Give it to a busy person!
That’s what my mother used to tell me as I was growing up, and again when I worked for her at the printing company she founded in 1977.
It was 1982 and I was a freshman at Loyola College in Baltimore (now Loyola University, see, we all grow up sometimes!) and riding my bicycle the 6 miles down Charles Street to Curry Copy Center, serving as part-time bookkeeper several days each week.
Junior High and High School-aged Paula used to go to the copy shop on weekends to help collate and staple jobs, and so was familiar with the operation. College-aged Paula enjoyed being the bookkeeper at the shop, finding joy and comfort in balancing the numbers and accounts on a weekly and monthly basis.
Carrying a full load of courses and working part-time was difficult, but I rose to the challenge, slowly taking on more and more responsibilities at my mom’s company. I went from just daily invoicing to making deposits, handling all accounts receivable, making collection calls, and reconciling all outstanding accounts (remember, 1982, no desktop computers, all done by hand with a pencil, an adding machine, and the One Write System!). Soon I took on payroll, accounts payable, purchasing and estimating, adding to my repertoire.
Because I didn’t have any extra hours in my schedule to devote to work because of my class load, I just kept cramming more and more activities into my limited work schedule.
Much like the 95 circus clowns emerging from a VW Bug, I somehow miraculously managed to get the ever-burgeoning list of things-to-do done. How, you ask? The same way I still do things. I keep busy every single day. And busy people just seem to be better at getting more things done. Just like my mother said.
