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On Thursday morning, I was greeted with a very angry photocopy machine.

With each copy, I was faced with a 6 paper jam that backed up throughout the entire machine. After finding the culprit – and very small, crumpled piece of paper – I tried again. Repeat. Repeat again. Repeat again.

On the 6th attempt, I found it. The most minute piece of crumpled paper hidden in the depths of the machine behind multiple doors, drawers, and levers. Alone, it was innocent – just a discarded piece of paper. But, in the corner of this machine, it caused a huge mess that took 30 minutes to solve.

That little piece of paper derailed everything.

The copy machine could simply not function with it there.

However, once identified, found, and removed, it was smooth sailing.

What are the little crumpled pieces of paper that are a barrier to you being your best self? How can you identify, find, and remove them?

Every day, I find that we are more and more like the photocopy machine.

Today, I spent a couple of hours tackling a cabinet in my new office. It was a simple task – one that allowed me to step away effortlessly to help, brainstorm, chat, collaborate, and problem solve .. opportunities that presented themselves seamlessly and often.

As I filled the garbage can and sorted the few items that survived the purge, I stared at a practically empty cabinet.

Opening the doors to an empty cabinet.

A new opportunity with unwritten chapters.

Blank pages waiting for a story.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, the photocopy machine – the beloved, color, faculty-favorite in the Media Center – jammed, coughed, and burned our fingers until the only option was to turn it off and wait for it to cool off.

I started thinking: Aren’t we a bit like photocopy machines?

Sometimes, we find ourselves overworked and overextended. We aim to serve others, but find ourselves running out of paper, toner, or staples while trying to get all of the jobs complete in a timely manner. We slow down, jam, or quit all together. We someone tries to fix us, we burn them or hide the jammed piece of paper behind layers of equipment. In frustration, we stop, our face blinking in anger, until someone finally pulls the plug.

We unplug. We cool down. We reset. We realign our compass.

When we power up, one of two things happen. Either we return, ready to go – all we needed was a break to cool down. Or, our screen clearly indicates where the equipment error is, allowing us to focus, correct, and move forward.

Unplugging allows us to return refreshed, with clarity.

We have a lot in common with copy machines.

Today was a huge day for me. For the first time in my 23 year educational career, I found myself without a traditional classroom. Everything that I know: Taking attendance, scheduling within a bell-driven class, linking to standards, assessing, collecting, distributing, lesson plans, everything was different. Everything.

But, it was amazing. I was challenged, stretched, and incredibly busy. I collaborated with teachers to trouble shoot problems, shadowed other technology engineers to learn skills, sat beside teammates to learn how to do the various parts of the job more fluidly, and brainstormed with teachers in my building about ways to make their classrooms better (more engaging, more efficient, more innovative).

Today, I did a little bit of everything. Some well. Some not so well.

Going into my first day, I made a goal to embrace the day. By embrace, I mean that I intended to embrace every single minute. Embrace a productive struggle. Admit when I do not know the answer. Listen intentionally. Smile often. Express gratitude. Give grace. Especially to myself.

Growth is measured by the itty bitty steps that we take every single day.

I will look back to find that those little steps accumulate to great distance.

Value the growth.

Value the journey.

Inspired by Suzie Henderson’s blog One Step, One Day