The time I had to apologize for sending an additional email

On November 2, 2022, I sent out an email from my work email to EVERY state Pharmacy Association with:

1. A missing link and

2. A broken link

And once I realized my mistake, I literally lost it.

Cussed myself out. Called myself every name in the book and couldn't believe that I had made such an ass of myself in front of the executives from every state pharmacy association.

In my head, everyone knew that the name Shantel Houston = Idiot

Here is that fateful email below. You can see that 'Here...' has no hyperlink and so the one-pager is not in fact 'Here' and the NPCA in the URL should be NCPA. Big difference.

I have a few theories about what led up to this historic error.

1. I got distracted

2. Something distracted me

3. I only re-read the email 3 times instead of 4

4. I was rushing

One word: Combination

I was in a time crunch to get the email out on that day, in the 30 minute break I had between calls and someone called me briefly while I was in the middle of drafting the email.

My last blog post was about anxiety, but ADHD is never too far behind.

Luckily, not too long after I blew my top, I realized how ridiculous it was to beat myself up over an email mistake. So I calmed down and sent out one of those embarrassing "apologies for the additional email" emails to everyone. Not only apologizing for my error, but acknowledging it, taking blame for it, and correcting it.

I also realized how crucial it was for me, with my special brain, to focus on one task at a time and give myself more time to send out important emails.

According to a survey from Grammarly, 93% of people make mistakes in their work emails.

According to me, 100% of people make mistakes in general.

So what's the play?

Mistakes are our greatest opportunities for growth. Embrace mistakes, learn from them, grow from them, and move forward. All of that negative self-talk? That's not even you! It's most likely what other people, especially parents/guardians, have told you after making mistakes in the past. The difference now? You're not that person anymore and you have the power to change the way you speak to yourself.

Also, everyone deserves grace just like you do. Try not to be as punitive to those around you when you realize they've made a mistake, we all need grace. We are all human. So when you find typos in books and captions... don't let it reflect poorly on the author, much like if you find a typo in this blog post, please don't let it reflect poorly on me :)

& in case you didn't know...

1. No one is perfect, so embracing imperfections takes the pressure off, for everyone.

2. Saying sorry is hard to do, but we can all use a little more humbling.

3. Dwelling on past mistakes doesn't do your present self any good.

4. Perfectionism can be harmful, watch out for expecting it in yourself and others.

5. Observe how you speak to yourself and others after mistakes and try to be more positive the next time.

6. If people are not allowed to make mistakes around you, they won't want to be around you.

7. The urge to be "right" should not be greater than your need to be in relationship with another person.

Here's a great article by Flowrite about how to write a follow-up correction email.

What did you learn from one of your biggest faux pas? Leave a comment!