Joanne the Coach

So Apparently There is This Yuletide Thing Happening Around Now

Merry Christmas to all blog readers. And remember - deep breaths and alcohol will see you through anything.*

love & Christmas happiness from Joanne

* Apart from driving and operating heavy machinery, obviously.

How To Have a Disorganised Christmas

OK, so you know all that stuff I told you about how to be organised at Christmas?  Well, scrub all that. 

This year, chaos is where it's at, and this is why.

Christmas Gifts for the Freelancer in Your Life

If you're struggling to come up with gift ideas for your friendly neighbourhood freelancer, maybe these suggestions will help.

• This stylish item is fast becoming a winter must-have for the home-working freelancer who's too stingy to put the heating on.

• These notebooks have been known to make grown journalists dribble and swoon.

• For the TV writer-u-love, this book  
  is a fascinating insight into the process of writing Doctor Who.  Oh
  how we'd all love to be able to do that.
  

• Telelvision production staff will appreciate one of these, since they will be working such horrendously long hours that they'll naturally be single.

• For everyone else, a jar of pickled eggs , a set of days of the week moustaches or a bee log. I find it's the practical gifts that always go down best.

Feeling Festive Yet?

Bad news for the festive season - the Police Manhunt Advent Calendar has sold out.  Boo.  You can see why it's popular - nothing says Yuletide more than a thief giving the bum's rush to two coppers and a snarling hound.

I know the eagle eyed Googlers amongst you are already on the hunt for tips on how to get organised for Christmas.  So here's your month-to-go guide, and this is the last minute checklist.  Not that we've reached the last minute stage, though it's closer than you think.

Happy Christmas from all at MLC Towers

I am heading off into the flim and flam of Christmas.  If you're interested in booking some coaching sessions for the New Year, it's probably best to read through the FAQ section of the website, then email.

Season's greetings, happy holidays, joyous feast of winterval etc to you all from me and little santa:

all the best

Joanne

MediaLifeCoach

Life & Career Coaching for Media People

Getting Organised: Your Cut Out And Keep Christmas Check List

Less than two weeks to Christmas, so here's a handy checklist to make sure your festive planning goes smoothly.

Have you:

• Made a big long list of Stuff To Do
• Lost your big long list of Stuff To Do
• Made your annual purchase of the Radio Times
• Flicked through the Christmas Radio Times and grumbled inwardly as you registered that, as ever, there's nothing on worth watching apart from Doctor Who
• Purchased a gift voucher for your most difficult-to-buy-for relative, making said gift voucher slightly more than you would have spent on a pressie, because you feel guilty about them being difficult to buy for.  Like it's your fault.
• Received at least one Christmas card which whiffs of smuggery (Christmas cards accrue smug points depending on the addition of the following:  a boasting letter/home made illustration, esp by children/personalisation of any sort/proceeds going to a particularly obscure charity etc).
• Asssessed the smug rating of your own cards and awarded yourself appropriate prizes.  This year my Christmas cards are in aid of my children's school, and include some of their drawings.  This nets me two smug points, plus a bonus point for writing them early, minus two points for having lost address book and being unable to post said cards.  All of which wins me a prize of a big mug of mulled wine.  Hooray!

Getting Organised For Christmas - A Speedy Solution

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Christmas is just around the corner.  A month today and it will all be over, bar the last mince pie.

Why is it almost fashionable to claim to be disorganised about Christmas?  Why do so many people indulge in competitive frazzlement over the Christmas season? ('I haven't bought a thing, and I've got 20 people to buy for' 'That's nothing, I've got 147 coming for Christmas Dinner and no oven' etc ) 

It's like new parents squabbling over who's the tiredest. Sometimes I feel it would be easier to own up to some dubious sexual practice than to admit to being organised for Christmas.  Actually, given that I live in Brighton, that's probably very true. 

Maybe I am just grumpy because somebody took the piss out of me for making my Christmas cake in October.  And that fact that, even though I am fairly organised about the whole shebang, I still find myself wrapping pressies at midnight on Christmas Eve.

It's on the same date every year, so it's not like it's a surprise that creeps up on you.  Let's get it done and dusted in a few clicks, starting with that almighty PITA, the difficult bloke gift. Get this if he's gadgety, or  this if he's a rebel at heart.  With plenty of this and a brace of these for everybody else, you'll be sorted in no time.