Organising stuff - the challenges

9.30am - frosty yard near Bristol where I did my clinic this past weekend. Lovely place!

Organisational skills are not my forte. I sometimes get people asking me how I get all these things done: the travelling places without a car, the teaching, the Academy, the blogging/writing etc and the answer is - not blooming easily! ;) In fact, organising it all is what truly feels like work in the "I really don't want to but I have to" sense of the word.
I would like Santa to bring me a good project manager this Christmas who would just get everything nicely organised.

To get things done in some form of fluid order I have to almost draw a map for myself of how I get from A to B and what needs doing in between. I envy all great organisers out there who just "see" a good way of connecting dots! Apart from my love of all things stationary and creative I don't have many positive emotions for organising...

One thing that helps me is my yearly diary - it's a simple book size diary with real pages i.e. not an app on my phone or this blog. Somehow writing things to do with a pen on paper makes them more doable than typing them into an electronic version.
I also have one day a week - Wednesdays for the last few months - which is my designated planning, organising and admin day and if I ever miss it, my whole week becomes a one hectic affair. My days generally are more connected to who I teach or where rather than being named as per days of the week. This can be a little confusing when my clients change days on which they ride for whatever reason or when I have to make changes. It's a challenge!

I decided that since organisational party is my weakness I need to put more effort into it so from this week I will have to find two mornings a week that will be spend on getting stuff planned and organised. Even just writing this down makes me feel like I want to avoid it straight away ;)

Testing share horses at London yard; Sunday
7th December

The London yard is now pretty much fully booked for Academy places unless someone pulls out last minute for whatever reason. I am really looking forward to running my programme there.

What I am looking forward to a little less is more organising ;) The most difficult aspect of my work for me is the constant insecurity and unknown: will the riders continue long term? Will the horses continue to be suitable? Will the facility be good for everyone involved? Will the trains run? If a rider quits the programme for whatever reason will I find a replacement quickly?

It's not just the financial insecurity, although of course that is a huge worry, but the fact there are many elements out of my immediate control that do make me lose some sleep.

This is why I am upping the organisational time so I can put some "risk management" in place. I didn't do it back in 2012 and have been dealing with results until now so it's about time to learn on one's mistakes.
Technically it's January when the world becomes obsessed with resolutions and yearly plans but I am making myself start now. Let's see what comes out if it!

How do you deal with making sure you get things done?