I remembered to do these last week – at least this month I’m prepared


11:45: Back from the safety meeting. I use the 15


minutes gained from the meeting finishing earlier than expected, to listen to voice mails and return calls. A few documents landed on my desk in the mean time that needs approval or authorization. I go through them and make sure that all the necessary signatures are obtained. I put these together and


take them to my boss. I


reminder her about the customer complaint and dial the number for her before I excuse myself for….


12:00: LUNCHTIME!! I meet up with colleagues


in the canteen and have a lovely lunch with them as we chat and joke around. We all need to wear 70’s type outfits to the Year End Function, and the girls are coming up with the funniest ideas. Note to self – remember to check that proof of payment was sent to the catering company.


12:30:


after 1pm. 13:10:


14:00: I send my boss off to lunch, and check-up on the


proof of payment issue… It wasn’t done! Crisis! I phone the catering company to explain and work with finance to get the payment done before 14:00. Running around with all of this keeps me busy until


I get back to my desk and I’m greeted by another


lot of emails and voice mails. I tend to the voice mails, and go through my emails. Again, I prioritise and return calls work through the emails. Flag, categorise, reminders… and it’s 2pm!


The first time I look at my to-do list, since 08:00


this morning! I realize that this day has run away with me and work hard, smart and fast to get the little tasks of my list. This keeps me busy until 14:40. There are still two major things I HAS to get done today: the board packs and a travel pack.


14:30: 14:45: 15:15: Coffee break for me and boss. We catch up on


a few things and I take down notes as she asks me to arrange a few meetings for her. Luckily the meetings can be arranged on outlook, so this goes quickly.


I prepare boss’ itinerary for her travel to Europe


next week. I make a few phone calls to double check on reservations and make sure that she’s seated according to her preference on all her flights


I check in with boss to give her all her travel


documents, foreign exchange and itinerary. She returns the signed and authorised documents to me. I make around trip around the building to hand back the documents to their owners, and go past the mail room to fetch mail.


15:30: tomorrow’s meeting.


Finally, I get to compile the board packs for Luckily these were circulated via e-mail last


week already, which means I don’t have to run around the building again to hand out these packs now. I keep them with me as I’ll distribute them at the meeting tomorrow morning.


16:00: 16:30: Home time. I quickly pack away all my things


and make sure that all confidential documents are locked away. Quick goodbye to my boss and a reminder about the board meeting tomorrow, and I’m off.


I pick up my children from school, and we chat


about their day in the car. I say a prayer of thanks because there is no mention of the bearded dragon. As we open the garage door, my whole prayer falls flat. “Mom, can we get a bearded dragon? Carla has one you know!”


I spend the next 30 minutes defrosting meat, whilst trying to convince a five year old that we are not going to get a bearded dragon because we already have 10 rabbits, and I don’t think the bearded dragon wants to live with the rabbits in the hutch. All this goes on while my three year old son decides to wash his hands with the new, expensive shampoo I bought last week.


17:00: Dad arrives home! I give him the “remember


our alliance” look as he walks through the door. He also gets to deal with the bearded dragon and at last at 17h30 we eat.


The rest of the evening is spent having fun, chatting and enjoying our time together.


The kids are off to bath by 19h30 and in bed by 20h00.


My dear husband and I retire to our stoep. We have lots of coffee and chat our evenings away like this. The two night owls retire at midnight and we know that we’ll overwork the snooze button again tomorrow…


In those few last moments before I enter dreamland – I give thanks for a wonderful day, a lovely family, a great job and a snooze button! Life is good! The day is done.


careersuccess • issue 1 issue 2 11


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