Well??

So how has the 40 day operation gone? Nothing like as well as it could/should have - while I did some things really well there were others especially having a few drinks of an evening which definitely hindered progress. As of yesterday I'd lost 1.2kgs which is really pretty ordinary but I guess that any weight loss is good weight loss. I'm struggling to get my head into the right place at the moment, so while I haven't lost the plot, I'm not making any real progress. I'm going to plan on watching my eating as much as I possibly can while we're in Cairns and environs and try and find whatever it is I need to find to get me back on track once I get back on Easter Monday. I'm so not liking the overhang I have on all my trousers and jeans at the moment and I get quite angry with myself for stuffing around like this. I need to just get my head down and bum up and get rid of these extra kilos so I feel good about myself again and fit all my clothes easily. I just have so much happening in my life at the moment - which is great - but means that I end up spreading myself a bit thin. I officially start my new role at work on 14 April but right now I'm transitioning - doing both old and new jobs. So over the next week I have to look at moving offices for me, both my team members - one of whom already works for me. Until our new training model is fully in place I'm also looking after another 3 training officers who have just started in their role so obviously in need of a lot of support as they get to grips with it all. In my new role - as a site Learning and Development Advisor I have to set up and manage with the help of my two training administrators, the training administration systems of our entire site - about 1200 people. As well as this I have to pick up some of the workload of another L and D advisor who is being transferred to another project. So exciting and challenging times ahead. But just to keep me on my toes, I've been nominated to participate in the next wave of our company FLDP - which is a Diploma of Business (Frontline Management). This involves a series of two and three day workshops, some coaching sessions and presentations to the management team and assignments to complete for workplace assessment. The introduction session was on Friday last week with the first workshop on 9/10 April and the aim of completing the diploma by the end of December. So while I can do a lot of it at work, there'll still be a fair bit of homework. I'm also the leader and coordinator of our Call Centre which is an integral part of our site Disaster Management plan and means I have to have a team of people on call, trained and ready to man the call centre in the event of any major incident which could occur on site. I thought it all through and made a submission to the manager who heads up the DM plan that having led this team for the past 5 years, that it was time to hand over the reins especially in the light of the workload I have in the coming months. He's agreed to follow this through with the other necessary managers but I'll need to continue to carry the can for the next 6 weeks or so. But here's hoping I can handball it after that. Not sure now if I told you that Bloss and I are off to Cairns on Wednesday for about 6 days. His cousin and husband live on the Atherton Tablelands and we've been promising to go and see them for ages now and so decided we'd head up over Easter. I did a bit of mucking around trying to find flights which didn't cost an arm and a leg with not too much success. Then I had the bright idea of checking out frequent flyer flights and by changing our stay to two days before Easter rather than one extra day either end, I was able to get flights on the 'milk run' on Wednesday morning and back again on Monday. It means a four hour flight with three stops on the way but only costs us 16,000 points each there and back and about $80 each taxes. No 2 son has extended his stay by another week and instead of leaving tomorrow is now leaving next Monday. This was lucky break for us as I had completely forgotten to book Zanna into the kennels for our Easter break so luckily he'll be here to look after her. Bloss and I went out for dinner last night to a little local restaurant. There was a party of people from work there farewelling one of the managers from work. Also there was a guy (with his wife) who used to work for me. He's done well - he moved from my team to a business improvement advisor role and is now about to move to one of our sister sites in a step up to a BI coach role. Even after he left my team he has always popped in and sought my advice on various things. Last night I had a chat with his wife who I hadn't seen for some time. Imagine my surprise and delight when she said she wanted to thank me so much for all the support and mentoring I had given her husband both when he was in my team and afterwards and said that she thought I'd played a big part in his success. Well that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling I can tell you and I guess is what this whole leadership business is all about. OK kiddos - I'll try to keep hanging on by my fingernails. If anyone has any spare mojo - please send it my way!! Love Z xx