One of my most mortifying moments in my old job was completely avoidable.
It was Friday afternoon…
And it had been another long
week.
There was an email I needed to send before the day was over.
A full-length description of a deal I was working on.
And
needless to say this email was confidential.
The deal was hush-hush.
Now, I’ve always been fairly cautious with emails.
I
read them through a few times before sending.
And I had an Outlook rule to hold emails in my outbox for 60 seconds…
(I'd often hit "send" and instantly realise I should’ve typed something different)
Anyway…
I read the email a few times and it looked fine.
So I sent it. And
thought nothing more of it.
A couple of minutes later, an Out Of Office hit my inbox.
I could see it was in reply to the email I’d just sent.
But something looked odd…
The Out Of Office wasn’t from the person I’d sent the email to.
In fact it was from someone in a completely different team…
And that’s when it hit me.
I’d sent the email to the wrong person.
And then it hit me again.
Not only was it the wrong person…
But it was the LAST person on earth who should’ve been receiving that email.
The recipient worked in a team who couldn’t know the deal was even happening.
A bit like if Boris texted the UK’s nuclear launch codes to Putin…
Not a wise move.
And it felt like Armageddon.
My body jerked in its chair…
My heart started pounding in my chest…
And I let out a scream.
(I was working from home)
No, no, no, no…. this isn’t happening!
Who should I tell? What should I do?
Months of work from teams of people potentially undone by one email.
I was horrified.
And even though I can look back with the benefit of perspective...
I remember how awful it felt in the moment…
And it played on my mind for days.
But I know that mistakes are just part of being human.
They happen.
Some mistakes will be small and others will be
big.
It’s how you react and learn from them that counts.
And after I’d spoken to my boss and fired off another email requesting the previous email be deleted…
Nothing else came of it.
So I think the really interesting part is this…
Thinking about it now, it feels like my reaction to my mistake was completely out of proportion.
Yes, it would’ve felt dreadful if the deal had fallen through because of my mistake.
Of course it would.
But the world wouldn’t stop
turning.
So it got me thinking exactly why my reaction was so extreme…
When others would’ve shrugged it off more easily.
And
here’s what I landed on:
This deal was my be-all and end-all.
I was living and breathing it. The deal was my life.
So jeopardising the deal felt a bit like jeopardising my life.
That might sound strange…
But the deal and my life were completely
intertwined.
Apart from eating and sleeping, I was working on this deal.
Even when eating, I was thinking about the deal…
And
even when sleeping, I was dreaming about the deal.
Considering it this way, perhaps my reaction was more understandable.
Clearly my work/life balance was non-existent.
I’d lost all perspective about the role of work in my life…
And I couldn’t see it at the time, because the work was so pervasive.
So if I could step back in time…
And speak to my old self just after sending that email…
I think I’d say this:
Go easier on yourself…
Try to maintain perspective…
And remember that work does not equal life.
That’s it for today.
Hope you got something from this.
Enjoy your Thursday.
- Tom
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