I make a lot of mistakes…at work, outside of work, everywhere I go!

So usually after a major failure I stop, cry and think of what caused the mishap. What made me make that decision…So I made a list with the most common causes:

• Nervousness/Anxiety/Being stressed out
  • Example: Booking a ticket after a fight with your close ones.
• Pressure to act/respond quickly
  • Manager approaches you and asks you if you can finish something, he is in a hurry, the deadline is approaching, you just say “Sure, boss!”
• False assumptions/prejudice, lack of knowledge
  • You always thought that changing a name on a flight ticket is easy-peazy so you do not double check nothin’.
• Not focused, distracted by something else
  • Writing code while listening to other team’s conversation happening in the same room

So I compiled a list of reminders that could be helpful to reduce these:

• Never do anything when anxious or really stressed, leave it for later! 🙂
• Stay calm and think about the whole picture, the consequences, only then respond. People might think that you turned into a vegetable for a minute there, but you’ll save yourself problems and will build trust.
• Just read more and when you think you know something spend another 5-10 minutes to read about it. You will learn extra and you will build confidence.
• Time-boxing is a great technique to stay focused on a task. You still wont miss chatting to your friends or booking a vacation with your loved one and you will get a lot more work done!
• Take breaks regularly. That helps seeing the bigger picture.

In conclusion, I might say that, especially in software development things should be really well thought out, do not rush through things just to get them done. That wont benefit your career because you wont develop deep knowledge and wont benefit your life in general.

Good luck!