22/02/2021
How to deal with past mistakes 👇🏻
While Harold may not have been specifically referencing mistakes, it got me thinking about how I best deal with them.
If, like me, you're a practical person, then you probably need practical solutions. Rather than simply "not living in the past".
And so I wanted to share with you my process:
🗒 A Step by Step Plan of Practical Tips to Learn from Past Mistakes:
1. Spend 5 minutes thinking about the mistake objectively. What occurred leading up to it? What actually happened? And what were the results?
2. Write a list of at least 5 bullet points of objective reasons. Don’t include any subjective sentences, such as “I did this”, but instead write, “this happened”.
3. Place those items into 2 columns: things in my control & things not in my control (they may all go in 1 column).
4. Okay, the things not in your control: cross them off. You couldn’t have done anything about it.
🤔 Sometimes, simply crossing it off doesn’t sit well with me, so then I think about it more and see if I could have done anything. If there is, then add it to the other column. However, a lot of the time, the answer is simply, “no, there was nothing I could have done here”.
5. For each item left uncrossed, look at it as if a friend was telling you that they did it. Write that friend’s name above the list. Now, go through each item and give them advice on possible solutions. Write them in a list.
6. Look at that list of solutions: is there one that you could do today? Or, is there something that you could do that helps you move towards that solution?
e.g. You made a mistake because you were rushed for time. The solution could be to plan things out better. Something you could do today is to create an example of what that plan might look like. Perhaps create a template for future use.
7. Repeat Step 6 once a day to complete the list.
📝 By doing this, you’ve learnt something from this mistake and you’ve taken practical steps to avoid this mistake in the future.
Mistakes are inevitable. Not only that, they’re essential as they teach us how to get better. But you’ll only get better if you learn and act on