Mistakes are an ambiguous thing. What is considered a mistake? What mistakes are acceptable? How much do you dwell on the mistakes you’ve made?
The answers to all of these really are situation dependent, what I say to all of my employees is: to be great you cannot settle for making the mistakes that everyone else deems acceptable.
Think about it. Mistakes are bound to happen, and no one is going to exile you because you sometimes take too long to respond to an email or arrived a little late for a meeting. But when you think about the people who are “great”, are these things that they do? Being a reliable member of the company will show how valuable you are to your peers, especially with deadlines. Ensuring that your work is always done on time and efficient to hand off is important as it demonstrates that you are capable of focusing your efforts on moving your team and company forward. Instead of criticizing, you offer concrete alternatives that you have researched that help beyond just your job. Being committed to the overall success of your organization, not just your own advancement shows that you’ve taken stock into what you are doing and you’ve grown as an employee. It may not seem like it makes a huge difference, but not settling for these simple mistakes will set you a part from everyone else. People who make these mistakes are not necessarily wrong, but it holds you back from greatness.
Ask yourself what the most common mistakes you make are and formulate a plan on how to prevent them. If you want to stand out from the crowd keeping yourself from making these mistakes is not going to happen overnight, you have to consciously make yourself improve.
Founder, The Anthem Group