She had tried everything she could to finish up the portion of the project she was given, and yet the result was the same. She did not know what she was doing wrong. It seemed that it would be a hard day at work today.

When she walked into the office, everything was normal. Why would it not be? They did not know that she had not managed to finish her part. Everyone seemed to be doing good, which to her meant everyone had done a good job with their tasks.

She sat at her desk, opened her computer and pretending to be working. She was feeling bad and she feared that this would not go away until the meeting. She could not stand the idea that she would not even be able to do her regular office work. Double failure.

And there it was. The meeting time. She walked into the room with her down. How could she put it up! When the boss started talking, she was still looking down. The boss started asking who had done what and there came the surprise: no one had finished their part fully and in fact, they had all done less than her. When it was her turn to talk, she was confused but relieved at the same time. She could not help but add, after she had described the parts of the task she had done:

‘I was feeling so bad not having completed the task’.

To which one of her co-workers replied:

‘Honey, obviously, you are new here. Do you know what a project means? It is a task that you do for months. Why did you expect to finish it in one week?’

She smiled and said:

‘Obviously, I am new here.’