small steps

A's last day at work was friday. i believe she was politely asked to leave. i think it's pretty obvious that was the case. in any event, there are a few of us left now to pick up the pieces. literally, to deal with the messes she left. i came to work yesterday and there were stacks of files on my floor with memos attached and boxes of binders for files i hadn't seen in years. i was surrounded by files.

now, normally that's the way i work anyway, but this was ridiculous. everytime i rolled my chair back, i'd run over a file. whenever someone would bring me more work, i'd take it, look at the various piles on my desk, shake my head and make space for it.

i found myself sitting in my chair, more work than i've had in months staring me in the face, and all i could do was stare back at the piles and wonder, "how am i even going to deal with this?"

when in doubt, take small steps. so that's what i did. i took one thing off the pile of emergencies and started to work. when the Ninja came up to me and handed me something he said was urgent, i put my other task aside, tackled the Ninja's assignment and then went back to what i was doing. when Mr. Postman came up to me and handed me a file he wanted me to prep for trial next week, i put aside my self-assigned task and spent an hour organizing his file.

the piles on my desk are not any smaller and the personal day i'm taking today is not going to make those piles shrink, but i can only do what i can do.

the journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. and the journey of a thousand files begins with one small piece of paper.