Define….”Productivity”

This week, I took a trip to my VT workplace.  It’s been too long since I’ve made the trip and, other than missing my Scott & Bella terribly, I enjoy seeing my coworkers again.  This trip was not the most productive one, but that’s only if you define productive as strictly “getting work done”.  To alleviate a little bit of stress over not getting work done, I chose to define productive as strengthening the relationships with my coworkers and celebrating some holiday cheer as well.

I did a little pre-work for this trip.  Along with the usual packing for a few days in VT, I grabbed my Rubbermaid drop box I used for Stone Cat and turned it into a Christmas Cookie Container.  Yep, 42 of these gems jumped aboard for the long drive.  Special delivery folks!!

42 bags was the result of a full weekend of baking….lots and lots of baking.  I felt like one of Santa’s helpers as I handed out the little snack bags to the people I’ve worked with over the past 11 months.  And it made me smile.  The baking, the packaging, and the delivery all made me smile.   The recipients seemed to really enjoy them, which again, made me smile.

Another thing that made me smile was helping the Salvation Army with their Christmas gift distribution effort.  Dressed in layers, a group of us coworkers arrived at the Salvation Army warehouse and got right to work.  Some of us organized toys and clothes that just arrived and others took on the role of “shopper”, armed with family lists and bags/carriages.  Shoppers walked around the age category labeled tables and shelves and tried to find each item listed for each family member on each list.  We QC’d the boxes of gifts, compared the contents against the lists, and marked them as “done”.  We noticed some age groups were lighter than others in the toy department and also that clothing was scarce.



Some of the toys made us screech with “OMG, remember this?” or “Wow, I used to love this toy!”  Other times, conversations became more somber, as we realized just how sad it was that some families were in such need.  We witnessed one man who entered the warehouse with his young daughter (maybe 7 yrs old), explained to her that some kids don’t have what she has, etc. and then quietly left.  Big life lesson unfolded right in front of us.

At the end of this trip, I’m tired but satisfied.  I’m also energized and in much more of the Christmas spirit than I was before I headed north.  I love having created my little cookie gifts and giving them out, I loved the look of surprise when they realized I thought of them, and I loved volunteering at Salvation Army and doing something that wasn’t at all about me.

So what if my emails are behind and many to-do’s aren’t even started!  Productivity this week came in a very different form – relationships, holidays, and humility.  Emails and spreadsheets will still be there tomorrow.  They always are....