A Little White Lie at Work

I'm forty-two and I've been in the same job for over twenty years. But even after all this time, sometimes the little things can still trip me up. Last week, our team leader asked us to bring in a new project idea by Friday afternoon. I was struggling with some personal issues that week and just couldn't come up with anything creative or practical. Instead of being honest about my lack of inspiration, I spent an hour copying another project's proposal from two years ago and tweaking it slightly. Then I submitted it, hoping no one would notice the recycled content. It worked, but as soon as it was out there, I felt like a fraud. Of course, they won't know unless someone starts digging through old files, but lying still doesn't sit right with me. Maybe next time I'll just own up to my lack of ideas rather than trying to fake my way through.