Making mistakes is a part of living.  Turning mistakes into opportunities for success is therefore a much needed skill, sadly one I see rarely used.

If you take a wrong action or make a misjudgement with negative results you can feel badly, call yourself stupid and go whimper in a corner hoping everything will magically go away.

Be Proactive

Letting your mistake paralyze you into inactivity is a mistake in and of itself.  Concrete definitive actions starting with acknowledgement and ending with resolution are always in order.

This cannot take place until the mistake is identified, which is not always immediate.  Action should begin at the same time as awareness.

Resolution not Diversion

It can be tempting to divert attention from your faux pas (French for a type of mistake) hoping your responsibility will be overlooked, saving you from consequences or resolution efforts.

Typically owning up and acting to resolve any associated issues, figuring out a way to achieve closure is more satisfying but more importantly it prevents later reprecussions if something hidden comes to light.

A permenant solution is a better approach than submitt and hope, that is trying a diversion and hoping it does not unravel.  Acting providesthe aforementioned oppoutunity to turn the error into a success.

Relationships can be built on effective resolution.  In general, others respect those who admit and act.  Of course, the corrective actions are evidence of sincerity and are one of the building blocks of respect that can be forged by acknowledgement and action.