planner – Tonotopics

March 25, 2022March 25, 2022

Coffee stains

I was introduced to the coffee stain concept by a friend who attended a management course. This is therefore not something I dreamt up but something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. If someone can find me resources on this theory, please let me know, as this wisdom was shared with me during a lunch meeting and not a scientific article.

This is not a coffee stain on your furniture or your desk or in your planner but a proverbial coffee stain in your life. That thing that you know you struggle with but is something that you have to do. The above-mentioned friend is an academic, a Professor, a researcher… and her coffee stain is email. She indicated that she just never wins her email. And yes, it was something that I never knew about her but also something that made me realise, that I too have these hurdles in my life.

Off the top of my head…

March 4, 2021March 4, 2021

The value of my debrief

If you know me, or you have been following these somewhat random notes of mine, you will know that these come from the mind of an overwhelmed overthinker.

The last two weeks have presented various hurdles, of which I will not go into detail now. Let us just say that having a routine checkup on Tuesday could land you in hospital on Thursday in the midst of work and parent chaos. Also, bad things don’t always just happen in threes… It could be multiples of three. Anywhoo, so I have not had my head attached correctly for a while and thus just doing some chaotic form of crisis management. So my excuse is that I did not have time, while the truth is probably that I was in a funk and did not feel like it.

Silence and stepping away from something do however always bring some time for reflection, self-doubt and avoidance – an ongoing spiral of the overthinker.

This afternoon I finally sat down and did a debrief. The purpose was to just get everything out of my mind and onto paper. Categorise, sort and try again. A lot of the last 12 months have been dedicated to figuring out how to manage my time effectively and juggle various responsibilities. Mostly because I was overwhelmed and this caused anxiety. Many of these little discoveries have been noted on this blog. I started implementing the bullet journal method. Most days this helps me to stay on top of things. On other days, however, things happen that were not on the list.

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021

You will stick to what you enjoy

A new year is the perfect excuse to kick out some nasty habits and cultivate some new ones. In an earlier post, I chatted about setting realistic goals. There is no point in setting yourself up for disappointment.

January 10, 2021January 13, 2021

Planning ahead

After a lovely break in the Eastern Cape, my tribe is no back at home. We arrived back on Thursday and have been doing mostly… washing (because adulting is laundry).

Let us also be honest, there is nothing as motivating and inspiring as the start of a new year. And that inspiration probably lasts well into the first day back at work until you realise that your low carb intentions actually suck and that your goal to drink more water is not as satisfying as the third cup of coffee. Some form of discipline is required for those days when motivation does not show up for work. Because good intentions only count if you follow through.

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020

My Mandala Notebook – an excuse for a stationery swatch page

I have never in my life felt important enough to review anything. But today I am thrilled, and I want to share it because I know that some of the followers of these rambles are also stationery addicts. I bought this gorgeous traveller’s notebook a few months back (ah, I guess that was actually the first review). What has, however, been a bit of a challenge was to find the perfect notebook inserts.