One of the hardest parts of adopting a new routine is refraining from making the same mistakes that you used to. This is a common issue we see in our participants, especially when their work starts piling on again and their stress levels rise. It’s human nature to revert back to what’s comfortable during a time of high stress; however, with a little extra effort, you can easily avoid falling back in to your old ways, and remain on the bandwagon of productivity. Here are three easy-to-follow ways you can make your new routine stick, and avoid repeating the same mistakes of your past.
Hold Yourself Accountable for Your Mistake
When making a mistake, a lot of us get defensive or cast the blame on someone else rather than owning up to it and accepting full responsibility.
This is a natural tendency, however, it more often than not prevents us from correcting the mistake the second time around. As soon as you realize that you’ve made a mistake, it’s important to find the underlying cause of it. If you missed a project deadline, look back and see what caused that to happen. Did you forget to put the project in your TaskPad? Did you put it in your TaskPad, but forget to add the deadline? Identifying the root cause of your mistake will allow you to know where you need to course correct, reducing the likelihood of you making it again.
Write the Course Correction Down
If you realize that you’re making the same mistake over and over again, document it. In your TaskPad under the ‘.Meaningful Objectives – Personal’ category, create a task that explains the course correction you want to make on a regular basis. For example, if you keep forgetting to do simple tasks and want to remind yourself to clear your mind each day, title the task ‘Daily Clearing the Mind Exercise.’ By categorizing it under your personal MO category, it will always be at the top of your TaskPad, so you’ll have no choice but to look at it every single day. This makes for a nice constant reminder, pushing you to make a conscious effort towards improvement every time you see it.
Be Grateful for the Mistake
This probably sounds odd to most of you, but mistakes aren’t always a bad thing. While we’re busy obsessing over the mistake we made, we often fail to realize that it was a learning experience. The fact that you made a mistake shows that you’re pushing yourself and your abilities; some people choose to stay in a zone of comfortability because they’re afraid of making mistakes, however, those people will never find themselves growing or improving. Be grateful for the mistake that you just made because it’s exemplifying two things. First, that you’re improving yourself. Whether that be professionally or personally, this mistake shows you’re taking the strides necessary to better yourself. Second, it shows what areas you need to focus on improving. Rather than trying to aimlessly better yourself, a mistake exposes your weakest area, and allows you to direct your efforts accordingly.
Breaking an old habit isn’t an easy task, but with a little extra effort it is completely possible to do. Correcting a mistake is an important step in self-improvement, and these three steps could prevent you from making even more mistakes in the future. If you’re struggling to correct your mistakes, or need help identifying your own self-sabotaging habits, contact us today to learn more about our Strategic Team Plan (STP) course.