By Sunny Simon
Ever suffered one of those bleak, black Mondays? I did recently. Despite my best laid plans, I made a poor decision. It was late Tuesday afternoon when I realized I’d spent the entire morning in worry and regret over the previous day’s happenings. Immediately I began to talk myself out of this negative reverie. Not only was I practicing poor time management, this ruminating was accomplishing nothing. I needed to stop wasting my time on yesterday.
Regret is a part of life. We don’t get it right every time and consequently end up regretting our decisions, actions and often our words. Hours spent lamenting cannot change the past. Life is not a dress rehearsal. It offers no do-over’s. Our only choice is to dispense with the “should haves” and move on.
By the next morning when the desert sun waved it’s powerful hot rays over the earth, I waved good-bye to any remaining regrets lingering in the deep corners of my mind. After using a trusted process to banish my woes, I transitioned into getting on with the day in a positive mode.
Want my secret? Here it is: a simple two-step process. Analyze what went wrong. If you dig deep enough you can probably come up with multiple reasons. In my case, attempting to get the decision behind me in haste, I omitted doing extensive research. I called myself out for moving too fast and then vowed to slow down. Reminded of the old Yiddish proverb: “Measure 10 times and cut once,” I decided to write it out and post it on my vision board. If I was going to learn from this, I needed to keep it in front of me.
Next, I forgave myself. Sure, it took some self talk. I faced disappointment before and know what it feels like. I also know from experience if I muster up enough fortitude, I can push through it. Assuring myself it wasn’t the first error I made and it wasn’t fatal I moved on and refocused my energy on accomplishing an important item on my to-do list. Getting a job done is uplifting and serves to recharge your confidence level.
The next time you stumble and fall, use the situation to rebuild. Take the time to thoroughly uncover where you went off course. One last thought. Kelly Clarkson sings about it. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” So suck it up and walk a little taller.
Sunny Simon is the owner of Raise the Bar High Life and Career Coaching. More about Sunny at www.raisethebarhigh.com
