Why keep making small mistakes at work despite checking everything?
Frequent small errors make it feel impossible to present yourself as ready for a promotion, even when you use lists to track tasks. Beating yourself up over missed details keeps you stuck in self-doubt and makes it difficult to convince management that you are genuinely improving.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1seeking tips from peers and management on how to demonstrate improvementDid this help you?
- 2Keeping extensive self-notesDid this help you?
- 3Relying heavily on calendarsDid this help you?
- 4Regularly reviewing past emails and messagesDid this help you?
- 5Reviewing work repeatedlyDid this help you?
- 6Keeping a journal with pre-written sentence frames and phrases to use during high-stress situations when the brain is not functioning well.Did this help you?
- 7Preparing thoroughly beforehand for meetings and interviews to avoid getting caught off guard.Did this help you?
- 8Scanning work for issues based on previous mistakesDid this help you?
- 9Creating a checklist of things to check before pressing submitDid this help you?
- 10Keeping notes of things gotten wrong to avoid repeating the same mistakeDid this help you?
- 11double-checking workDid this help you?
- 12following experienced mentors' directions closelyDid this help you?
- 13carrying rags and wearing gloves during oil changesDid this help you?
- 14taking notes on how tasks are performedDid this help you?
- 15Writing down every mistake to track patterns and building an error checklistDid this help you?
- 16Taking a 2-minute pause before submitting work to review numbers with fresh eyesDid this help you?
- 17Printing workpapers and reviewing them line-by-line with a red pen and a ruler away from the screenDid this help you?
- 18Getting up to walk around for 5 minutes when feeling dazed or burnt outDid this help you?
- 19Creating intuitive checks and a master check (sum of absolute values) in workpapersDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I stated without thinking that I “assume” performance considerations were apart of the broader decision making process but couldn’t confidently say one way or another as I was not apart of historical conversations. Ugh! Why didn’t I just stfu.”source ↗
“I only noticed the following month when I did my reconciliation and saw we paid them over $20k. I went to our Controller’s office crying that I was going to get fired.”source ↗
“Today I made an error on something I should have caught and have been beating myself up.”source ↗
“This is definitely my biggest weakness at work and one that I want to hone in on.”source ↗
“I make lists that I use to track my tasks, but that's not cutting it.”source ↗
“It just seems like such an impossible task to be promoted because I am *always* making small mistakes. I am not sure how I can present myself in such a way to management to show them that I am truly improving…”source ↗
“My loved one has been working in AR for 2 months now and she keeps making errors.”source ↗
“She has been putting maximum focus on her job and she still makes mistakes.”source ↗
“They don't let her review her work before submission because she is in her probation period.”source ↗
“I'm really scared that she will get fired after her probation period.”source ↗
“At times it’s something silly I can quickly fix but other times I’m in a daze and feel disassociated and will mess up on actual review comments and have to revisit them multiple times.”source ↗
“I’m afraid that if I don’t become noticeably more detail oriented that I will be let go come the spring or summer time.”source ↗
“Im looking to be an apprentice but im scared of making a mistake so bad that would get me fired? Or maybe taking too long doing a job?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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