I've often felt time is my enemy. There isn't enough of it.

But that's a cop out.

Time to see the forest and not just the trees. Everything, everyone is a system and runs best when each cog gets the attention it's due.

Since I can't make the day longer, especially this time of year with ever-shrinking hours of sunlight, I have to best use my time by clocking myself.

Remember the game show “Beat the Clock”? There's something to the idea of watching your time left to make sure you are on pace to finish. At least, that's my theory. Now it's in testing.

I'm counting on one our vital work tools, the smart phone. It has an appointment calendar with some of my five or more, in-person or phone, staff meetings a week. I'm adding the rest and the meetings I cover; pockets of time for every daily, weekly and longer range task, such as work on our annual publications; and I'm getting more consistent about putting interviews, even the phone interviews, on my calendar instead of just in notebooks, emails and my brain.

Will it be the autumn of organization or a fall that flops? I'm keeping my eye on the goal of a smoother workday or work night, not weighed down by concern I haven't gotten to something yet. It's on the schedule.