Think Horses, Not Zebras

It has been a productive week. It's amazing what adding a few hours onto the end of one's day can produce.

I stained the entire deck in the after supper &/or after work hours of the past week. I didn't have to go to my second job yesterday so I put in some extra hours at my first job and accomplished so much.

I have woken up in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep for three straight nights. All work related. I was certain last night my mind would be at rest and I'd sleep through the night with ease. I was wrong.

I left work with two unsolved mysteries. One of the mysteries was where in the world did I put something I just saw a few days ago?

I worked through and filed away almost everything in my basket. I went through everything page by page. Nothing.

I recreated what was missing to the best of my ability. But I was still missing a letter that arrived by mail (a person certainly gets accustomed to having access to an email back up copy of things). I was mystified and disappointed.

"Where did I put it?!?" I lamented to my boss. She reassured me that it was here somewhere. Nothing walks out the door but some days it sure feels like there is a gremlin in our midst as something we just had in our hand disappears in plain sight.

The entire week felt like a blur. I dealt with month end and quarterly types of deadlines. Payroll, GST, reconstructing an account, tail ends of an enormous task that has overtaken our weeks and so much more. All I could think, is that I must have accidentally picked up this paperwork and accidentally filed it away with something I had been working on this week.

"I just had it in my hands!" What did I do with it?

I would come back and look another day. Hours after my usual quitting time, I packed it up and headed off into the weekend. Not a bad day at the office. But those two unsolved mysteries plagued my sleep last night.

Then ... POOF!! The moment my eyes opened for the day this morning, I knew where the missing paperwork was. I filed it where it belonged. I remember thinking "I don't want to lose this so I'll file it so it doesn't get misplaced."

Who would have guessed? Look in the file.

Sometimes the hardest questions have the simplest of answers.

As they say on Grey's Anatomy: "We teach residents, when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras. It means that the most obvious answer is usually right."

Ahhh!! It has been a busy and fulfilling week. I am going to pour myself a second cup of coffee and enjoy a quiet morning at home.