Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam
Travel broadens the mind, they say. It focuses the mind too. One of the benefits of my peripatetic lifestyle is that it provides me with frequent deadlines for action. If I had a more regular lifestyle I would probably let things drift. What didn’t get done today would wait until tomorrow. But when there may well be no internet access tomorrow because I will be somewhere else, there is the urge to clear the decks (and clear the desk) before I move on.
So the long list of To Do items comes in for a sudden blitz. The sponsorship proposal that I’ve been hesitating to send out, tweaking and titivating and trying to make it 100% perfect – hell, 98% perfect will do. Just get it out there. It’s not doing any good just sitting on my laptop. It needs to get out there and earn a living. The draft manuscript for my book – likewise. The press release – same again. Like slightly premature babies, they are just about well-enough formed to survive on their own in the big wide world.
So before I left for Africa I was crazy-busy, down to 4 or 5 hours sleep a night, frantically writing, researching, calling – but it was worth it. Productivity levels hit new heights. My babies have been sent forth, and I wait to see how they fare.