Your biggest mistakes and egocentric decisions that were wrong may be your biggest savior moving forward. Admitting to your mistakes and clarifying through discussion what you did wrong and how you overcame the challenge is a testimonial to your humaness.

It is sometimes draining to listen to people stuck in the whining. Those who are focussed on problems rather than solutions tend to tell the same story over and over again never getting to a solution. Moving these types of clients into solution oriented thinking is not difficult but takes some effort and hand holding. Often a client who has been problem and drama centralized will be quite defensive when you first bring to their attention how often they spend obsessed with the problems and blame before they really can see their part in the whole thing. If their talking about it often enough and it is still a problem they are part of it.

Coaching people into being solution oriented is a productive challenge I enjoy. If a client of mine comes to me with a problem I expect them to solve it quickly and the money they spend for my help best be recouped one way or another within 3 months or I did not do my job.

Part of my job is making others look good. Helping my clients be better story tellers guiding them to talk about a problem briefly but turning to how they solved it quickly is one of my first goals especially with managers. A great leader will get out of the drama and whining phase and move to motivating through experience and success. Your most captivating personal stories that show you are human will include the errors you made and how you stood up to the challenges and solved them.

We all make mistakes, admit when you are wrong and stop trying to force the squares into the circles.