By: Andrea Mac | January 24, 2024

If you can only handle me in small doses:

Words/phrases that really bother me lately: "Girl math," "Cleaning lady,” and “Pregnancy brain.” Oh and when someone posts online looking for some recommendation or another, with a million qualifiers, and then ends the post with "...And , Go!" That's annoying. Don't do that.

Clearly, I am in a mood…buckle up if you intend to keep reading.

Building Prequal Vol. 25 – Oscars, Typos, Weather, and Other Things That Suck

I teach my clients to lead with positivity. Sales activities and relationship building are ripe with conscious and unconscious emotions, so I coach my clients to consider how their energy contributes to their opportunities and how their outlook impacts others.

But right now, eff that.

I don't want to write a weekly newsletter that pretends life is always sunny and full of lucrative business opportunities and winning client stories. Some days just suck, and to be frank, yesterday sucked. It sucked so hard that I have created a bulleted list of five different ways it sucked. Three would have been plenty, but I've got five. Actually, there’s more, but I’ll spare you – remember small doses.

Okay, obviously, headline Oscar news. WTF, Academy. Greta and Margot didn't get nominated, but Ryan did. By today, you likely know about this, and if your social feeds include the slightest feminist slant, I'm sure you've read about the irony of this Oscar slight. You likely can understand how predictable and upsetting this is to many women.
But let me take my frustration (or anger, perhaps?) one step further. All the media coverage and commentary I see is putting the man in this story front and center, with his reaction. My feed is flooded with what Gosling has to say about it! I've read praise for him as an ally and how he's a "hype girl" for the statement he released. I have yet to see a story about how Greta and Margot feel in their own words. That's not how this should work. I'm not sure what his next right move is, but I feel confident it's not to create more media attention about him and his excellent response. Not the point.
We made mistakes on a client deliverable yesterday. Several typos, pushing something live on a website before it was ready, and lots of back and forth that likely undermined the credibility of our work. Ugggggh. I was running from meeting to meeting and call to call, and I didn't give the communication a final read-through. I asked the team working on it to review and approve it, and things were still missed. As the leader, this is my responsibility and my culpability. Ugh, times two. I expect better than that from us.
Obviously, we apologized, tried to make good on it, and put several internal measures in place to avoid replicating this experience, but still. The leader of this client is lovely and brilliant, and I have the utmost respect for him. And when he emailed, "I am not happy" - it definitely made it hard to reset for the day. I don't enjoy letting people down.
Remember when I made that joke about winter break felt like 100 days? Well, you got me universe, you and your weather antics. The Chicagoland area has had weekly snow/ice days, and their school system has responded with emergency e-learning. These kids are never going back for a whole week again, are they?
Ultimately, we're fine and the kids are fine. I know, I know - perspective. But it sure does trigger me by taking me right back to quarantine days, and I can't go back there right now - mentally or physically. These kids need to be out of the house. It's better for us all.
I had to make and communicate a tough decision. I decided to step back from a board that I serve on - a board full of wonderful, brilliant people that I have grown fond of and cherish our work together. I have not been able to be as responsive or present for this board as I need to be during Prequal's very challenging (and exciting) scaling point. It's unfair to the other board members and the museum for me to stay on. It's the right decision right now, but I'm calling it "hard" for a reason.
I feel behind on so many things. As a high-performing, self-motivated professional with big goals, I hate feeling behind. The other side of abundance can sometimes feel overwhelming, and yesterday, I could not catch up. It was as though I am adding more to my list than I am crossing off.
Apologies to every person to whom I owe a text, email or phone call. Thank you to those who have been patient with my slower-than-normal turnaround time. Maybe I should try assigning some of my tasks to these kids while they are home. I joke, sorta.

Okay - my wallowing, complaining, and lamenting is over. Just doing my part to keep LinkedIn real.

Please don't post positive or supportive pep talk comments to this post like, "Go easy on yourself", "Mistakes happen", "Finding balance is hard", "Focus on all the positives", etc. This post is more of a "misery loves company" vibe, okay? So, only comment if you want to vent or complain about something. Bonus points if your list has six things or more.

Let's get it out, so we mess up the algorithms, denounce unrealistic standards and pressure and feel solidarity in our bad days.

-A.

PS- Here's the quote that best sums up my feelings about the Barbie diss.

SHANNON WATTS so perfectly stated:

“Greta Gerwig: Made a critically acclaimed, culturally profound, feminist movie about Barbie and the patriarchy that made a billion dollars at the box office.

Oscar nomination goes to … Ken.”

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