If you look back on how last week went and find that you were short of reaching your goals, or you didn’t make time for necessities like self improvement, this week is the perfect time to correct last week’s mistakes — “mistakes” can be defined as an action that was misguided.
If you took misguided action last week, let’s do what’s necessary to guide better action this week. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
First, acknowledge the mistake and take responsibility rather than making excuses. Making excuses for your mistakes can hold you back from progressing towards your goals or making up for the effects from your mistake.
For example, let’s say you have a goal to visit your chiropractor once per week and you missed your visit last week due to a lack of planning and scheduling. When you visit your chiropractor the following week and they ask where you were last week, you have the option to say you were too busy, or take responsibility for your actions and say, “No excuse for last week’s missed visit, I plan on making it up with a second visit this week!”
Second, take action to make up for what what’s been done or what needs to be redone due to missing out on an opportunity. Life happens, and when it does happen, pour in the extra effort to make up for the mistake. We can either get stronger by making up for misguided actions, or get weaker by not putting forth the time and energy necessary to reach the goal you set out to achieve.
Third, hold yourself accountable to do what you’ve set out to do. Now that you’ve taken responsibility for your goal and made up for the mistake that’s been made, it’s time to hold yourself accountable to staying on track. Staying on track means your raising your standards so you won’t drop back down to the level that lead you to make the mistake in the first place.
Here’s a guide to help you correct your misguided actions:
1. Acknowledge the mistake and take responsibility.
2. Take action to make up the mistake.
3. Hold yourself accountable to new standards.
Bonus Tip: Find ways to make more mistakes! Yes, make more mistakes by raising the bar on your expectations. For instance, if you you exercise 3-4 times a week and you rarely miss a work out, maybe it’s time to try exercising 4-7 times a week. By raising your standards to exercise more than what you’re currently doing, you might find yourself missing a work out or two at your new expectations. But, ultimately, you will raise the bar and become stronger because of it!