Your staff is well-aware that you are imperfect. So are your customers.
So stop trying to perpetuate the idea that you don’t make mistakes. Nobody thinks that about you. And stop trying to be perfect. You’re not going to pull it off.
Instead, figure out how good you need to be, and shoot for being that good and a little bit better. Ask your staff and your customers to help you be better — by providing you with feedback on how well (or how poorly) you’ve done, and for providing suggestions on how you can do better. If you get good at this, you’ll find that life is much less stressful.*
Remember that being “good enough” isn’t always about scoring 90% every time you try. Sometimes it’s about scoring 100% nine times out of ten, and getting a goose egg on the last one. Learning to identify, acknowledge, and make amends for mistakes is a skill worth developing. And learning that skill is a much better use of your energy than trying to be perfect.
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*Especially if you’re a business owner. People who own their own stores have a particularly hard time with this kind of thing.
