Today’s coping tip is to be gentle with yourself when you make mistakes.
I forgot about a commitment. I had agreed to do a webinar and prepare some content. I got busy with life, almost forgot the webinar, and was scrambling to put together a couple of slides. I got something ready, but it didn’t look great, and I wasn’t happy with it.
Fortunately, I never needed the slides in the webinar.
I was upset with myself, and I spent a few minutes berating myself, as well as thinking “what could I do differently?” Should I set more reminders? Do I need a better to-do list? Should I let some personal things go to ensure I stay on task?
Ultimately I stopped that. I had planned for the webinar, it was on my calendar, and I had done some prep the week before. I got hung up this week with a few personal issues, and that is something I need to accept will happen. Things worked out, so I need to forgive this mistake.
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.