The times they are a-flyin’

“Thank you for contacting Social Butterfly Enterprises. Due to high demand we will no longer be accepting new clients or appointments. We look forward to planning your next SBE activity in September 2013.”

~ My new voicemail message?

Hello, my name is Emma. It’s been 14 days since my last blog post. Oops.

While the lack of posts may indicate otherwise, the preparations for my trip have been continuing at a mad pace. I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write about them.

This time of the year is always a busy one, but at the moment I’m finding it difficult to keep up with my own schedule. There seems to be too much to do in too little time.

At this stage it looks like I will be departing Australia on Wednesday, 13 February 2013.

If I were counting down already, I would be able to tell you that there are only 104 sleeps until 13 February. And if I were counting down already, I would also be able to tell you that this equates to roughly three and a half months, or a little more than 14 weeks.

That sounds like a reasonable length of time but, when looking at my diary this evening, I realised I only have 15 weekends left in the country. And of those weekends, I only have two Saturdays and three Sundays free!

So as much as I’m sad to say it, I think I will need to close my books. I can no longer afford a carte blanche approach to accepting invitations, booking trips away or planning catch-up dinners. In an unprecedented move for a social butterfly like me, I’m going to do my damnedest to cut back and start saying ‘no’.

*gasp* It’s shocking, I know.

I’m not particularly good at this so I may need to enlist the help of a big, burly, tough-guy bouncer with a gruff voice and a name like ‘Serious Pete’ or ‘Big Eddie’ to keep my schedule in line.

Or maybe it’s time to finally listen to the Getting Things Done audio CD set I’ve had sitting on my desk for the past three years…

Tell me, what’s your secret to keeping a manageable schedule? Do you hire ‘diary bouncers’ or use a particular organisational system? Or is there another approach to planning you would recommend?

Dawn of the Diary

“Organise yourself for success, choose the perfect diary and make it your best year yet!”

~ http://www.kikki-k.com

When the zombie apocalypse comes, I’ll be one of the hardy few that will still know when their next hair appointment is. (Assuming my hairdresser doesn’t get zombified.)

While I do have a smartphone, laptop and all the other mod cons, I am a complete luddite when it comes to personal organisation. I love my hard copy diary.

I always like to purchase the coming year’s diary early and schedule a whole evening to sit down and set it up to my liking. I bought my 2013 diary this week (the small version of the kikki-k ‘cute diary’) and I cannot wait to get started.

There is something inherently satisfying about hand writing in important details, birthdays and upcoming events, and highlighting them the appropriate colours in preparation for a new year. This is even truer when you know the year ahead is going to be filled with awesome overseas adventures.

And yes, the highlighter colours are important. I’ve used the same colour-coding system since high school:

• Yellow is for social events (dinners, parties, holidays etc.)
• Green is for fitness/health (dragon boat training, gym sessions, swimming etc.)
• Pink is for appointments or important reminders (physio, hair cuts, dentist etc.)
• Orange is for work related-items (meetings, travel, pay day etc.)
• Blue is for study (Spanish class, short courses, assignment due dates etc.)

And purple? Purple has no place in a highlighting regime. Out of all the colours it is the least translucent and the ink tends so soak through to the other side of the page. (Blue highlighters can be a bit iffy in this way too, but if you find the right brand they’ll still have that fluorescent ‘zing’ you’re looking for.)

I’m also a huge fan of ‘pencilling things in’. Literally.

It irritates me if I need to use whiteout or cross things out. I’ll only write something in pen if I know it’s a sure thing. My buddies know that once they’re scheduled in the diary in pen, they cancel at their own risk. Hell hath no fury like a diary fanatic scorned!

As soon as my flight to Honduras is booked, that will be my first entry for 2013. Written in pen and highlighted pink, of course. 😉

Zombies take note: if your apocalypse delays my flight you are in big trouble!