Count Down to Country Living Spring Fair

The count down has started - 12 days to finish getting ready for the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington, London. Sounds quite a long time, until you make yourself a time table and fill in the slots and then realise there are not enough time slots to fit in what still needs to be done. But it always gets done, and I rarely work late into the nights (I just get up much earlier instead!)
I'm usually quite chaotic when it comes to organising my time in the studio, and usually find that I'm working on lots of things at once. The work surfaces get over cluttered, and when I need a piece of equipment I often can't find it because it's so well buried. So, I'm using these next 12 days to become more methodical and more organised. I'm determined to be calm, fit, rested and ready for the show so here is what I'm putting in place, and let's see if I get my intended results!:

• Divide each day into 3 slots, morning, afternoon and evening.
• Block in those times where I'm already committed to be away from the studio
• Set precise tasks for each of the other slots, but not so tightly that if one job takes longer than anticipated I get into a pickle
• Allow time for office admin tasks, checking email, fulfilling orders, etc but to be ruthless
  
• with the emails - delete those that really aren't relevant, reply immediately to those that need a reply.
• Take time out for short coffee breaks, meals and family
• Feel a great sense of achievement for each task done, and give myself a pat on the back (or a glass of wine, or whatever)

All you guys are probably really well organised and never find yourself playing solitaire or clicking interesting-looking links and the like - but when you work on your own it can be hard to be disciplined (and it can be dull too - clicking on those interesting-looking links can take you to some great places - but there's a time and place, I suppose)

And it's only for the next 12 days! And hey, if this works, I could try it again....!

Here are a couple of photos of a couple of our animals who make me laugh - Whisper is the border collie, and Stripe is the house rabbit. He's eating a brussel sprout stalk, by the way!