I had an engraver who mistakenly added another “0” when engraving on an item. As a result, the product wrote 20021 instead of 2021.

Obviously, we have to junk the item.

It was engraved on a gold-plated metal so such mistake is not erasable.

“What happened?” I asked. In Tagalog, “Anong nangyari?”

The staff said she did not know. “The keyboard was dirty so it typed the extra 0,” she said.

“So… are you telling me that there’s a ghost in the office and the keyboard typed the additional 0 by itself?!” I asked.

“No, but it’s just that the keyboard was dirty. So when it typed the 0, I did not double check and it printed the extra 0 on the item,” she answered.

I shook my head.

It was one thing to make a mistake. It was another that the keyboard magically typed the extra 0 by itself.

Pulot dulo, the staff mistyped the engraving, DID NOT CHECK, and press print. Hence, the machine had an extra 0.

Look, people make mistakes. Everyone does. Even the largest perfectionist makes mistakes.

However, when we make mistakes, what do we do?

Do we actually know WHY we made the mistake and then correct ourselves so that we won’t do it again… or do we blame the keyboard for actually mis typing and wash our hands from accountability?

How to Stop Making the Same Mistakes

For us to improve, we need to first identify our mistakes. We need to understand how our actions led to the mess, and remember not to do it again.

We also need to stop washing our hands from our mistakes.

Yan ang problema sa atin —- If we are late, we blame the traffic. If we made the wrong calculation, we blame the one who should have double checked our work. And if you engrave wrongly, you blame the innocent KEYBOARD.

When can we stop blaming others and start taking accountability for our own negligence and carelessness?

Correcting mistakes start in admitting that we have fault and that’s why we made the mistake.

Next, it lies in coming up with concrete solutions to not do it again.

Lastly, it comes with remembering the lesson.

As is where is, if we always say sorry and walang pagbabago, useless lang ang sorry natin. And if we keep on blaming others and removing ourselves from the equation on why the problem happened, then how do we learn?

And that’s why I always ask my staff —- What happened? How did the mistake occur?

Such question hopes that the staff will be aware on why the mistake happened. And it is only in this realization of his own fault that they won’t do it again.

As I always say, “Ok lang mag kamali. Ang hindi okay yung paulit ulit ng parehong mali.”