Step 8: Creating Your Slip Plan

Learning from your slips is captured in Dan Fogelberg’s song lyrics in “Lessons Learned” (on his NetherLand album):

Don’t forget what your failures have taught you
Or else you’ll have to learn them again
Lessons learned are like bridges burned
You only need to cross them but once.

A slip plan embodies those lessons learned and prepares you for your future encounters. Otherwise, you behave eerily similar to the skydiver who is sewing his parachute after he jumps from the airplane. Let’s adhere to the Boy Scout motto and be prepared.

Begin building your slip plan by identifying what you were thinking (cognitions), what you were doing (behaviors), what you were feeling (emotions), and whom you were with (people) when you slipped. Not surprisingly, your answers will overlap with your high-risk triggers identified in an earlier Step.