put everything in one big pile.

that’s how i start my workday: by scooping all the papers on my desk into one big pile, leaving clean space everywhere else.

open outlook. open gmail. open facebook. check outlook – its done loading. meh. check facebook – it’s never done.

turn my attention to the army of tiny post-its leftover from the day before. really, post-it has done a marvelous thing, if you think about it. when else would you happily use a piece of paper that was 1 1/2″ x 2″ to jot down your most important information? (never, i hope). but there they are: 4 or 5 tiny blue notes, reminding me of things i forgot the moment i wrote them down.

call marita. it’s too early for that. move post-it to the bottom of my computer screen. henry’s office hours – took care of that yesterday. trash. er, recycling bin. (does it even count if you recycle paper this small). order reading packet #4. meh, that’s not due till april; i’ll wait. leave it stuck at the bottom of the computer screen. thank you nicole! aw, that note from that student. save.

ok, what else can i do before tending to this pile. any emails? i deleted the junky ones already. don’t wanna do the other ones just yet. ok, pile, you win.

sort through the stack of papers, sticking a tiny post-it on each piece with instructions on what to do. stack the papers in order of priority (strongly suspect that i’ll go through the pile in whatever order i want, regardless of priority).