Don't Make It Worse

Apr 8

“Any fool can try to defend his mistakes, and most fools do.” — Dale Carnegie

This writing is Certified Human

The Obstacle

Mistakes were made
Intentionally or not.

We do things
Without thinking
Without understanding
Unintended consequences.

We tried
To make things better
But ended up
Making things worse.

One problem solved
Can lead to many others
Being created.

We try to
Be helpful
Fix
Solve
Move the ball forward.

Instead
We end up fumbling
Turning it over
Setting ourselves
And others back.

It is hard
Not to be defensive
Fight
Justify.

We fight against the obvious truth
We made things worse.

Instead of using energy
To accept
Understand
The impact
Created.

Relationships strain
Forward movement stalls.

We make things worse.

Mistakes were made.

Now we can listen
Understand the impact.

Acknowledge what was done.

Choose
To make things better
Start
Solving problems.

We need not
Defend our actions
Or justify our behavior.

We need only
Explore a new way forward.

Use our energy
Being useful
Solving what we created.

We can avoid conflict
And build trust
By taking ownership.

Choose not
To make things worse.

• Accept the mistake
• Resist defending and justifying
• Acknowledge the impact
• Choose to move forward

CHEAT CODE: ACCEPT→ RESIST DEFENSE → ACKNOWLEDGE → MOVE FORWARD