No Discernible Difference

This is a new phrase I came up with today. It describes too much of what I did today.

My ToDo list was already depressing. There was no way I was going to get it all done, not to mention that the even length of my list did not begin to represent the time that was needed to complete a couple big projects I have to do.

You've heard of the tyranny of the urgent? You know...you get stuck doing the "urgent" things instead of the "important" things. Supposedly we have a choice. Sometimes it's poor choices on my part, but most of the time, I don't have a choice. The number one item on my job description is "Help everyone else get their job done". Rewarding, but frustrating at times.

Case in point. Today. Checking off quite a few things on the unbelievably long ToDo list when 4pm comes around. One hour left to get stuff done. Go to restroom and leaky "fixture" is having problems again. It's been having problems and the boss mentioned it to me last week. I've tried to fix it before to no avail, but it's there, it's leaking..it's urgent! Thirty minutes later I have loosened and taken apart everything I can find to loosen and taken apart. I put it back together. No discernible difference.

Now it's 4:30 PM. The secretary is gone for the day and I have had "reinstall secretary's print driver" on my ToDo list for 3-4 weeks now. Her computer will not print in color, so I have to reinstall the print driver. Since she's gone and it's "urgent", I head into her office and do what needs to be done. Get it done and print, telling the copier I want color. It comes out in black and white. Again...no discernible difference.

Tomorrow, when I update my ToDo list, these two items will still be there although I dedicated an hour to them today. So in regards to these two items, even my ToDo list will have no discernible difference.