The Greatest Rehab Ever!
No man is perfect. We all make mistakes. What should we do when our mistakes damage our reputation? How to bounce back? The perfect case would be Alex Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, as he bounced back beautifully from the scandal of performance-enhancing substance.
“I’ve had a Ph.D. in saying dumb things over the years. Like everyone else, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. The only way I know how to handle them is to learn from them and move forward. I have a master’s degree in coming back.” (A-Rod)
Even though I am not familiar with American sports, I was swept away by A-Rod’s authenticity and charm as he unfolded the tough days:
“I heard the phone ring and I felt like I was bounded to the ground on my knees. The call was only 5 minutes, but it felt like 5 months. I was punished by the longest suspension in the entire history of baseball. For the next 10 days, I never left the house. I never see my girls. I would wake up in the cold sweat in the middle of the night.
“When you make mistake like this, you feel like you got a pocket of Aces and still manage to lose the hands. The hall of fame was thrown away. ” A-Rod
We all have been through the dark places when we made mistakes we regretted and wished we could rewind the time. But we don’t have the magic wand nor the time spell. What should we do?
A-Rod provided us with his 3 steps techniques. If you are determined to bounce back, the mistake you make may be the biggest blessing in disguise.
1st step: start to take full responsibility. Apply the lens inward and give yourself a hard look, the fog of doubts will fade away as you determined to wake up and soldier on.
2nd step: make a list and call them. It is humbling to talk to someone you love and admit that you made a mistake. But it is important for you to say it to yourself and to the people you care.
3nd step: come clean with your family. Family is your strongest defense in the hard battle to fight for your reputation. A-Rod said the most difficult conversation is to come clean with his girls. He imagined it would take 10 weeks, as it turned out, it took him 10 months.
After the 3 steps, there are 5 key takeaways to forgive yourself when you do wrong and repair the reputation from A-Rod.
- Each mistake is a chance for you to make a choice at the cross-road.
- Bad things do happen. Like the baseball jargon said, “hit it early and hit it hard”. Be proactive rather than reactive. Control the narratives of the story.
- Be determined to take the most negative situation and turn it into a positive one.
- Never stop communicating, amend mistakes, amend bridges.
- Be authentic. Fine to talk about the good, bad or the ugly of the things and share them with the audience.
As you probably already know, A-Rod had had the best year regardless of what happened. His performance and efforts to make-over his image won the heart of Americans again. He was not only celebrated on the playfield, in the TV show room and made himself a successful businessman.
“Be 100% honest and genius with people. If you are not solid, people are too smart to be fooled. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Be genuine, to be able to walk the walk.” (A-Rod)
So, are you ready for your own image makeover? If you want to amend a mistake, it is never too late to make the list and start calling.
