William “Bud” Hart, of Haverhill, shares “Success Principles”—ideas for living a greater, better and more accomplished life, and building habits that stick. He also coaches clients to incorporate strategies for boosting their mental and physical performance during everyday living.
Sometimes when responsibility and inexperience come together things can go terribly wrong. I was embarrassingly reminded of this fact this past weekend. Filling in for someone else I had the responsibility for making sure that a certain event went off without a hitch. I was given specific details of the event, the times and what I was responsible for doing several days prior to the Saturday occasion.
When we arrived at the event I asked for, and was given, a schedule and times that our group would participate by the event organizers. As the fast-paced occasion unfolded and I was covering many things simultaneously, I followed the schedule that event organizers had provided me upon arrival. It turned out to have contained errors and a part of my group missed their opportunity to participate. I later learned from participants with more experience that they simply ignored the inaccuracies.
Was I frustrated? Sure I was. There were thoughts like “Man, why didn’t I take the time to cross check with the schedule I was given earlier in the week?” “Why didn’t I double and triple check things?” “Why didn’t I just follow the instructions I received from the person I substituted for?” And “What will people think?” But all these thoughts were fleeting. They didn’t bog me down for long.
I quickly apologized to everyone for my miscalculation. Interestingly, while I felt bummed, I wasn’t hung up about it. Almost immediately I realized that the event was now in the past and there were just two ways to look at it, either good or bad.
There are things that happen sometimes in a day that we would like to do over, or do entirely without if we could; from the little things like losing keys and being delayed in heavy traffic; to bigger things like losing a job? Whenever something undesirable happens to us it is hard to picture a time days, months and years later that it may good. Yet if I ask just about anyone would be able to tell me about some event in their life that seemed bad initially, but later turn out to be the best thing that could have happened.
The take away for me this past weekend is this. Even when we know what we want to do and are well prepared to do it things don’t always turn out as we hope and expect. When this happens we have a choice. We can lament and make excuses, or we can urge on and move on. The truth is it is not people or events themselves that determine what they become in any of our lives, it is us.
There is this one particular saying that I repeat to myself when things go sour (as I did this past weekend). “You did your best forget the rest,” an adage you might find comforting if ever you find yourself in a situation similar to mine on Saturday.
William “Bud” Hart is a certified “Mindset” Coach, Accountability Partner and Business Consultant. Visit Hart Group, www.hartgroupma.com for more on coaching.