Mistakes Are Like Sneezes: An Analogy

As an allergy sufferer for several decades, I have done my fair share of sneezing. It is a part of my life – especially during the summer months.

As a human being, I have made my fair share of mistakes. They are a part of my life – especially during times of stress or exhaustion.

Until today, I had never put these two together. You see, a sneeze is not a mistake. A mistake is not a sneeze. Why would I ever compare them?

Let’s put the analogy together to see what these two may have in common.

They are a part of life

Both sneezes and mistakes are a part of normal human life. I have never met a person who has never sneezed. I have never met a person who has never made a mistake.

They both happen.

Neither of these two make me non-human or less of a human than others.

They are unavoidable

“I can’t sneeze. This would be a bad time to sneeze. What would people think of me if I sneezed now?”

Have you ever tried to avoid a sneeze? Any time I have tried to avoid sneezing, I quickly became fixated on whatever was aggravating that sneeze. Was it someone’s strong cologne, the pollen floating through the air, or that pepper I accidentally inhaled as I was eating? Suddenly, that thing became the centre of my focus. The world around it faded into the background. I lost track of conversations.

And then I sneezed.

“I can’t make a mistake. This would be a bad time to make a mistake. What would people think of me if I made a mistake now?”

Have you ever tried to avoid an impending mistake. Any time I have attempted to avoid an impending mistake, I quickly became fixated on whatever was a contributing cause to that mistake. Was it some procedure step I skipped, or that someone else did not provide data on time, or that some element outside of my control negatively impacted what I was working on? Suddenly, that thing became the centre of my focus. The world around it faded into the background. I lost track of context and periphery.

And then I make the mistake.

It is critically important that we realize sneezes and mistakes are unavoidable. We need to acknowledge and vocalize this reality, first for ourselves, and then for others. We don’t live in a “sneeze-less” or “mistake-less” world. Both are an unavoidable part of reality.

They can be caused internally, externally, or both

The joys of allergies include sneezing. Yes, I have a mental list of the external things that can trigger a sneezing fit. That list varies through the year and is also weather dependent. Those are all external triggers.

I must also watch for exhaustion as my allergies get much worse when I am exhausted.

The joys of living include making mistakes. Yes, I have a mental list of the external things that can cause mistakes. The list varies by environment (work, home, social) and can be impacted by a number of external factors.

I also must watch for overconfidence, insecurity, and distraction as I make many more mistakes when these internal factors come into play.

They carry risk – a potentially life threatening risk

Some articles claim that there is no risk to sneezing. I beg to differ. I have pulled back muscles, bounced my head off a nearby metal post, and suffered other embarrassing secondary issues from sneezing.

Some articles claim that there is no risk to making mistakes. I beg to differ. I have watched money drain away by the thousands of dollars per minute. I have seen people incredibly inconvenienced. I have suffered the embarrassment of well-laid plans falling to pieces due to unanticipated mistakes.

Yes, the majority of sneezes – and mistakes – complete with no other permanent negative outcomes. However, with each sneeze – and each mistake – there is a risk of significant secondary damage.

They can be stopped – sometimes

Sometimes trying to stop a sneeze can cause more injury than the sneeze itself. I found this interesting article on this topic on the web. While I haven’t experienced some of the extreme dangers they mention, I can say that it is much better to ride out a sneeze than trying to stifle it.

The same goes for mistakes. There are a few times when a mistake can be caught well ahead of its impact, and we can navigate around it. In my experience, most of the time, mistakes pop up at the most inopportune moment - especially when a lot of things are in motion. I remember being on a card operations SWAT team during a portfolio migration when a significant mistake popped up. Several of the team members wanted the team to focus on the mistake immediately. I realized this change of focus could easily derail the migration. Instead, we designated a few team members to contain the consequences of the mistake while the rest of the team continued with the migration. There was less impact to ride out the mistake than trying to stop it midway through.

Different causes for different people

Both my son and I have allergies. We both sneeze quite often. However, there the similarities end. He seems to be oblivious to things that trigger my allergies, while I can nonchalantly walk through environments that send him on a sneezing fit. Because we have different causes for our sneezing, we use different strategies to minimize and avoid things that make us sneeze.

There is a lesson here about mistakes.

Two people can make the same mistake for very different reasons. While I can offer you strategies that have helped me reduce a certain type of mistake, I cannot guarantee that you will have the same success with that strategy. Though our mistake looks the same, our root causes may be very different.

Seeing the root cause of a mistake is almost more important than recognizing the mistake itself. A mistake – like a sneeze – is a symptom. Treatment of symptoms has limited immediate benefit. The only path to a cure is to identify and fix the root cause.

Others are apt to notice it more than I am

Sneezing is a part of my life. I sneeze, I deal with it, and I move on. I am often not even aware of it. Others are. I have had people stop me in a store to offer me advice on colds or allergies – or a spare Kleenex. I stop, look at them, and wonder where they got these ideas from. Then I realize I must have been sneezing – again.

In the same way, mistakes – especially those I have made for a long time - can become invisible to me. I need feedback from others to become aware of these mistakes, their consequences, and potential remediation for them. I need to allow people to speak into my life to help me identify mistakes and root causes that have become so subconscious, I no longer see them.

I need the grace to accept their advice – and their spare Kleenex.

Beyond a certain cadence, we look for intervention

If I sneeze 15 to 20 times a day, it is allergy season, and I keep moving. If I sneeze 15 to 20 times per hour, I move indoors to a controlled environment and keep moving. If I sneeze 15 to 20 times per minute, the day stops for me, and I go for extreme measures to mitigate the things causing my sneezing.

Up to a certain cadence, mistakes are just a part of life that everyone gets to experience. Beyond that cadence, certain helps or coaching may be needed to reduce their occurrences. Then there is a line beyond which everything needs to stop. We may have the wrong person in the wrong role. Significant intervention is needed to remove that person from the environment where they are making too many mistakes.

What is the line between each of these cadences?

It depends:

• If I am out in my yard working on a project, I can make quite a few mistakes with relatively little impact,

• If I am flipping burgers at a fast-food restaurant, the margin for mistakes is lower because the health of the patrons is at risk.

• If I am network monitoring an international payment system, the gaps between these levels are very small as the risk from each mistake is very high.

We make contingency plans

Facial tissues, nasal spray, allergy medications, local unpasteurized wildflower honey, eye drops – I have contingency plans in place for dealing with the causes and results of my sneezes.

I am incredibly frustrated by businesses that have no built-in processes for identifying and mitigating mistakes. Businesses flaunt their certifications, education programs, and posted motivational sayings – all designed to eliminate mistakes.

This is not that planet. Mistakes are a part of our lives and always will be. We can reduce mistakes, but we cannot eliminate them. Therefore, every process, plan, and team need to have procedures in place to identify, mitigate, and correct mistakes.

Life goes on

We need to get over ourselves.

I must accept sneezes and mistakes as a normal part of my life. They are not a defect nor a condemnation of who I am. They are human, and I am human.

Only then will I have the grace to give someone else empathy, compassion, and help for their mistake - or sneeze – helping them recover instead of condemning them for daring. . . to be human.

And there will be more

A person who never sneezes is a person who never breathes. A person who never makes mistakes is dead. For me, there will always be another sneeze – and another mistake.

That’s OK – it means I am still alive. I can still breathe air and experience life. I can still make a difference in the lives and destinies of others. . .

While I sneeze . . . and make mistakes.