First, you have to have the guts to admit that you made a mistake. No one is perfect, and we make mistakes. The next step is to take ownership of that mistake and apologize for it. Say what you learned from it and what you will do differently next time.
Each day, you want to take another step to becoming better. One way is to understand your mistake and to make every effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
For me, I made the mistake of telling someone I was going to do something, and then forgetting to tell someone that I had changed my mind about my decision to do something.
I could do two things differently.
- Not agree that I will do something if I am not 100% sure that I will be able to complete it (This is a little difficult for me because unfortunately, I am a ‘people pleaser”. I have to know my limitations and be able to say “I have to think about it more” or “no” to some requests.).
- If I had already agreed but later could not make that commitment, then contact the other party as soon as possible. A later time is not a good time. The best time is as soon as I know that I can’t make that commitment. Even if it initially upsets the other person, it is much better for me to contact him first, than for him to contact me first.