How I Manage My Day
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Ever wondered how other people fit it all in? I thought I’d share my daily routine to show you how I do it.
It’s a Friday.
The morning
Wake up at 5.30 am when the children wake up. I check my email before getting out of bed on my smartphone. I am well aware that I shouldn’t do this and that I am bordering on obsessive. This is one of the downsides of virtual working. I am always on. Plus I work with a lot of people in the U.S. so there is nearly always something that came in while I was asleep.
7-8.30 am. Breakfast, getting everyone up and ready for the day. I’m working from home and go against popular opinion about ‘dressing for virtual work’ in that I wear whatever is comfortable. That’s usually sweat pants or jeans and a T-shirt and jumper.
8.30 am. Switch on computer (which involves walking out of the house to my little office in the garden) and (walk back into house) to make a cup of tea. The computer takes a while to get going, a bit like me.
About 9 am. Start work. By now I am already mentally ready for the day, having had a few hours since waking up to get my priorities straight. I know what meetings I have and what work should be done first.
As a copywriter I work for a variety of clients, and I fit in blogging and my own writing projects like my new book too. Today I’m using monday.com to check the upcoming editorial calendar of one client, see what work has been assigned to me and review my editor’s notes.
I use Inifinity to manage my own writing workload, content creation, emails and more. That’s always open in the background too.
We often discuss articles through this virtual work management system although we do have a monthly phone meeting as well. I upload my work when it’s done.
Deadlines on my projects change frequently for lots of reasons, including last minute requests from clients. And me forgetting that I was supposed to do something and having to fit it in urgently before anyone realizes. That’s why I check email frequently throughout the day.
11 am. Work on the weekly project report I prepare for one of the initiatives I am leading and send it out to the project stakeholders.
Lunchtime
12 noon. Come into the house for lunch. Normally we cook something quick or have sandwiches or leftovers.
The afternoon
1 pm. Back out to the garden office with more tea. Check emails. Prepare for a conference call.
1.30 pm. I put my headphones on to join a MS Teams call. We join three people to the call and it’s great to be able to see them during the meeting (I have my camera off today due to my ‘wear whatever I want’ approach, and no one has complained yet, but often I will put it on regardless).
We discuss an upcoming webinar that we are working on jointly, reviewing slides, registrations and the finer details for the event.
2.15 pm. Virtual meetings take less time than meeting in person as there is less chat and more focus, in my opinion. The trouble with meetings is that they generate work, so I crack on again. That means more writing.
On my most productive writing days I can write over 6,000 words. Some days it’s a lot (lot) less than that. I use my tried-and-tested templates for managing meetings so at least that makes the meetings easier.
I also spend a fair amount of time catching up on emails and social media. My job involves being up-to-date with social media and being active on a wide variety of channels so I use a number of tools like SocialBee and Airtable to make staying on top of everything easier.
3.30 pm. Phone calls. Although I work virtually I do speak to a lot of people during the day either on instant message or the phone or Zoom. Virtual work doesn’t make me feel lonely!
I work virtually with clients but also my own team. I delegate work by email to my two colleagues and log it to follow up later.
The evening
Between 4.45 pm and 5.15 pm. I come in to get ready for the children’s evening routine. One of the benefits for me of working most of the time from home is that I can work flexibly and spend time with my family.
We play, do dinner, bath and bed. If I’m in London or working at another office location during the day I’m normally out of the house from 6 am to 6.15 pm so I do make it home for story time and goodnight, and I’ll eat when they’re in bed. If I’m home we all eat together.
7.30 pm. The boys are in bed and asleep. I do low brain power work in the evenings, like reading articles in my news feed on Feedly and scheduling them to share with my social networks, responding to forum posts, easy emails and preparing graphics to go with articles.
I also work out what tomorrow’s priorities should be and write a big note to remind me of the times of meetings and key deadlines which I leave on the kitchen counter.
8.30 pm. I try not to work past 8.30 pm but I will always check my emails, social channels and
Having read this back I think I have underestimated the amount of tea I drink in a day. So much tea.
Does that sound like your routine? Or nothing like what you do in a day? Let me know in our Facebook group or find me on Instagram!
