Last week, we screwed up. Twice.
Not the kind of screw-ups that nobody notices, either. Big, fat screw-ups that Helen Keller couldn’t miss.
So, this morning, I called a meeting. I explained why I was pissed, and then I shut up and listened. There was no blaming. Or finger-pointing. Or excuses. Everyone contributed honest observations, and brought good ideas. We made four key decisions to make sure that this Never. Happens. Again.
And we went away feeling better. All of us.
People screw up all the time; it’s part of life. But you choose what to do with it. You can sit and stew. Or pout. Or stop playing. I screw up all the time, and notice it most when I’m playing sports. I double fault playing tennis (grrrrr…), or make a crappy pass in basketball that gets intercepted. (Argh!)
I hate messing up. But I don’t stay mad. I tell myself to “Use it!” This is my reminder not to stay “stuck” in what went wrong, but to channel that frustration to play better at the next opportunity.
When you screw up, do you stew on it? Or do you use it?
PS Thank you, Michelle Golden, for telling us there was a booger on our nose. We’ve eliminated the registration process for folks who want to comment on our blog.
