OK. Hands up. I'm guilty.

I was reading an article on what you should / shouldn't do when writing company blogs. Then I realised that I was guilty of some of the "no-nos", and it got me thinking about how we admit to mistakes in English.

On one hand, it's seen as a positive thing to admit to your failings, as people will assume that you feel sufficiently bad about them that you want to do better in the future. By appearing "humble" you show that you are human, and you can avoid appearing as if you "know it all". On the other hand, you don't want to appear so humble that you devalue yourself and lose face.

So here are some useful phrases for admitting to failures and mistakes.

I have to admit that recently I haven't put in 100%.

I feel terrible about this, but I need to get it off my chest.

I wanted to say sorry for my recent performance. I haven't been doing as well as I would have liked because…

I have to come clean about…

There's something that's bothering me …

I have to confess to something.

I ought to tell you that ….