By Chloe Cordon

The balance.

It’s impossible to find. I’m not even close. But I’m closer than I was last term.

We made a schedule, Orla and I. It’s titled “What The Hell Are We Doing?” It’s helped. From 8:30 to 9:30 we have SMPs for breakfast. Then we work on briefs until 1:30, where we have an hour for lunch and to work on other projects with other partners. Then at 2:30 we scamp for an hour on the SMPs we wrote that morning. Then it’s back to the main brief until 6:30, when we make sure we’re thanking all of the mentors we’ve met. On Wednesday we do Metro in the morning, and try to visit an agency in the afternoon if there isn’t a masterclass. On Fridays we work on passion projects in the afternoon. We have daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Sounds organised doesn’t it? If only we were as organised as the neatly spaced sheet of crisp white paper blue tacked above our desk.

It’s not that easy. You get excited about an SMP and you want to scamp straight away. You get hung up on your portfolio brief and you can’t drop it, especially towards the end of the second week where it starts to eat up all of your time, laughing malevolently as you glance at the clock hand ticking past 7:30pm. “But I was supposed to be finished at 7”. Portfolio brief doesn’t care.

The schedule goes out the window, just like my own plans for the evening. When I plan to work on a passion project or do some extra work, I just crash. But there’s the alternative. When I do something – read a book, watch a film, go out with friends – I’m inspired to the point of doing something, and end up changing plans. Last night the marvelous, wonderful Matthew Butler took part in a spoken word night arranged by Becci. He was incredible to say the least. Don’t tell anyone but I secretly had a tear in my eye. I left wanting to write. I planned and schemed the theme for my own poem.

And upon writing this and reflecting I recall my strategy for life. It was to wing it, and I stood by that strategy. To an extent I think I still do. You can’t plan every second of every day. If you’ve just got into the flow then don’t stop it. If you’re inspired then create. If you’re too tired to work then sleep. You have to, like with your work, go with your gut. But being a little bit organised definitely helps.