I Made A Mistake: What To Do When You’ve Said Something Stupid

Is something creeping?

Yeah.

Everyone watching in this episode, my hair is going to creep. Because it creeps. Yeah. Mark my words. Hello, hello, hello. It's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. And this is Q&A Tuesday. And today's question, it comes from a woman named Veronica. And Ms. Veronica writes, "Hi, Marie. I'm in desperate need of help. I realized that sometimes I sound like a crazy person when I'm under a lot of stress. Once in a while, I say things I don't mean and make myself out to be one of those insecure crazies, when I'm really not. What do you do after situations where you goofed and weren't thinking straight when apologizing just doesn't seem like the appropriate thing to do."

Girl, what are you thinking? I'm just kidding. That's a great question. Veronica, this is an awesome question. All of us have said stupid things. We've done things we later regret and we say things we wish we could take back. Now, before we go into the answer to this question, I want to dial it back a little bit and see if we can train ourselves to not even go there in the first place. Here's what I mean. I think it's possible that we can prevent at least 90% of the crazy messes that all of us get ourselves into. Look, when we human beings get stressed out and emotional, we almost always say and do things that we'll later regret. That's why it's vital you put a new standard in place where you check yourself before you wreck yourself.

[Singing 00:01:37].

Here's what I mean. When you're frustrated or upset, do not respond to anyone. And I'm speaking from experience here. You need to zip it and cool off emotionally, so you don't say all the crazy things that you're actually thinking in your head. Oh, my God. Are you really that stupid?

Zip it.

Will you quit asking dumb questions and just do the work already?

Zip it.

Grow a set.

Zip it.

To be honest, I even have a 24 hour rule for myself. If I'm pissed or upset, I wait at least 24 hours before I respond to anyone. I invite you to try this one for yourself because it really works. But let's say you forgot to zip it. Something stupid popped out of your mouth and now you need to clean it up. Here's what you asked me in your question. You wrote, "What do you do after situations where you goofed and weren't thinking straight when apologizing just doesn't seem like the appropriate thing to do?" Here's the thing, Veronica. I can't think of any situation where apologizing is inappropriate. If you think you goofed, then say you're sorry. And as Lynn Johnston said, and it's a Tweetable, "An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just anything."

If you want a quick tutorial on how to apologize the right way, you need to check out one of our first ever MarieTV episodes right here. Now, if you're talking about a situation where you didn't directly offend someone, but you think you made a bad impression in your stress filled state, here are two go-to scripts you can use. "Hey, I'm feeling self-conscious about something I said yesterday, I think I came across like an insecure crazy person. What I really meant to say was..." Or, "Please disregard that little outburst, I was under a lot of stress and talking out of my you-know-what." As a rule, if you suspect that you offended someone or came across as crazy town, you can never go wrong addressing it. Don't wonder if they noticed or wonder if they're mad, be proactive and take control of the situation and your reputation.

Veronica, that is my A to your Q. Thank you so much for asking it. Now, I want to hear from you. Have you ever said or done something you later regret? No, not you, right? Of course, you have. Well, what did you do and how did you undo the damage? I want to hear about it in the comments below. As always the best stuff happens after the episode at marieforleo.com. So go there and leave a comment now. Did you like this video? If so, like it and subscribe and share it with your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources to have a business and a life you love, plus some personal updates from me that I only share in email, get your butt over to marieforleo.com and sign up for email updates.

Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams. The world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time on MarieTV. B-School is coming up. Want in? For more info and free training, go to joinbschool.com. I'm going to try it again, without so much pointing in your face. We've all done things we later regret. I love that this one is about, "I made a mistake and said something stupid," and that's all we've been doing for the past four minutes, just saying really stupid things.