On Multitasking, Mistakes and a Mission

After a year away hiatus, I am finally back with my Professional Troublemaker podcast! I took the time off to work on Little Troublemaker Makes a Mess, but I’ve really missed it. This week, I dropped the first episode of my 4th season, and lemme tell you, I also dropped the ball as I did it. 😩 More on that in my rant, but take a listen wherever you get your podcast fix.

And if you’re a parent of a little kid (especially ages 4-8), you can actually listen to the next 5 episodes with them because I’m exploring all things Little Troublemaker. This first episode is a Letter to My Younger Self, and I tell Little Luvvie 5 things I always want her to remember.

Anywho, let’s jump into why I facepalmed several times this week. 🤦🏾‍♀️

RANT

I hate when I multitask myself into mistakes.

One of my toxic traits is I feel like I can do it all, and I can do it all at once. I’m good for listening to something while writing something while on a phone call. I don’t know who I think I am but I legit be like Spongebob in this meme:

Sometimes I’m literally talking to my team about content and emails that need to go out while I’m boarding a plane, so I’m trying to get at least 3 of their 5 questions answered before take off. Or, I’m tryna wrap up a call while my makeup artist is trying to finish my face before an event that starts in 30 minutes. 😬

And as much as I know that multitasking doesn’t work and our brains are really not wired for it, I still do it. 🤸🏾‍♀️This week, it bit me in the ass and I was left feeling like I had egg on my face. 😵‍💫

Again, my podcast has been on pause for a year, so I was READY for the comeback this week. When the final file for the episode was ready, I went and uploaded it to my podcast directory, I scheduled it to go live, then I went about my business. The next day when I woke up, the episode had dropped into thousands of devices around the world, so I’m thinking it’s business as usual. Then I started getting DMs from people saying they’re hearing the parts where I had to re-read lines and do pickups. 😦😳

I had uploaded the wrong file! The first draft file, before all my mistakes were edited out. FAMMMM!!! 😭😭😭

After ONE YEAR of being quiet on the podcast, the first episode back had errors? 😩😭 Dawg. I was appalled at myself. I was moving too fast, doing too much and it led to that. I got chin-checked by my own bad habit of thinking I can do it all and it made me remember that I am my best when I am focused and tunnel-visioned, not spread thin trying to do it all.

But I will say, it really was something that made me reflect on grace and self-compassion. 🤔 Let me explain that.

REFLECTION

When things go wrong, self-compassion is critical work.

I ended up re-uploading the new edited file to the podcast directories, mid-day. But by then, people who had downloaded the episode already were still hearing the faulty first draft and I was like 😩😩😩.

I pride myself on putting out consistently good work. That excellence has helped me build my career and my name. And this upload error felt like a big mistake for me to make. 😢 I felt like there were chinks in my armor. It went against some of my biggest values. I felt embarrassed. 😞

And it was one more moment of Murphy’s Law that feels like it has been in effect these last few months, where a lot of things that could go wrong have gone wrong. My girl Macy Robison offered up this alternate take to Murphy’s Law. She said, “Because I believe there’s opposition in all things, whenever a whole bunch of stuff goes wrong, I’m left wondering about the potential for good that is being created and why things might be rising up to block it.” ← A GOOD WORD.

The blocks have been STRONG, ok??? The weapons have been forming, but they’re NOT going to prosper. So I’m like, there must be some massive blessing coming! 🙌🏾

But I HAVE to believe that when things are being chaotic, there’s something amazing on the other side. 🙏🏾

And what’s interesting about all of this, is that for this week’s podcast, in the letter to my younger self, one of the things that I told younger me was that it was okay to make mistakes. 🥺 You will learn and grow from them. BUT I didn’t mean to be ministering to myself, adult me in that moment! 🥲

Then I thought about Little Luvvie, the girl I wrote Little Troublemaker Makes a Mess for. The girl I wanna protect more than anything. I really do owe that girl some grace and self-compassion. The type I give to other people. I need to remind her (and me) that we can still fall on our face and be okay. That while I make sure I don’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again, I can grow each time.

I’m meeting little me over and over again because that is literally the lesson she learns in the book. I thought I was teaching Little Luvvie something but she’s teaching me along the way too 🥹. As I’m talking about this book, I am being reparented. I’m relearning the lessons inside it myself. It’s making me think about me as a little kid, who really just wanted to make people smile and do good things. I need to show her some mercy.

So this is a reminder to all of us and Little us: your mistakes don’t define you, and you don’t deserve to beat yourself up for them. You deserve the compassion you’d give to the person you love most. Chin up, kid.

RECOMMENDATION

Join Our Little Troublemaker Kindness Train.

Just like that letter to my younger self is STILL relevant for me today, books have the power to help us dream, give us an escape and teach us valuable lessons. That is especially true for children’s books, which can instill a love of reading and learning for young’uns.

And I feel so strongly about how much kids will love LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER MAKES A MESS, because I was that tiny rebel who had a big heart and big intentions. I want kids like her to feel seen. And they will, as they learn great lessons. In their review of the book, Kirkus Reviews said, “Ideal for storytime, this one will also help kids develop social-emotional skills.”

And I am on a mission to get this book in the hands of 5,000 kids across the country, so they can SEE themselves. And I want kids who are in underfunded areas to get this book in their hands! And I need your help.

How you can help:

EDUCATORS

If you’re a teacher or educator who would like to get LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER to your students, but don’t have the budget, request books and we will do our best to match you with a sponsor who will cover the cost of the books for your classroom. Fill out the Educator Request Form.

Request Books

SPONSORS

Help us get books to educators and their students by letting us know your budget or how many books you’d like to sponsor. My team will match you with an educator that has expressed need. You will be blessing a classroom or two (or 10) with this book, in time for summer break. Fill out the Sponsor Form and we will be in touch!

Become A Sponsor

By providing access to quality books, promoting representation and visibility, and instilling a love for reading, we can help set children on a path towards academic success and a love for learning. I hope to empower the next generation of readers and leaders.

Whether you’re a parent of one, a mentor to twelve, or the president of a community group that needs 20 books for their youth program participants, your support of LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER MAKES A MESS will be invaluable to those children you are stewarding.