Before you start taking steps to turn the mistake you made into a positive for yourself, you should take whatever steps are possible to take in order to correct the mistake; a lot of people will make a mistake at work, get upset about it, and then try to figure out how they can do better next time, but they miss the all-important step in the middle of figuring out what they can do to clean up the mess created by the mistake!
Once you have taken these necessary steps to clean up the mistake itself, it will be time to start turning the mistake into a positive as best you can, and the first step to this is identifying what caused the mistake in the first place; once you have a clear picture of what caused the mistake to occur, you will be better equipped to avoid the mistake next time around.
And lastly, realize that you may have to "face the music" as a result of your mistake, and when this happens, it is easy to make excuses or to shift blame elsewhere, but rather than making excuses, get in the habit of taking whatever correction you must take, then move on from the mistake - proving with your actions and with your performance that you have turned things around!
It is inevitable that you will make a mistake at work at one point or another, no matter how hard you may work to do a perfect job - and regardless of whether the mistake is major or minor, make sure you are keeping these tips in mind to know how to turn that mistake into a positive when it occurs!
