Okay, so that title might be a little bit misleading. I don’t like screwing up. Nobody does. More accurately, I know it’s inevitable that I’m going to screw up (i.e. I’m just a normal dude), and that there’s huge opportunity for growth when I do.

I decided to write this post today because – you guessed it – I screwed up at work today! Actually, not just today, but most of last week, too. It was all basically an exercise in what not to do when you do what I do. But the fact of the matter is, all people, and all leaders make mistakes. My hope is that writing about it will:

1. help me piece together why I messed up;
2. and to help you avoid making my mistakes; and,
3. share my strategies for turning a mistake into an opportunity.

What Happened Anyway?

Oops!
Photo Credit: Fountain_Head

Nothing serious, actually. I was putting together a standard engineering document, and when I handed it in to be reviewed, there were a myriad of typos, clerical and engineering errors, and general ugliness. I had to re-hand it in something like three times. In short, it was pretty embarrassing. This was exacerbated by the fact that the guy reviewing my work was a mentor and someone I really look up to.

Bummer.

Why Did I Make So Many Mistakes?

Looking back, I think there were a few things at play that lead to my less-than-awesome work. For one, I wasn’t all that excited about the work I was doing. Like I said, it was pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Besides that, I was under pretty tight timelines to get this thing done and handed in. Now, let me make it clear, those aren’t the reasons I made the mistakes. These factors lead to my not giving the task at hand my complete and undivided attention. That is what lead to my mistakes. Looking on the last few days, I can say with confidence that that was my issue.

How Will I Avoid That in the Future?

I think there’s a couple important factors to keep in mind moving forward. For one, I’m going to get less-than-exciting tasks. As my father recently said, boring engineering tasks are the reason God created junior engineers. Point taken. I would even go as far as saying most people have to do boring work from time to time. It’s a fact of life for professionals.

So, what am I going to do with that fact? Well, I’m going to try to keep in mind the bigger picture – there is a silver lining here. The bigger picture is that my work has a point – as an engineering team, we’re trying to build something, and my piece of the puzzle, small as it may be, is an important part. I’m not just creating a document, I’m building something. That’s important for me.

The next thing I’m going to do is try and remind myself that without succeeding in the small things, I’ll never be assigned the big things. I’m being given an opportunity to knock one out of the park, so I’ve got to take that opportunity to strut my stuff.

What You Need to Take Away From Mistakes

There’s something important to take away from this experience. For one, It’s forced me to take a step back and put the work I’m doing in a bigger context. That’s definitely going to help motivate me moving forward. It’s serving as a professional check-point. The embarrassment that I suffered in having to revise a document three times is going to stick with me. You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be pulling up my socks in the coming weeks.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of making mistakes? Can you see the benefit? Share your experiences in the comments section below. If you liked this, please share it with your friends using the links below.