When I first started working from home full-time over a decade ago, I wasn't yet a mom. I remember a friend asking me something along the lines of, "So... what do you do all day?" and I took it the wrong way and got offended, as if she'd implied that there's no way I could fill a normal work day with my trivial play time. Truth is, she really just didn't know what all it entails to run a business like this and was asking me an honest question!
Things were very different back then, and I probably was a little guarded as I wasn't nearly as good at managing my time as I am now. Nothing like nearly a decade of motherhood to force your time management skills into high gear! I knew coming into 2023 that this would be a year of figuring things out. I took my time the first few months that both of my kids were in school deciding what exactly I want to do with my business. I went through the planning stages to lay out what I hope this year will look like. And now I have a pretty solid schedule and have adapted my office space to better fit my needs (although that's still a work in progress... hello blank, uninspiring walls!)
A weekday in my life lately looks a lot like this:
Wake up at 6. Get ready, and get Nolan and August ready for school.
8:15 Take my boys to the bus. Come home and do a few small tasks like make phone calls or send emails. Lately most of this correspondence has been related to home improvement projects!
9-10:00 Gym time. Mondays and Fridays I do a Bodypump class. Wednesdays I do my own thing. Other days I go straight to my office instead or run errands.
10-10:30 Shower and get ready
10:30-1:00 Dedicated time for "deep work" like making new art. So far this year this time has been full of planning, learning, and getting situated, so I'm looking forward to filling this time with ART in the second quarter of the year. In this video I had a Zoom call about a potential collaboration, and I was listening to music while working on a design brief for my Creative Powerhouse Society membership.
1:00 Lunch. Often with my buddy Nelson, our black cat.
1:30-3:30 Back to work. This is the time of day I like to do tasks that don't involve creative work like listing designs on Spoonflower, working on my website or Etsy shop, sending emails, scheduling, editing photos and videos, and order fulfillment. I often pull out my treadmill around this time if I know I'm working on something that allows me to walk and multitask.
3:45 Get the kids from the bus stop.
4-6:00 Unpack, declutter (so much paper comes home from elementary school!) The boys will have a snack and we'll read, play, have a play date, or watch on tablets depending on the day. I'll get dinner started.
6-8:00 Sean usually gets home before 6, after leaving for his work day around 7-7:30am. We eat dinner together, do homework, and play more. (Not every night involves a dance party with a disco ball but this particular night did ;) We have a system where one adult cleans up the kitchen and the other does bedtime every other night, and that works well for us. Before 2022, I used to go back to work on my nights off from bedtime but... I decided to put an end to that nonsense!
8-10:00 The kids are usually in bed between 8-8:30 and I choose to get ready for bed at the same time. After that, most nights I snuggle with my cats (Greta is the calico) while watching tv, and then head to bed!
Check out this 3 minute clip above to view some of my daily practices in rapid speed.
*Please note, as a business owner I do wear many hats, but I would not say that "content creator" is a title I answer to. Though this does look like a typical day, I did in fact film some of these clips on more than one day because when you're not a content creator for a living you might... forget to film a few things here and there ;) So if you notice the differences in what I'm wearing throughout my work day, that's why.
This is awesome Lauren! Great job! 👏🏻