As leaders and achievers, we tend to strive for excellence – a wonderful trait. However, we can also be especially hard on ourselves, or perhaps on those we lead, when we don’t exceed expectations.
Sometimes, despite our knowledge and effort, we don’t show up at our best. We hold back when we could have shared, we quietly make assumptions when we could have sought understanding, we remain silent when we could have spoken up.
Then, to add to it, we can spin in the world of coulda/shoulda/woulda for ages.
This week, practice grace and growth.
When you perform at less than your best, give yourself grace (aka, forgive yourself), do what you can to improve the situation (ie, apologize or offer a solution), then grow from the experience by committing to doing better next time. Reflect on what that will look like so you can have an action plan.
In every difficulty, I’ve made it a habit to ask myself an important question: What’s the lesson here? When you learn, you grow; when you grow, you can do better.
What helps you grow from your coulda/shoulda/woulda experiences? Share your ideas below.