We’re all adults, so we can admit that we all make our share of stupid mistakes. I’m not talking about important mistakes that have real consequences. I’m talking about the small, annoying, obnoxious mistakes that make us shake our heads and wish we could go back and correct them before anyone notices.
What Happened??
Yesterday, I made one of those stupid mistakes that I couldn’t correct. I dashed off an email and later noticed (when it came back to my inbox with a reply) that it had a big boo-boo. You know those times—when you transpose words and/or type in a word that your fingers thought your brain had told them to use but was something else entirely. In these circumstances, those little squiggly red lines from automatic spell-checkers won’t help—the words are spelled correctly, even though they don’t belong where they appear. Sure, you know you’ve read through your email before you hit “send” …but still, there’s the mistake, staring back at you.
What Will They Think??
In circumstances such as this, usually your first thought is “uh-oh.” Immediately, this is followed by the “damn, what will they think?” Effectively, that question has three possible answers.
- They’ll think you’re an idiot. Yep, this is the least desirable, and it comes in several varieties, including: you’re stupid, ignorant, blind, careless, or unprofessional.
- They’ll think you were in a hurry. This is a better answer than #1, because it means the recipient will be able to look past the glaring error and focus on the intent of your email.
- They won’t even see it. This is the best answer (and it’s not simply wishful thinking). Just as you may have rushed through typing it, they may rush through reading it. Their brain may see your intent even when their eyes may see the problem.
What Do I Do Now??
Next comes the big question—do I say anything? In most cases, I think the answer is “no” because it won’t change the past and it could make matters worse. If you draw attention to it, you may produce one of these two undesirable outcomes.
- Instead of just being an idiot or in a hurry, now you’re obsessive-compulsive too.
- If they didn’t see it before, they will now.
Nope, unfortunately, these mistakes can’t be undone, so we simply need to proceed around them. We can’t control what other people will think, and sometimes they will think we’re idiots. But, hey, we all make mistakes, especially when we would rather not.