Physical mistake: See “The Finish Carpenter Is Your Best Friend”. A good finish carpenter specializes in making mistakes look like they were supposed to be there.
Money mistake: Don’t throw good money after bad. If you feel like you’re in over your head, there’s no shame in signaling a retreat to regroup. It’s just a time out, sports teams take them all the time. Phil Jackson was notorious for letting the other team set up their play or defensive set, and then calling time out just before the ball was inbounded. Then he re-organized his team adjusting to what the opponent was about to throw at them. I have no idea why every coach doesn’t do this, or why the other team almost never re-adjusted their set.
People mistake: If it’s you, just man (or woman up), claim it (with a solution), apologize and drive on. Most people will respect you more if you just own up to yourmistake and get about the business of correcting it. If you find someone that wants to keep harping on your mistake once corrected, get rid of them as soon as possible, as they mean you no good, and most likely want to see you fail for whatever their psychotic reason is.
If it’s someone around you, determine the intent first. People are often under a number of stressors you don’t know about. Bring it to their attention, give a chance to adjust. After that, I have to assume your unqualified or doing it on purpose to be a saboteur.
Identify your mistakes as soon as possible, and make a decision whether to reverse course or go full speed ahead with it in a gamble. I played ball with a guy that would take huge leads off first base, and if he felt like he was about to be picked off by the pitcher, he would go ahead and take off for second base, daring the first baseman to be able to make a good, quick throw to second base. I didn’t even know that was actually legal. And he pulled it off more than not, but at the same time, this guy was incredibly quick. If you know you don’t have that kind of quickness, stay in your lane.
It’s alright to take a loss sometimes; what you don’t want to do is dig yourself an even bigger hole with bad decision making.
