#Adulting Mistakes Spoon HQ Has Made Since Graduating College

Always saying yes

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"The big mistake I consistently made in my first job was always saying yes.

My first job out of college was incredibly demanding. I worked for a political research firm in NYC and the hours were rough. Though I was tired and stressed out, I wanted to prove that I could take on whatever work they gave me. Whenever someone asked, “Do you have time for [insert hours-long project here]?” I always said yes. The more I said yes, the more they asked, and round and round it went.

Eventually my exhaustion caught up with me. Going on weeks of minimal sleep, I handed in a report that was being presented by the head of our company to our client. 10 minutes into the presentation, the client called attention to a glaring error on the report. My boss scrambled to come up with an explanation, but unfortunately, the only explanation was that I was exhausted, and I hadn’t asked for the help I needed to check the report thoroughly. We could have lost the client right there on the spot – but luckily, the client was fairly understanding. My boss, on the other hand, was not. He made it clear that I had embarrassed him and he was angry.

Moral of the story? People quickly forget about the hours of extra time you put in and the good work you’ve done when you make a mistake. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or say no once in a while, so you can avoid making preventable errors." - Lyndsey

Jumping the gun

"I decided to move in with my best friend from middle school and another mutual friend in New York. We set a goal to choose an apartment in a weekend. Things move fast in NYC, so we knew we needed to act quickly. The day came and we saw 10-15 apartments and put in an application that night!

The next day, and after sleeping on it, we all were having second thoughts. We asked to see the apartment a second time and when we got there, we noticed a ton of flaws... It was clearly a bad decision, but we had already put down a deposit. Instead of living with it, we decided to pull the application and move on and do the search again another weekend.

Looking back, I learned to definitely look objectively at each apartment, weighing all the pros and cons. After our second search, we ended up in a lovely apartment we have now made into our home. I'm glad we waited and wouldn't have it any other way." - Sarah

Missing deadlines

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"I've been freelancing on the side for more than two years but recently, I bit off more than I could chew. After agreeing to a handful of projects for an agency, my full-time work was becoming more demanding than I was prepared for, which took priority. Rather then be honest with my editor about the timing, I let my deadline pass and just submitted each piece as I completed it. While that is that bad practice, it also meant I was rushed in my work and not putting my best foot forward.

Thankfully, I'd been working with that agency for over a year so they didn't hold it against me. However, if they had been a new client, I could have permanently ruined that relationship. It's important to be honest with editors about your bandwidth so they can adjust expectations accordingly, as well as the deadlines they're being held to on their end. The writer-editor relationship is a hugely important one and you don't want to risk damaging it." - Sam

Moving disaster

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"Moving isn't fun for anyone, but my move out of my college apartment was a nightmare.

The problems started bright and early. My boyfriend and I went to the truck company to pick up our moving truck only to find out that they didn't have the truck we reserved and they'd been trying to call us to let us know. (They wrote down the number wrong.) Plus, they don't do one-way rentals so we'd have to bring the truck back to their store. We ended up renting a slightly larger truck and promising to return it the next morning. 

Then, we had a few hours to pack all of our stuff into the truck and drive to our new apartment. We couldn't fit everything into the truck and kept finding more and more things. At some point, we knew we needed to leave because the leasing office closed at 5 pm and we still had a 45 minute drive to get there. 

We left at 4:30 and ran into traffic. We were definitely running late, so I called the leasing office to keep them updated and see if they would be willing to wait for us to arrive. (We really didn't want to sleep in the truck overnight.) Thankfully, the leasing lady was incredibly nice and waited for us to arrive.

A lot of other things happened that day, but, in a nutshell, it was a nightmare and we tried to do way too much in a day. We learned our lesson and our most recent move went much more smoothly. We started packing a few weeks in advance and took our time when moving." - Jocelyn

Working late hours

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"At my first job after college, I worked late every single night when I didn’t truly need to. Some offices have a culture where you should be the first one in in the morning and the last one out at night to prove yourself as a junior team member — but spending the most time at work does not mean you are doing your best work!

By staying glued to my desk agonizing over my boss’ calendar and expense receipts until 9 pm every night, I was actually totally burning myself out and was then so stressed that I was more likely to make mistakes the next day. I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to do good work is to go home, clear your head, and get some rest!" - Maddy

Not taking advantage of resources

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"One thing I wish I would've done differently was to take more advantage of being really green and soaking up all of the training and development I could. A lot of companies are willing to support you to take classes and gain other skills, and I definitely wish I had pursued those courses and opportunities more!" - Rachel

There you have it! #Adulting mistakes from your friendly Spoon HQ team. We've all been there, done that, and we hope you learn from our mistakes. Remember to always be confident in your own abilities, but don't overwork yourself.