I totally messed up.

Again and again over the course of my career.

There was the time I wrote and played an original song for someone’s birthday on my ukulele, at a staff meeting in my early 20’s, in the presence of a very bewildered client, who later complained to my manager. I was one week in to the job.

The time I accidentally let baby tarantulas loose in my student teaching classroom, when I was supposed to be in charge. I was sent home early that day.

The time I made a seemingly harmless joke during a training that turned out to be a really sensitive subject for the client.

The time I thought “TR” meant Thursday and didn’t come to the first day of a college class I was teaching. (Hint: T means Tuesday, R means Thursday)

The time I didn’t handle myself well during a critique.

All the times I missed my deadline, said the wrong thing, lost business, or just generally screwed something up.

I could go on… I’ve got a long list of these moments, and they sometimes replay in my head without my consent. I cringe every time.

If I could go back and do it all again?

It would be nice to have a clean record. No big mistakes. Just good, hard work. Professional disposition.

But then again…

I bet you’ve got a list of these moments, too. We all do.

What would life be like in the work world without people messing up?

There would be no lessons learned. No growth. No curiosity. No reflection. No humanity.

When I work with an AI and it hallucinates or doesn’t do what I want, it apologizes profusely and then later makes that same mistake again. Maybe it will “update its memory,” and remember that I didn’t like whatever the output was. But it’s largely indifferent.

But me? I’m a human with rich, lived experiences. Lessons I’ve learned with my entire body. Emotions that are embedded deep in my bones…

This system of learning can never be replicated by a machine.

There is beauty in our typos, love in our failures, and joy when we fall flat on our face.

That’s us being fully and completely human.

Humanity is our increasingly valuable gift to the world.

So, what are YOUR biggest mess-ups, failures, face plants, etc? Let’s celebrate together 🥳