Coming from personal experience, owning up to your mistakes is hard, whether it’s in a school, work or social setting. We all make mistakes, but how do we fix them? Here are five tips and reasons to own up to something that you may not have done right the first time.
- Don’t wait until someone else notices to fix it.
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If you did something wrong at work such as forgetting to complete a task, or you did something that will make a friend mad, open up immediately. The situation will become worse as you wait, which will make things more difficult for you in the long run. Someone should not find out your mistake “the hard way,” because that doesn’t show the person how genuine your apology is or your willingness to do better. If you don’t know where to start, you should communicate with the person directly affected first, and say, “I wanted to apologize for….” This may seem simple right now, but actually going through with it is very hard, especially if the mistake will impact you negatively.
- Prove to yourself and others that you will learn and improve from your mistakes.
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Try not to make promises to someone that you know you will not keep, such as telling someone that you will not do it again or that you will do better next time if you don’t put forth the effort to do so. Eventually, the person may not believe you. However, if you constantly show effort and improvement, then you will gain more respect from others and yourself. Just because you didn’t get caught, it doesn’t mean lying to your friend is right.
- Saying something will increase your trustworthiness, integrity and confidence.
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As mentioned before, trust is very important in any relationship you make at work, socially or educationally. Owning up to a mistake that most people would ignore increases the trust that others have for you. This will make you stand out as an individual during, for example, a job promotion. Integrity is also an important trait to display for yourself, which shows that you are honest and that you have respect for yourself and others. You can increase your integrity by owning up to the mistakes that you have made in the past and continuing to own up to them in the future. Finally, owning mistakes helps you gain confidence in yourself. This is because you gain more knowledge to be better in the future every time, so you will have more confidence in doing the correct thing the first time.
- Face your fears.
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Personally, I get very nervous when speaking up about doing something wrong. Even something as simple as my manager telling me to make sure the fans are turned off after my shift when I forgot to one day made me red in the face. Like you, I have to work on this characteristic and try to gain enough courage to apologize and try to do better next time. Needless to say, I will definitely remember to turn off the fans next time. It is important to note that it is easy to blame something or someone else while speaking about your mistakes so you don’t feel as guilty or scared. Instead, try saying “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, it won’t happen again.” This is a skill that will take time, so practicing it will help you in the future.
- Understand that there is no guilt in telling the truth.
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Lastly, I often feel very guilty when doing something wrong and not at least telling someone about it, even for the reassurance that it’s okay or the simple “don’t do it again” response. An example that always puts situations in perspective for me is that my mom once made someone have an allergic reaction at work due to wearing perfume, which was against the rules in a hospital setting. Now, she trains others at work and always mentions this mistake so no one else will do the same thing she did. She owned up to it then, and even to this day she will. Again, this may seem like a small mistake that anyone can make, but nevertheless, she turned a mistake into something positive, and she doesn’t feel guilt for it anymore.