"Mistakes are going to be made."

Earlier in the week, I received some constructive criticism over a piece of work I had done. It had been my first attempt at it, and though I hadn't been given much guidance, I didn't ask many questions, because I genuinely thought I knew what was expected of me. As it turned out, I wasn't entirely sure, and so when it was reviewed, parts of it had to be re-done; which, obviously, was not the most efficient use of my time.

To say I am unaccustomed to dealing with criticism would not be entirely accurate, but it is also true that until then, most of the feedback I had received had been positive. And it is also true that I have been known to be rather defensive when I am criticised; seeking to justify why I have done or said something, whatever that something is.

So I had to try to face things differently this time; and here are three things that helped:

one. having a lovely manager who knows how to interact with people helps enormously. She didn't start by listing out everything I'd done wrong, with no opening. She sat down next to me and asked if we could talk about the assignment. She started by praising another section of my work. And then she didn't say that what I had done was rubbish-no-good. Instead, she suggested I look up a couple of examples of how other people approach it, so as to understand what it was about. She explained where I'd gone wrong, and heard me out when I explained that part of why I'd done something one way was because I thought it made sense because X, Y and Z. She even engaged with that, acknowledging the logic in the thought process, but let me know that 'no, we can't do that, though I understand why you'd think that'.

two. The following quote from The West Wing kept going through my head: "Mistakes are going to be made. Minimize them, fix them... move on." (From the episode 'Mandatory Minimums' in season 1, in case anyone fancies watching it!) Instead of what I would have been tempted to do a while back (which is to think, at length, about what I'd done wrong and how I should have done it differently and so on and so forth), I thought, "Ok, I made a mistake. How can I fix it? How can I not make it next time?" Over an over, I kept reminding myself, "Minimise them. Fix them. Move on. Move on. Move on."

three. Today, I came across a sign: "Don't look back: you're not going that way." And I had to laugh. Because, yes. "FORWARD."

I looked over my work, bearing in mind the criticism. I recognised the mistakes that had been pointed out. I thought of how to correct them. I went on a course about how to do the task - which, admittedly, may have been useful before I attempted the task. I learned how to do it. Next time, I will ask more questions, I will try harder, and I will have learned.

"Minimize them. Fix them. Move on."

I'm moving on.