At this point, our regular readers are likely a bit sick of all blogs referring to how busy everyone at Gulfshore Playhouse is. But sometimes, the pure fact of being busy is all consuming. And one thing I’ve decided in the process of being busy is: I need to think five steps ahead.

Just to give you a view of what I mean by busy, in the past week I have been working on: seating charts for the opening night of Something Intangible, adding a performance to our ticketing system for Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, preparing displays for and then working at our 9^th Annual Golf Tournament, sending eblasts, going to see a ballroom for our gala in February, managing this blog, approving print ads for multiple shows in our season, contacting our sponsors regarding tickets to our shows, sending brochures and playbills to print, and writing press releases. Just to name a few. As one of my favorite animated characters says: “Just Keep Swimming!”

So, as you can now see, with a small staff here in our small office at the end of the hall, we’ve all got a lot on our plates. And, yes, sometimes I feel like there’s no end to my to-do list, but I love it. There is never a dull moment in my job. There are always 10 people talking at once, to try and make what we do better. There are days packed back to back with meetings, and I realize that I am so ridiculously thankful I was here in the quiet of summer and had time to plan (at least a little bit).

In the bubble that is Gulfshore Playhouse, the only way to get things accomplished is to plan. Make a plan that is thorough and follow up on it often. And I am learning from the master in Kristen Coury, who is able to hold everyone on staff accountable for the smallest detail on a daily basis. So, here I go, back to my list. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming…