Today, I'm talking about purposeful motherhood and 3 things that can help you stay focused, fight overwhelm and ignore the voices of comparison that try to distract and discourage us in this motherhood journey.

Mentioned This Episode
Kisses from Katie - I mention this book by Katie Davis. It's one of my favorite books. So inspiring.

A Extra Lesson I Learned Today

I know, it's been awhile since I recorded my last podcast. Can I just say...it's a lot harder to speak for 25 minutes in a little room all by myself, than it is in front of a crowd?

I think the reason is that I can stop and restart whenever I want to. I'm tempted to fix every little mistake.

Well, I made a big mistake in this episode of the podcast...

You see, I recorded the whole thing and then realized the mic wasn't connected. I recorded it all with my built in microphone instead of the fancy nice sounding one. Argh.

But I learned a great lesson (besides checking to make sure the mic is working). I learned that I need to give myself permission to be bad. I'd rather encourage you today with a podcast with bad sound, than never encourage you at all because perfection kept me from finishing.

I've actually recorded several episodes of the podcast that I'll post over the next few weeks and there are things in each one that I would change. But the more I give myself permission to be a "bad podcaster", the more I record. The more I record, the better I get.

How can you apply this to what you do? Do you need to give yourself permission to be a "bad blogger?" Do you need to allow yourself to just write?

Do you need to give yourself permission to be a "bad mom" - one who may not do everything perfectly, but you're diving into your kids lives and hearts, baggage and all?

Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to be "bad Christians." Our Bible study times are only 2 minutes long, our prayers are even shorter - but they are happening. His grace is sufficient.

So if perfection is holding you back from something today, try giving yourself permission to be bad at it.

One of my all time favorite quotes:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

I think that quote deserves a fistbump. {fistbump}

How to Listen to This Podcast

If you're new to podcasts, think of them like little radio shows that you can listen to at your convenience. They are perfect to listen to and learn from as you workout, fold laundry, wash dishes or conquer the world.

Ways to listen to a podcast:
1. Right here on the blog. Click through to the site and click the little play button at the beginning of this post.
2. Smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch - There are a lot of great podcasting app. Apple has a free one in the app store, but I like one called Downcast. It allows me to search for shows, subscribe to them and even speed up the audio.
3. To subscribe to the Podcast - just click here to access the podcast in iTunes. You can also search for it on your smartphone and subscribe.