Daily Quote: “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” Albert Einstein
It’s not enough to just admit to having made an error. Although this in itself is a great step forward in anybody’s journey. Just finding the courage to admit to having made a mistake is already wonderful progress in ones personal development.
But over and above the honesty towards oneself of admitting to a failure, an important step to closure on the topic is to apologise to the people you might have hurt or injured in the ‘failure experience’.
Admitting to ones failures and a whole hearted attempt at reparation is what will allow you to move to the next step which is to learn from your mistake and improve on yourself.
As with spilt milk, we need to clean up the mess we make when we fail at a task or slip up on our interpersonal skills. Apologise to the people that you have hurt. In many cases the damage you did to people might have been unintentional.
It is seldom that we on purpose go out of our ways to hurt people around us. We more often than not cause this hurt without realising the consequence of our action. This does not make the hurt people have felt any less powerful.
When checking the failed activity, check to see where you might have caused some damage and apologise for this. This could be an instance where you missed a vital and easy goal and your team lost a competition due to this.
Or you could have gone broke through using your credit card too often, without having the funds to pay for your purchases. Going broke could mean that your business had to close down and your staff lost their employment. It could also have effected your family, you might have lost your home to foreclosure.
In all instances a fair number of people would have been hurt by your action. Apologise for your error. Of course this does not help the people that much when they have just lost their jobs and their wages with that.
The least you can do to help them with their pain is to admit to people who have been hurt that you were at fault and that you have made a mistake.
Besides helping the people whom you have injured with their loss it will also provide some closure in your own mind as to the mistakes you have made. Apologising is not about replacing the damage you did but rather a way to admit to the other person that you were at fault and showing your regret at what that mistake has done to them.
Deliver any communications that might be required to complete the experience. Besides apologies you might want to assist your staff in finding other employment if you have been the cause of their losing their jobs.
If you have caused hurt because you played badly in a football match by missing an easy goal you might want to add to your apology some more work and practice to try and avoid this kind of mistake the next game you play.
Admit to your mistakes, apologise and help clean up the mess. It’s the right thing to do.
