Is it normal to worry about mistakes you may have made in work?

[RG14]

Every evening when I get home from work and I have a quiet moment, my brain starts running through everything I did that day in work. Eventually it latches onto something I did that I can’t 100% remember every detail of, and I start thinking that I made a mistake.

I work in an office, so an example could be that I think I’ve somehow printed out completely the wrong document and popped that in the post to someone without checking. Or I could convince myself that I emailed an invoice to completely the wrong client.

I try to make sure I check everything, and I make a mental note that I am checking things, but sometimes I forget to tell myself that I’m checking, and this is where the doubt creeps in. I try and avoid tasks that I know cause the most problems, but it’s not always possible.

Usually I’ll spend the evening worrying and feeling anxious, but everything is fine when I check the next day. I rarely actually make mistakes. The problem is that I can’t photographically remember doing the task, so by the time I get home I can’t be sure I definitely did it right. The company is not a very understanding one when it comes to making mistakes, they treat it like you’ve done it on purpose maliciously.

I’m just wondering whether everyone feels this way to some extent, or it’s something I need to try and get some treatment for.

That sounds like generalised anxiety. I suffer from it

First step is to think about the problem you have imagined - eg printed the wrong document and posted it. Then think about the worst that could happen and the absolute best that could happen. You know rationally the outcome will be somewhere in between (almost always!).

Ask yourself how many times you've actually made that mistake. Focus on all the times you haven't and breath through the anxiety.

I also use lists/checklists when I do something to minimise the risk of errors (helps both my anxiety and ADHD).

If it's occupying your whole evening so you can't relax, maybe you should try a short course of CBT.

Hugs

I get this, it's awful. I feel constantly on edge. I actually did a course of CBT just for my work related anxiety and it did help a bit.

I can be so like this with work OP, will often lose an evening worrying about things I might not have done properly, documents put away safely etc. I have actually returned to the office on my way home to check, with inevitably no issues.

I did some CBT for anxiety, my anxiety seemed to focus on work issues. So now I try and stop myself from going into that spiral of thinking, looking objectively at the evidence for and against my thoughts (I've never made that mistake before, no evidence to say I've started now etc).
As a PP said too, thinking of the absolute worst outcome then moving back from that.

What has also helped me has been safety netting. It is overkill a little and probably does reinforce my need to check, but it helps me reassure myself, and adds another layer to the checks. I'll make a list of tasks in my diary, check them thoroughly then sign them off with v brief shorthand notes of what's been done (email to whoever/dept, documentation accurate, information updated and saved). Then I have that record to look back at if I start to stress.

I also have a v discreet checklist in my desk for when I leave work as a daily shutdown (everything locked up, printer clear from documents, computer shut down etc) so if I get home and worry about that then I can stop straightaway.

It is awful, and I can't say I'll ever stop, but I do feel like l can manage my thinking slightly better by doing this.