I messed something up, it affected a client and caused some upset. So what did I do next?
OK, let me be upfront here that I do not like it when I let somebody down so when it happens I feel terrible. I immediately go into fix it mode and that used to mean total chaos once upon a time. My body would flood with anxious feelings, a knot would form in my stomach and I would just feel sheer panic and stress for the next 24 hours even after fixing it.
This is NOT an ok way to operate. I am a human being and it is ok to make a mistake and literally punishing myself for hours or days for being human is crazy.
Part of being a professional in business is to take responsibility for your mistakes. What I had to develop was a way to take care of my clients when it happened and also take care of me. Without doing that part I was zapped of energy and unable to resolve problems quickly and carried so much stress.
One major thing I have learned about taking responsibility is that it shows clients your true integrity. They should be happy with how you work together when everything flows but they should also be happy with how you handle things going sideways too. Keeping yourself calm and your listening ears wide open goes a long way to diffuse a situation and make the client feel like they are being heard and taken care of.
Wondering how I got to a place of calm when dealing with mistakes? Emotional intelligence training. I have talked about it before and I cannot say enough good things about the impact it has had on my life. If you struggle with stress when things go sideways I highly recommend taking some courses. In addition, learning breathing techniques has also helped me to reset my body for those physical feelings.