How To Stop Making Mistakes
Recently I had to write a qualifying test for a position at work. There were two parts – a complex multitasking test and a simple business letter. I was a bit stressed about the multitasking one, but I did it first and passed. The business letter I threw together quickly because it was such simple task. I simply clicked next once I was finished and didn’t really look it over.
A few hours later I got an email saying I passed the multitasking test but failed the letter. Turns out I forgot to put the address!
Long story short a girl who had only been there a month got the job because she passed everything. It was quite embarrassing and if I had just stopped and assessed the situation properly I wouldn’t have made that mistake which was so costly.
I realized then and there that I needed a system to stop myself from making stupid decisions. Lets apply the above scenario to the steps below and see how my little blunder at work could have turned out.
Step 1: STOP – Nero Linguistic Programming Types call this interrupting the pattern of behaviour. If you want to make a change you need to acknowledge your current behaviour and alter it.
I simply take a deep breath, hold it, and look up from what I am doing to interrupt the pattern. The pattern of behaviour is now interrupted.
Step 2:
Ask your self 3 questions:
1. What is likely to happen if I keep going the way I am going?
2. What is the worst case scenario?
3. What is the best case scenario?
Answers:
1. I will probably pass but that is not certain because I am not taking the time to check for errors because I am to tired / lazy.
2. Worst case scenario I don’t get the position because I fail the testing and look stupid in front of everyone.
3. I will pass all the tests and get the promotion I wanted.
This little interaction in my mind should take no more than a minute. Sometimes its instant and BOOM – I move on to step 3.
Step 3: Action
You have taken some time to assess the situation and see how your behaviour is affecting the outcome. Now you take action in direction you want to go by altering your behaviour if need be.
If I could do this all over again I would have stopped, realized I was being careless and taken more time to confirm I was doing everything properly.
The reason we are ONLY focusing on your behaviour is because its the only thing that you can control! We do not want to even attempt to control things that we have no power over!
This exercise can be applied to so many situations in life. Get creative and try it out. You will soon see your life improving as a result of making better decisions.
/Ethan