#293| Why Criticising Yourself After a Small Mistake Is Costing You Hours of Productivity You'll NEVER Get Back

You make a mistake.

I make mistakes.

Everyone knows intellectually that every human makes mistakes.

Nobody's perfect.

And you're probably even great at fixing mistakes.

I would imagine if you're the kind of person listening to this podcast, you are and have been successful and you're a great problem solver.

When there's a problem, you're probably one who catches the error and you get to work on fixing it and problem solve every possible outcome before anyone even asks you to.

So on paper, you're doing everything right.

But there is a problem.

And that problem is when you make a mistake, a voice inside your head shows up and says something like, you're so stupid.

Why did you do that? Or why do you always mess things up? Not just like, that was a mistake.

Let's fix it and move on.

And

if you're like I used to be, that voice doesn't leave when the problem gets solved.

So even after you've fixed it, it just moves into your head for the rest of the day, sometimes into the night, sometimes for days after that.

And when that happens, the feeling isn't just guilt about making a mistake or having an oversight.

It's closer to disgust at yourself, a private, low-grade contempt that you'd really never let anyone else see and that you certainly wouldn't give to anyone else.

You know, if someone on your team made a mistake, you'd probably skip right past all that.

You're so stupid and go straight to let's figure this out because the only person who you have those super negative thoughts about is yourself.

And if you experience this, you know this isn't just an unpleasant feeling that passes.

It has a real cost.

It's the 10 or 15 minutes in the middle of a workday where you're just unable to do anything because you're so upset that you made a mistake.

And sometimes even after you make plans to fix it or have actually fixed it, it will still stay with you.

Maybe through the afternoon.

Again, even after it's fixed.

You make a mistake.

I make mistakes.

Everyone knows intellectually that every human makes mistakes.

Nobody's perfect.

And you're probably even great at fixing mistakes.

I would imagine if you're the kind of person listening to this podcast, you are and have been successful and you're a great problem solver.

When there's a problem, you're probably one who catches the error and you get to work on fixing it and problem solve every possible outcome before anyone even asks you to.

So on paper, you're doing everything right.

But there is a problem.

And that problem is when you make a mistake, a voice inside your head shows up and says something like, you're so stupid.

Why did you do that? Or why do you always mess things up? Not just like, that was a mistake.

Let's fix it and move on.

And

if you're like I used to be, that voice doesn't leave when the problem gets solved.

So even after you've fixed it, it just moves into your head for the rest of the day, sometimes into the night, sometimes for days after that.

And when that happens, the feeling isn't just guilt about making a mistake or having an oversight.

It's closer to disgust at yourself, a private, low-grade contempt that you'd really never let anyone else see and that you certainly wouldn't give to anyone else.

You know, if someone on your team made a mistake, you'd probably skip right past all that.

You're so stupid and go straight to let's figure this out because the only person who you have those super negative thoughts about is yourself.

And if you experience this, you know this isn't just an unpleasant feeling that passes.

It has a real cost.

It's the 10 or 15 minutes in the middle of a workday where you're just unable to do anything because you're so upset that you made a mistake.

And sometimes even after you make plans to fix it or have actually fixed it, it will still stay with you.

Maybe through the afternoon.

Again, even after it's fixed.