Overcoming our regrets

Photo by Jan Canty on Unsplash

All these years later, I still remember getting the email…

I had dropped the ball in communicating how my pricing and services would be changing for a client. They were disappointed – rightly so – and shortly thereafter, they ended our working relationship.

My stomach still goes into knots when I think back almost 12 years later. It would be easy to excuse it as an honest mistake and just part of learning how to run a business. But it’s something I’ll always regret. And while our regrets might never go away completely, we can always learn from them.

The best way to overcome a regret is to identify what caused that regret in the first place.

For example, I was quickly reminded that communication is everything — because when communication breaks down, trust breaks down too. The way I approach client communications today is much improved because I learned a costly lesson from my mistake.

So if you ever find yourself getting stuck on past regrets, please know that you’re not alone. And remember that we all make mistakes. It’s just part of being human. 

Rather than being defined by our regrets, let’s focus instead on what we can learn from them and then put those lessons into action.