VIR-I-0023
“I made a costly mistake at work and I could probably hide it.”
Your mind has already run the worst-case reel: the fallout, the look on their face, the hit to your name. Most of that disaster lives only in your head, and you are choosing the certain rot of a cover-up to avoid a fear that is mostly imagined. The mistake is already real. The only thing still up to you is whether you face it like a man or hide like a boy.
Your Practice
- Write the actual facts of the error in three sentences. Strip out the catastrophizing.
- Build the fix or the options before you walk in — own the problem and the path out.
- Tell the person who needs to know today, directly: 'I made this mistake. Here's what I'm doing about it.'
- Note what failed in your process so the same error can't hide next time.