How often do you apologize?

Results Driven
Written By Stacia Aylward

The Challenge

The next time you find yourself starting to apologize over an unintentional or slight error, pause for a moment. Think: Is this really worth apologizing over? Could you instead simply say what you'll do differently next time? 

Why do this?

If you're one of the many people who over-apologizes for things that are not actually a big deal, you could be doing yourself a disservice. 

Apologizing too often comes off to others as having low self-confidence. If you don't appear to have confidence in yourself, others won't have confidence in you either. 

What’s next?

For the next week, pay special attention to how many times you apologize, and what those apologies are for. Identifying a pattern in your own reactions can help you better control them. 

Stacia Aylward

Zelos CEO Stacia C. Aylward is an executive leader and lifelong learner with broad professional experience in envisioning and leading programs, projects and teams; facilitating and teaching adults; conducting research; and developing client relationships using proven methodologies in many government and technical fields, including economics, education, healthcare, housing, non-profit governance, IT and law. Stacia holds a master’s degree in Communication and Information, a bachelor’s degree in English, a Six Sigma black belt certification, and a Coach Approach to Leadership credential.

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