By Tomo Taka

 

Planning and goals 

 

The first half of term 3 ended on a sour note. And it was all our fault. The theme for reflections to see off this half term was how we were planning to spend the coming week. What were our goals? How would we divide our day? What were our main objectives?

Most of us presented empty slides with no conviction in how we would navigate our half-term break.

So it felt right to write this scab about my goals, targets and objectives for the week.

Guiding principles for the week 

Before getting into the concrete, nitty-gritty detail of our plans, I wanted to lay out some ‘guiding principles’ that helped me work out what I wanted from the week. I might not have planned my week for Friday reflections but I had given the following a thought.

Leave no stone unturned: In my reflection slide, I spoke about the warm-up lap (or formation lap) before a Formula 1 race. It’s when drivers take their car around the track to make their final preparations before the explosive race start – they check their tyre gauge, tyre temperatures, engine modes and all other little details to make sure they’re in the best shape possible for the race ahead. That’s how I want our half term to go: have ourselves and our work in prime position before getting back to school.

Recharge: That said, my partner, Lee, and I also want to use the week in part to rest and recover. We want to make sure we’re raring to go for the final stretch.

The Holy Book: Our portfolios mean everything. Less important things will have to take a backseat.

Do all the things I keep meaning to do: This ranges from the banal – like going to the optician’s – to seeing films and exhibitions I’ve been meaning to check out. 

Overarching goals for the week

Get a book ready for round 2: Over the past month, we’ve had book crits with close to a dozen agencies. Now it’s time to return to them with an updated book full of fresh campaigns.

Recharge: By Sunday night, I want to feel fit and ready for the last few weeks. That means getting some exercise, healthy nights’ sleep and decent meals.

Work targets

(roughly in order of urgency)

PB11: yoga campaign

Spit & polish Vespa

Spit & polish McDonald’s

Flake campaign

Develop campaigns for two new brands

Book sprucing

Website sprucing 

Life things I want/need to do 

See Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Visit comic book store

Get a jumper

British Museum

Tate Modern

Daily targets

I won’t bore you with the minutiae but here’s how I’ve divided the tasks into daily goals.

Sunday/Monday: I’m away from London at a wedding – a good excuse to switch off for a couple of days.

Monday pm:

Reflect on the week ahead and the term gone. Start thinking about new campaigns.

Tuesday:

Pick two or three new brands to work on and do initial research on them.

Spit and polish Vespa.

Scamp Flake.

Go see Guardians.

Wednesday:

Scamp yoga campaign.

Research, develop and push on one of the new brand campaigns.

Spit and polish McDonald’s.

 

Go get a jumper, collect my comic books, and see the American Dream exhibition at the British Museum.

 

Thursday:

Start crafting yoga campaign.

Research, develop and push on a separate brand campaign.

Start crafting Flake.

 

Visit the Giacometti exhibition at the Tate Modern.

 

Friday:

Craft Yoga.

Miscellaneous: Things rarely go to plan. Some things during the week will doubtless take longer than they should. So if things get pushed back, they can slot in here. If by miracle the week goes exactly to plan, then we could use this time to do some of the less urgent things, like craft our team logo, or get cracking on a fresh campaign, or go for an early Friday afternoon pint.

 

Saturday and Sunday:

Get our book, complete with new campaigns, redesigned and ready for a fresh round of book crits.

Update our website with the new campaigns and flesh it out a bit.