Owning our mistakes

“If you’re not in the arena getting your butt kicked too, I’m not interested in your feedback.”~Brene Brown

Everyone makes mistakes at work. Some professional errors, however, are more public than others. If you’re a journalist or published author, for instance, the mistakes you make on the job are public and remain in print forever. There were times when I made errors that were, luckily, caught by editors before they made it to print. But sometimes they weren’t caught — and I was humbled when my readers pointed them out.

As sociologist Brene Brown notes, if you’re going to put yourself out there, expect to get your ass kicked. But if you don’t want your ass kicked in public, you’re better suited to working in a career where you won’t get noticed.

Whatever you do, making mistakes is part of being imperfectly human — even if your errors aren’t on public display. If you’re lucky, people will forgive or overlook your errors, especially if you own them, apologize, and make the appropriate correction as soon as you can.

Questions to ponder: Are you afraid to try something different because you fear making mistakes or looking foolish? Do you ever criticize others for taking risks and doing things you’ve never attempted? How do you handle criticism? ~CL