WFH Between Coasts | A Schedule
Three things I know about my schedule right now:
- It’s efficient. My life right now is probably more optimized than most. I travel a lot, but when I’m home I enjoy no commute and a good mix of work time and parenting time.
- It’s busy. I have so much help and yet down time just isn’t a thing.
- It’s fulfilling. If I can exercise, eat well, see my family and do meaningful work, then this life is worth my time.
This was my Monday.
5:35AM Wake-up. Spend a minute on phone checking vital signs; e-mail, Instagram, then finally Facebook to determine who’s planning on coming on the run today. I roll out of bed, throw on my running clothes and toss my hair up into a pony tail. I drive less than a mile to the trailhead.
6:00AM Run. Head out with running group on some trails. Chat our way through five miles.
7:00AM Dress Kids. Pull into the garage. Put the tea kettle on the stove. Head upstairs and layout Myles’ clothes so he can get himself dressed. Get D and dress her. Try to do something with her hair, knowing it’s going to fall out.
7:15AM Breakfast. Grind some coffee beans and pour boiling water in the french press. Ask Alexa for a news briefing. Make 4 poached eggs. Cut up a watermelon and serve to D immediately. Make some toast. Serve the rest of breakfast. Eat my own. Coffee! Clean-up Delilah’s hands and face before she runs off.
7:45AM Make lunches. Sandwiches. Baggies of chips or crackers. Fruit. Cheese or yogurt. Ensure water bottles are in backpacks.
7:55AM Start dinner. Start pot of couscous. Prepare marinade for chicken thighs. Oil and salt broccoli for roasting. Heat the oven. Clean cutting boards, knives and pots from breakfast.
8:15AM Get Dressed and Do Housework. The kids follow me around as I get dressed, fold two loads of laundry and make three beds. (Working on getting Myles to make his own.)
8:40AM Try to practice a habit through sports. Haul kids out to the front yard to practice lacrosse (mainly ground balls) for 20 minutes. After 5 minutes, he’s bored so I barter. “You have to pick up 10 more balls.” By the 5th throw, we’re having fun. Delilah holds a little stick but doesn’t chase the ball yet.
9:00AM Start work. Send kids to school with Andreea. Pour a cup of coffee, head upstairs and start workday. Most of my team is west coast, so mornings are quiet. I try to use mornings to tackle a big projects and not get sucked into e-mail too early. But some days it’s nice time to just get caught up on follow-ups and prepare for meetings.
11:15AM Lunch. Go downstairs. Put dinner in the oven. Prepare some soup and toast for lunch. Bring upstairs to eat and prepare for my meetings to start.
11:30AM-7:00PM Meetings. The Google Hangouts commence. I brace myself to sit in one place for several straight hours, but I’m also excited for human contact. I feel so lucky to get to work with these amazing people everyday. They keep me inspired and energized. The meetings are back to back, sometimes with an hour or half hour gap sprinkled in between. They vary in depth and breadth. 1:1s, team meetings, goals updates. Brainstorms and creative kick-offs. Project specific meetings to get and give feedback and uncover next steps. I love the variety and the pace.
7:05PM Dinner. Andreea is an angel and always has the kids bathed and in PJs. They are hungry savages by this time and running around shrieking. Heat up dinner and serve the beasts. Steve is usually home by 7:30PM and we try to eat together. We chat and catch up on the day. We try to play with the kids after dinner, but sometimes Myles’ plies for Pokemon win.
7:45PM Delilah Crash. Delilah usually heads towards the stairs and wants us to put her down.
8:00PM Storytime. Steve and I trade back and forth on who has to read. The reading is easy, but forcing Myles to brush his teeth is not.
8:30PM Myles Bedtime. Give Myles a blanket, two stuffies and make sure his water cup is full. He likes to sleep with the bathroom light on and the blinds open. I give him a kiss and head downstairs.
8:35PM Comm Check. I duck into my office and review the afternoon’s emails and slacks that have surfaced at the end of the day. I evaluate whether I need to work on anything else tonight.
8:45PM Work with Wine. Realizing that Stephen wants to watch Chef’s Table, I grab my laptop. But not before I pour a glass of wine. We sit together in the living room. I try to take time to send detailed follow-ups at night and do creative research, digging through images for inspiration. Flipping between news channels, advertising, copy docs and slide decks.
9:45PM Wind Down. The show is over. I pick up any abandoned toys from the area, make sure the dishwasher is running. We head upstairs and get ready for bed, taking our time.
10:15PM Sleep Time. Alarms set, phones down, lights off.
