FIDO isn't just a name for a dog

"We don’t have long-term memory. We use the short-term memory. We call it ‘FIDO’ - forget it and drive on."

-NY Giants cornerback Corey Webster 

My Giants certainly needed short term memory this past Sunday. They stunk up the joint in the first half. Eli Manning threw three interceptions and looked like a rookie.

Apparently the team called on Fido during halftime and pulled out a win. In the second half, the Giants looked like a completely different team. Manning ended up throwing for 510 yards. If you're not a football fan, know that 500 yard days have happened less than ten times in the entire history of the NFL.

Short term memory is something that is often in short supply when it comes to young journalists. I often get emails that sound like this: "I've had some great stories this week but I screwed up a live shot the other day and I know my News Director must be ticked about it."

Easy solution: go back in time and re-do your live shot. Shove Rod Taylor out of the time machine, go into the past, and fix it. Feel better?

Of course you can't do it because a: you can't go back in time and b: your live shot is gone to Pluto, bouncing around out there in space with Voyager.

So what can you do? Call on Fido. Here, boy, c'mon. I've got a bad memory for you to erase.

It's human nature to dwell on the bad and overlook the good, and I've had plenty of bosses who did that. But that doesn't mean you have to. We've all made mistakes, all screwed up live shots, all made errors in stories. Hell, the networks make them all the time. But that does not mean one mistake cancels out ten good things you've done.

If you make a mistake, you need to do two things: learn from it, then forget it.

Forget it and drive on.

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