--- title: On screwing up | daily.dev description: Making mistakes at work is inevitable and necessary for growth. When you screw up, control your emotional reaction first—avoid both making excuses and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/h6jdaigao twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: On screwing up | daily.dev og:description: Making mistakes at work is inevitable and necessary for growth. When you screw up, control your emotional reaction first—avoid both making excuses and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/h6jdaigao og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/H6jDAIgaO.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # On screwing up **[The Dump](https://daily.dev/sources/thedump)** · [@denisb0](https://daily.dev/denisb0) · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Making mistakes at work is inevitable and necessary for growth. When you screw up, control your emotional reaction first—avoid both making excuses and self-flagellation. Wait 30 seconds to a few minutes before acting. Communicate the problem to your manager immediately and matter-of-factly, before you've solved it, to avoid worse scenarios where others discover it independently. Accept that mistakes will hurt your reputation somewhat, but managers judge you on overall results, not individual failures. The optimal number of mistakes isn't zero—if you never make mistakes, you're probably taking too few risks and moving too slowly. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/h6jdaigao) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/h6jdaigao","headline":"On screwing up","text":"Shared: On screwing up","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/h6jdaigao","datePublished":"2026-02-11T05:16:52.073Z","dateModified":"2026-02-11T05:16:52.077Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Denis Bolkovskis","url":"https://daily.dev/denisb0","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--PGCuYx85--/f_auto,q_auto/v1/avatars/avatar_yRuVFf6IbfTylBjx9Dzvt","description":"resident meme expert","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":56600}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/7R6ATUIFx"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/thedump","name":"The Dump"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Dump","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/thedump"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"On screwing up"}]} ```