- Come clean
It’s tough to admit that you’ve made an error, but you can’t learn from mistakes that you do not admit that you made. We all make mistakes, but we must see our mistakes as opportunities we can learn from.
- Find out what went wrong
Oftentimes, money mistakes are made when you don’t look closely at why you made the error. When you take on too much debt to pay for a lifestyle that your paychecks can’t cover, or you shop to make yourself feel better. Whatever the reason for the money mistake, know the cause so you can prevent it from happening again.
- Don’t blame yourself
Take responsibility for your actions, but don’t go into the blame game. Don’t allow a bad choice to define you as a person. Avoid negative self-talk because it will keep you in a negative cycle that can lead to even more bad choices.
- Look ahead
Taking responsibility for a money mistake means moving forward by making a plan with steps to reach your goals. You have to start working toward your goals so that you don’t live in the past. Look forward not backward.
- Start today
The best way to overcome a past mistake is to take one small step towards fixing it immediately. You can choose from a range of options to pay down debt, like cancelling a subscription or making a small payment on your credit card or on an outstanding loan. Whatever it is, keep repeating these small changes, since they can result in big changes overall!
- Accept who you are
Once you can accept the attitudes and behavior that led you to make the money mistake, you can start working on changing them. Your future financial health will always reflect more on how you recover from mistakes than the mistakes themselves. Keep moving forward.