Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 3 min read.

I once spent an entire afternoon being quietly furious at a spreadsheet.

Not the numbers. The vibes.

A manager sent me a Google Sheet with one comment on my section:

“Needs work.”

No hello. No context. No emoji.

Just two words that came in hot like a parent saying, “We need to talk” while staring at the ceiling.

My brain hit “play” on the worst possible trailer.

Within ten seconds I had a full cinematic timeline:

• They think I’m sloppy.

• They regret hiring me.

• They’re forwarding the sheet to leadership with the subject line: “Thoughts?”

I didn’t even have evidence.

I had vibes and childhood trauma. Same thing, basically.

So I responded the way a normal, stable adult responds.

I did not ask what they meant.

I went into spreadsheet monk mode.

Silent. Furious. Purposeful.

I started “fixing” everything like someone said “interesting” in that tone. You know the one.

New formulas. Cleaner labels. Pivot tables.

Conditional formatting so tasteful it deserved a museum (sponsored by free YouTube tutorials).

At one point I considered adding a tab called “README” with a short novel explaining my reasoning, including an appendix and a glossary for anyone who struggles with concepts like “columns.”

Finally, after hours of this internal hostage situation, I did something radical.

I asked, “Hey - when you say “needs work” - what part exactly?”

He replied in 30 seconds: “Oh, sorry. I meant the header names. The data is great. Can you just rename the columns so Finance doesn’t cry?”

That was it.

I had been spiraling over… column titles.

I wrote a tragedy in three acts and the antagonist was “a blank cell”.

Somewhere out there, a real problem was jealous of how much attention I gave this one.

The concept (for my future self)

When something is unclear, I don’t wait.

I fill the gap. Fast.

And my default fill is always dramatic:
“This is about me”
“This is bad”
“This is a rejection”

I act like uncertainty is a threat, so I rush to a conclusion just to feel stable.

Except the conclusion I pick is usually the worst one.

So here’s what I’m trying to remember: most of my suffering is just guesswork I took personally.

What I’m telling myself next time

When I feel that spike, I’m going to stop playing psychic.

Step 1: “This is unclear.”

Step 2: facts vs melodrama.

Fact: “Needs work”
Melodrama: “I’m about to be a bullet point on someone else’s agenda”

Step 3: one question: “Quick check - what specifically needs work?”

Then I default to “small and fixable,” because it’s more “rename the column” than “rethink your life.”

Assumptions feel like prep, but they’re just double suffering.

There are no stupid questions. Just expensive guesses.

Till next time.

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