Still no good night’s sleep. Still waking up early.
I’m starting to get ratty, short-tempered … and taking that out on the kitties,
chasing them away to go play outside and leave me alone. That’s a very bad
thing considering what’s coming!
Time! I need time! And I need a functioning mind so I
can think, plan then action that plan! It’s no use springing into action … what
action? Just pack? Sounds simple, but since I don’t know where I’m going, I
need to pack meeting all eventualities!
Some things I use rarely, and some more frequently.
But space is also an issue with packing – you want to fill each box as much as
possible. So, if I know I will move to a place for at least a year, I know that
I’ll be unpacking more boxes – which means that I can mix frequently used items
with less frequently used items to fill gaps in the boxes. But if I’m not going
to be unpacking those, until after yet another move – then I’ll have to leave gaps
… which in turn means I’ll need more boxes!
And with my mind in panic turmoil and lack of sleep –
I just can’t think straight! I’m also not eating properly. There just isn’t
enough time! And with the move scheduled at the worst possible time of the
year, I’m facing additional challenges! Challenges I have never, ever had
before – so I have no experience to draw on!
I had sent out a mail to both Fellowships after my
boss left, to let them know I’d have less time – the response was awesome!
Several fellows in the older FS volunteered to take over any task, to free my
time! My first instinct was to keep control – ha ha! I also thought that I
should try to maintain something steady in my life – one major life-change I
can avoid. But, in my current state of mind, I’ve found myself getting
frustrated with the time ‘wasted’ on a game … and I also found myself starting
to make mistakes. And then I thought that it would be good to see both
fellowships carry on and continue to grow – without my full attention! At first
I meant to see how it goes, then maybe hand over some things when time became
an issue … but why wait? And why wait till it’s a problem? Why not free myself
now – and maybe avoid the problem?
So, on Saturday, I wrote a handbook on the most
complex daily task: A complex spreadsheet which affects both fellowships. It
needs to continue, since a daily update needs to be sent out. It’s a very
popular feature, which I introduced – though I didn’t invent or design it! I
started with a template I found on one of the game-related websites; but it’s
now populated with the data of nearly 30 players from both fellowships! It
takes me up to half an hour every day – so that would free up a LOT of time for
me!
After some discussion, we decided who would take over and
who would be ‘backup’; so I’ll take them both through the process, in their own
time, until they can take over. It took me a week of intensive research and
study to figure out just how the spreadsheet works – it’s really very complex,
though simple to use. I feel more confident using something when I understand
how it works. Then I introduced it to the fellowship and spent another week
populating the spreadsheet with the data they sent me. And then it went ‘live’.
I made mistakes, I developed a system to avoid more mistakes … so I wrote quite
an elaborate ‘manual’. I’ve sent both the spreadsheet and the manual to both
fellows … now I’m waiting for them to start asking questions. I’ve created a
mail-thread for the three of us to discuss it.
That was what I achieved on Saturday.
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