Need advice: Screwing up at work a lot lately.
 

I've been screwing up at work lately. I double and triple check my work but somehow every time they find something wrong or something I thought went through doesn't make it. People are complaining. It's making me look bad and stressing me out. My co-workers are telling me to be extra careful and pay more attention to detail. I'm doing my best but it seems like the stars are not in my favor currently. I think I'm going crazy. I don't know what to do. Anyone here got any advice?

Um... what is it you do? What's going wrong?

As Baraka_Guru said, I don't recall what your work is in. For some reason I'm thinking engineering/CAD?

I find it's easier for me to look at my work afterward with fresh eyes and find errors if I've mechanized the initial process. Planning out the overall project ahead of time, then finding a way to get it accomplished with as little room for error as possible. Setting it aside when it's finished and taking a 5-60 minute break from that project so I can look it over with fresh eyes before I turn in the work. When possible, I work in opportunities to double- and triple-check my work along the way. Especially if future steps are dependent upon perfection of the previous step.

Work smarter not harder.

If there is a particular category of task that your errors fall into, try to change the way you do that task. Here are some thoughts:

- can you make a checklist for the stage you keep messing up?
- can you do part of your work in a different environment?
- can you do anything to change your focus (I find listening to my iPod helps me cut out office chatter when I need to get on).

Be open and honest with your colleagues about your fears, and ask line management for help - if people see that you geniunely WANT to improve you will find it much easier to solicit ideas from within the organisation.

Just remember, it is imposible to make things better by checking them - all you can do is send back the bad ones. Taking an extra 5% of time to do the job better is more time effective than sending back 1/20 to be re-done.

If possible, sometimes it's good to have a second pair of eyes look over things before you hand them in. It would be helpful to know what kinds of errors you're making or what kind of work you're doing.

Are you abnormally stressed for non-work-related reasons? Is real life distracting you from work? Have you ever been evaluated for adult ADD?

Outside of the obvious "stop screwing up," you could take the proactive approach with your boss. Drop him/her a line to the effect of "I'm sure you've noticed my work is not up to my typical standard and I want you to know that I'm well aware of this as well..."

Explain that you intend to right the ship and ask for assistance if it's appropriate. It's better than waiting until s/he gets irritated enough to call you out on it, or until your co-workers get irritated enough to go to your boss about it. You will have also planted the seed of positive image, before your co-workers have a chance to make you look bad in front of your boss. Can make a big difference in the long run.