My Typical Day

PK posted his typical day, inspired by stumbling across a 2021 blog series* started by Colin Devroe. I’ve been thinking about documenting my current schedule now that I’m freelance, and enjoyed reading everyone else’s, so I’m taking it as a prompt 😉 From that series, I especially liked Cassie’s gentle approach to days and the commentary in Rob’s post.

* This also ties in with what I’ve been noodling on about social norms in the personal websiteverse — how do we feel about resurrecting a two-year dormant carnival? Sara had good thoughts on this issue specifically. I thought it sounded fun, so why not? It’s a topic that can be revisited even by folks who posted two years ago — I am actually curious how much people’s routines have changed over that time, especially given that was full COVID times for many. 

What I’m working on

I’m now what Dan Sinker aptly described as “marginally employed” in that a lot of the work I’m doing is self-assigned and only a small portion is paid. My current big projects include revising a novel and preparing to self-publish, building my new freelance business, and consulting. On a typical day I’ll do four to five hours of this type of work, which is about what a person can do of focus work in a day. Besides that, much of my time is spent running the household, blogging for fun, and reading.

I have the privilege to work relatively few paid hours right now thanks to my husband’s salary and health insurance — over the spring I averaged about 10 hours a week. My weekly goal is 15 to 20 hours of consulting, writing, and business development.

A weekly cadence

I have a baseline typical day, with consistent variations each week. At the start of each week, I prepare a list of things I’d like to get done during the work week, and on Friday I make a weekend list. The weekly list includes fun activities like baking projects I’d like to do, blog posts I’d like to write, hanging out with a friend, or “permission” if you will to spend the day reading a book — it’s on the list!

I don’t get to everything on the weekly list since it’s more aspirational, but this system works pretty well for me to combine urgent work with progress on longer-term projects and reminders to myself to do fun life things too. There’s only so much room on the weekly list — I get a half sheet of paper — so incorporating fun stuff as well as all my meetings and appointments gives me a physical limit to how much I can even put on “the long list.”

Each day I make a list only consisting of things that really must be done that day, and chip away at the weekly list as I have time and energy — so not everything from the weekly list makes it onto a daily list, and the daily list includes small individual tasks that arise as the week goes by (these are called closed versus open lists, I recently learned 😀).

My usual weekday schedule

I’ve settled into this routine over the past six months:

Sometime between 8-9:15 — 😴⏰ I’ve been waking up without an alarm, with the goal of letting my body get whatever rest it needs. Despite wearing a sleep mask, the summer light starts waking me up around 5:30, but I try to fall back asleep and usually succeed.

When I wake up, I lounge in bed and read on my phone until 9:45 or so. My cats come lay on top of me, providing a good excuse not to get up 😉😸 I catch up on tabs opened the previous day or check micro.blog or read my RSS feeds. Often I’ll write a blog post about something I’ve read. This slow start gives my brain time to get going.

9:45 – 10:15ish — 🍳 get up and make breakfast — oatmeal or scrambled eggs — and a mug of honeybush tea. I usually empty and load the dishwasher with anything left in the sink.

10:15 – 10:30 — 📨 if I’m running on time, I’ll go check my email and check my list before my first work block — if not, I’m finishing up breakfast! (This is the case more often than I’d like to admit 😅)

10:30-1:30pm — 🎧 this is my main focus work block. I’m a CaveDay member and this three hour co-working block is the anchor of my day — it really messes me up when I need to skip it for a midday appointment or I’m running too late to join.

I like to put on my noise-cancelling headphones and put on music while I work. They have scheduled breaks every hour so I’m reminded to get up out of my chair 👍 At the 11:30 break I feed the cats their first meal of the day — they’d like to eat earlier but when we tried feeding them in the morning they started waking us up at 5am 😂

1:30-2pm — 😋 lunchtime! Often leftovers, or sometimes I’ll prepare something. My husband works from home too, so if he’s free we’ll eat together.

2-5pm — 📝 this time block is more variable as I’m trying to listen to my body’s needs better — I try to do another two hours of work in this time. It depends how brain intensive my morning work session was — I often need a while to defog after writing fiction.

If I’m feeling good, I’ll dive back in to working at 2pm, otherwise I’ll take a long lunch and hop back on at 3pm instead. If I’m really tired, I might skip an afternoon work session altogether and putter around doing light chores, taking care of things on my weekly list, or more reading and blogging.

4pm — 🥜 grab a snack. Sometimes I’ll call it quits for the day, sometimes I’ll work till 5. I make a point to shut my laptop when I’m done with “work” for the day, even if I’m going to do more personal projects later.

5-5:30pm — 🚶‍♀️ wind down from work, sometimes with a walk around the block, sometimes chilling out reading in the rocking chair by my husband.

5:30-7:30pm — 🔪 cook, eat dinner, and clean up. I am the world’s slowest cook, so basically everything takes at least an hour to make. My husband helps sous chef a lot, which cuts my prep time down. The one thing I’ve always insisted on in our relationship is sitting down to dinner together, even though it only takes like ten minutes to eat 😂 It’s nice to know we’ll have that undistracted time together. After dinner, I like to get the dishwasher running so we’ll have clean dishes in the morning.

7:30-9:30pm — ⌨ usually time for fun, though occasionally I’ll add a fiction writing session in here (especially if I skipped the afternoon work block). I’ll poke around on my website, bake something, read a comic book, or do social activities. If I have computer-based household chores like ordering groceries or money stuff, I’ll do it now. In summer, late evening is a lovely time for a stroll around the block.

✏ This is when I write up my list for the next day — I prefer to do it the night before so I start the day with a clear understanding of what I need to do.

9:30-11:00pm — 📖 I try to get off the computer around 9:30 or 10, then head to the bedroom to read a book*. If I’m too tired to focus on a book, it’ll be reading more articles or managing my TBR and library holds list (I spend probably too much time on this, but reading is important to me and curation is part of making sure I’ve always got a book going 🤷‍♀️).

11:00pm-11:45pm — 📺 my husband joins me and we’ll watch YouTube videos together, or I’ll read while he watches. Ideally we’ll turn the lights off and try to sleep by midnight, but it’s not uncommon that I’ll stay awake till 12:30 or 1. 🕐

My scheduling philosophy

I’m trying a more gentle, “effortless” approach to routine, guided by my body’s cues. I’m recognizing the value of rest and making space for different types of rest.

*Recently I was chatting about insomnia with a friend, and how a lot of sleep hygiene feels like judgment — and punishment — for being a night owl. The second year of the pandemic, I completed a CBT-i program intended to address my sleep issues; it basically required self-torture. I’ve never been so miserable, even in the depths of depression — but even then I didn’t fulfill their instructions well enough, so it was clearly my fault for not trying hard enough.

I’m done with blaming myself for systemic failures and letting myself be faulted for not conforming to societal standards that don’t suit me. A late chronotype is not morally inferior to a morning one.

I am starting from the premise that there’s nothing wrong with me, and paying more attention to when I’m struggling needlessly due to a societal expectation. Books like Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey and How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis have helped me recalibrate my thinking around productivity.

My philosophy now is self kindness: what if I could get enough done without treating myself like a recalcitrant soldier? How can I do what I need in a way that feels natural?