Monday Mistakes

Today is Monday, and I made some mistakes.

The first? I asked a teacher if she was ready for an IEP — wrong student, wrong teacher. Then I delivered the butterfly exhibit to the wrong classroom. And finally, I showed up to my 9 a.m. IEP only to discover it was actually scheduled for 10.

None of this happened because the stars were misaligned, karma came to collect, or some cosmic bad juju was following me around. It happened for a much simpler reason: I didn't look at my to-do list. The one sitting right there on my desk since Friday afternoon — the same list I put together deliberately, knowing this week would be a little more demanding and that we'd be short-staffed.

Once everything settled, I had a good laugh. I couldn't even blame it on the coffee, because I'd already had my coffee.

Some days, that's just Monday.

When things go sideways, how quickly do you look inward at your own systems before looking outward for something else to blame?