Managing Your Career: Bygones

One very important, and often overlooked, aspect of managing our careers is that of letting go of old mistakes by forgiving ourselves for being human. Miscalculations and errors in judgment will occur at one time or another – there’s no way around it. We must move on and not let them color our future success. Yes, they can be painful, but there’s really no better teacher than those mistakes made on the job – some of the biggest ones I’ve made will never be repeated because the lesson was so powerful. Sure, there was embarrassment and a temporary dip in self-confidence, but this dissolved once I really let go and moved on. It’s just life – we learn by doing, and sometimes that doesn’t turn out as well as we’d like the first time. One of America’s most often quoted authors and philosophers from the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said this in his essay, Self-Reliance:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

That puts it in perspective for me and is a reminder pasted on my wall. What old mistake are you hanging onto? What’s holding you back from being as successful and happy at work as you could be? Perhaps it’s one of those inevitable bumps in the road you encountered. Time to make your peace with it and head wholeheartedly toward your success!

Please post a comment and share ways you have moved on from those inevitable "blunders and absurdities".