Practice acknowledging uncertainty or confessing mistakes with people who are close to you or about projects that aren't central to your professional identity.
The interview-based book, "Erreurs Avouées," or "Confessed Mistakes," describes the mistakes made by a number of important figures in France, including the publicist Jacques Séguéla and the fashion designer Christian Lacroix.
The presidencies of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were marked by the resistance of both men to confessing mistakes; Mr. Bush's advisers long made it clear that he viewed such acknowledgments as akin to admitting weakness.
This reluctance to confess past mistakes is especially pronounced in the judiciary, whose legitimacy and power depend on public trust in its pronouncements.
Analysts have pointed out problems with the initiative — for instance, the humiliating requirement that each man confess his mistakes and condemn the insurgency before television cameras, for propaganda purposes.
When O'Neill plays poorly, he will sit in front of his locker and confess his mistakes to multiple waves of reporters, acknowledging all the ills he is responsible for and others for which he is not responsible.
And I would hope that when you do something controversial or something that many people find wrong and harmful you would explain fully and honestly how and why you did it, and confess your mistakes, if you made them, in a more noticeable way than afforded by the small print on a corrections page.
Applying to college is a delicate, complicated procedure that can be mastered, but for most of us, applying to grad school is like, "Wait shoot uh-oh!" For the benefit of all of you applying to science graduate programs, I'm going to confess my mistakes in the hopes that you can avoid folloWait shoot uh-ohteps—Fortheeps which, you'll note, are not encased in self-made shoes.
