Circumference of Me

Hiccups are no big deal

It’s important for managers -- in business and in life -- to learn what mistakes are important and what are merely hiccups in life.

A hiccup is here and gone. It is not a permanent condition. A single hiccup occurrence leaves no permanent damage and few people remember you ever had it.
A business hiccup is . . .
 An email sent without its intended attachment.
 A typographical error in a report.
 Writing down the wrong time for a meeting.
 Missing a minor deadline.

Life hiccups include:
 Forgetting the name of the restaurant where you are meeting your significant other.
 Forgetting something on the grocery list.
 Men: Forgetting to put down the toilet seat ... or worse, not putting it up in the first place.
 Women: Griping at men for not putting up or down the toilet seat.

There is a major chasm between a hiccup and a certified disaster.

It is a frightful part of human nature that some people cannot differentiate between the a hiccup and a disaster. A temporarily misplaced report arouses the same reactions in some people as does a lost account.

For active, multi-tasking managers in business and in life, hiccups are like mosquitoes in swampy areas, they are going to pop up no matter what you do. Hiccups, while aggravating, don’t ever make or break careers. That is reserved for the reactions of those who do the hiccupping or evaluate their effect on the business.

Swallow the hiccup by acknowledging it as a mistake, apologize if necessary, and get on to more important issues.

There will be bumps long life's path. A bump is a bump. Don’t make it bigger than it is and don’t allow it to ruin the journey.

Circumference of Me is a book in progress by Steve Burnett of New York City and George Smith of Cabot, Arkansas.