make mistakes. Being able to admit that you are imperfect is, in my humble opinion, probably more important than “never making mistakes”.

Once you assume you can’t make a mistake, the danger rises exponentially. If you are working with someone who cannot admit that they might have been less than perfect, you run the risk of being a casualty of their ego. Likewise, if you let your ego get the best of you, that’s when others are most at risk.

See the trend here? Everyone makes mistakes. It is much more important that you learn from those mistakes than it is that you never make any. Never stop learning. The day you feel you’ve learned all there is to know and can stop learning is the day you ought to retire, because it can only go bad from there.

We are not less because we make mistakes, but so much more because we learn from them. Mistakes are sometimes the only way that we will finally remember that even the most familiar tasks require at least some of our attention. It might be that your mistake is what inspires you to find a solution for a quick and easy reminder object or cue.

It can never be said too much… we are imperfect. We all falter, we all make mistakes. You must simply work to always give your best efforts. Not to be perfect, not to assume you’re going to make mistakes, but to do as best you can.