This “How I Structure My Day” Series started from a post I did on the topic in my own life, under which a woman asked if it would be possible to see how a woman working a more full time job did it. I asked women to share, and here are their responses! If you would like to contribute, you can here. All responses are shared anonymously here and on Instagram. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do!
The Woman:
- Partner: Yes
- Children: No
- WFH
- Greater Boston, MA
- My fiance and I are DINKs (we don’t even have a pet!) [This is Kelly: DINK = Dual Income No Kids.]
- We’re both fully remote and are each high-earning individuals. We are fortunate that our salaries and WFH setup allow us a lot of freedom.
Typical Morning:
- 7am: I usually start my day around 7 AM each day, give or take 30 minutes. I naturally get up on the earlier side, so I don’t set an alarm. Wake up, check emails and Teams on my phone for work. Spend more time than I’m proud to admit scrolling IG and FB. I’ll usually read an article or two from my Google news feed.
- 7:30 AM: Turn on the “Pop and Hip Hop Power Workout” playlist on Pandora to motivate myself to get out of bed and work out. I usually spend at least 5 minutes singing to the music and complaining about how I don’t feel like working out.
- 7:45 AM: Workout time! I have a Peloton at home and use Les Mills On Demand for other workout classes in my living room.
- 8:30 AM: After I peel myself off the ground from cooling down from my workout, I’ll make breakfast. I love to eat and cook, but for the morning of a workday, I need something fast, healthy, and easy. I make egg muffin cups ahead of time to freeze. So I’ll take one out, pop it in the microwave for a minute, and pour myself a glass of unsweetened iced tea.
- 8:40 AM: After breakfast, I’ll hop in the shower and get ready for work. I get to dress pretty casually from home, so I end up just steaming a solid-color Old Navy t-shirt so I’m wrinkle-free on camera. My hair naturally dries curly so I really can just brush my hair and go.
- 9:30 AM: I’m finally sitting at my desk, which is also in my living room. I’ve already checked emails and Teams from the second I wake up and will reply to anything urgent throughout the morning. So I don’t feel guilty officially “logging on” at 9:30 AM. I’ll stay sitting at my desk, doing work and taking meetings until lunch time.
Morning “Make Life Easier” Hacks:
- My biggest hack is my breakfast. I need something fast, healthy, and easy. I don’t like fruit (yes, whatever fruit you’re about to ask I don’t like), oatmeal, coffee, granola bars, cereal, etc. I love eggs, but I don’t want to cook eggs every day. So I’ve been making these egg muffin cups for about 6 years now. I make them on the weekend and freeze them. So when I want one for breakfast during the week, I just take it out and microwave it for 30 seconds. If I don’t have any of these in the freezer, I end up going to a coffee shop, which is sometimes nice but can add up quickly. Because I don’t have any kids or pets to worry about right now, there isn’t too much that can derail our mornings.
What my work day looks like:
- 9:30- Noon I am at my desk and getting the bulk of my work done.
- Mondays- Thursdays are meeting heavy, with 3-4 meetings per day. I try to keep most meetings scheduled before noon, because that’s definitely when I’m my sharpest.
- Fridays I block off my entire afternoon, so I don’t have any meetings, and use that for focus time. I have one weekly Friday morning meeting, but everyone at my company tries not to schedule Friday meetings.
- After lunch wraps up, usually around 12:30ish, I’ll go back to my desk if I have more meetings. But otherwise, I’ll pull my laptop off the monitor and take it to the couch to do work. My desk chair isn’t that comfortable (I went fashion over function) so I don’t love to sit in it all day. My fiance is usually busy on calls so sometimes we get to have lunch together, but most of the time, it’s as if he isn’t here when I work. Sometimes around 4 p.m., he’ll sit on the couch with me which is nice!
Leaving work
- Depends on the day, but usually 4 pm. Definitely no later than 5 unless something crucial comes up
Transition out of work mode
- This was the hardest balance for me to get when I started WFH, especially since my desk is right in our living room. I’ve set the boundary that once 5 pm hits, the laptop gets locked, webcam cover gets closed, and I step away from the desk. My fiance and I recently got a shared personal laptop. I often used my work laptop for online shopping at night but found myself answering late-night work emails. So the personal laptop has helped me disconnect. I also have DND set up from 5:30 p.m.- 8 a.m. on my phone for my work email and Teams. Out of sight, out of mind really works for me for this.
- After work, I sprawl out on the couch and drown myself in TV lol. I think I’m one of the last few millennials who prefers cable over streaming. I’ll channel surf and see what’s on TV that’s good and watch for about 30-60 min, depending on what I have going on at night
After work hours:
- Two nights a week I go to pole class! Mondays are more of a danced based class, Wednesdays I take a dance class and a tricks class. While pole is definitely a physical activity, I don’t do it for the workout. I do it for the way it makes me feel and to continue my love of dance.
- Every other night, I’m usually taking it easy or running a random errand. I go stir crazy if I don’t leave the house each day. So even if it’s just going to the grocery store for our weekly run, or returning a book to the library, I have to step out.
- Outside of hobbies and errands, my fiance and I cook dinner every single night after he gets back from the gym and I get back from pole. Depending on the night, that’s usually around 7 or 7:30.
- On Wednesdays, I get back around 9:45 from pole so I’ll just heat up whatever he cooked.
- We don’t use a meal kit, we don’t order take-out or delivery. We are really strict with this, because of wanting to save money and wanting to eat well. We’re not diet-obsessed or anything, but we try to stay away from highly processed foods and eat organic when we can. We both have a love of cooking and enjoy trying new things. On weekends we’ll usually go out to eat for breakfast or lunch, but we really try to eat dinner at home. We’d rather spend our money on other things like travel!
- After dinner, my fiance and I will watch some TV. We usually have a steady show we watch. Right now it’s Silicon Valley. Depending on if I have pole class, we’ll usually watch from 8-10, but spending 9ish pm and on in bed. After that, we’ll both scroll on our phones a bit and watch videos we shared each other.
Nighttime Non-Negotiables:
- I HATE waking up to a dirty kitchen, especially if I’m cooking something the next morning. At the very least, I need to have the dishwasher loaded (and run if full).
- Other than that, I’m a morning person. So I have more morning non-negotiables (folding blankets on the couch from the night before, making the bed, cleaning up general clutter that I see in the apartment). Not having those done before I start work drives me nuts!
Afternoon/evening “make life smoother” tips:
- Having dinner planned for each night of the week is a game-changer for us. I started meal-planning for a week when I first graduated college, and I’ve really loved the system. I’ll list out each day of the week and then plan what I’m having for dinner each night. I take into account what the weather is (because I don’t want heavy food on a hot day or chilled food on a cold day), what’s on sale at the grocery store, and what we have going on. From there, I build out the grocery list, writing down what I need for each meal. Having this all planned ahead of time means I don’t need to think “Uh what’s for dinner?” each night of the week. It also keeps us from buying takeout or getting delivery.
Outsourcing:
- Nope, but I wish I did! Truly, we don’t need to. My fiance and I each do our own clothes laundry and rotate who does sheets/towels each week. Weekends are big for “deep cleaning” aka doing the floors, cleaning the stove, scrubbing the bathroom, etc. We’ve talked about getting a bigger place soon and have discussed having a professional cleaner come so we don’t have to worry about it.
Anything the sharer wants to share:
- This was fun! Nothing else from me.
That’s a wrap for this one!
Thank you so much to this woman for generously sharing. This is part of a series, so stayed tuned for more each Thursday here and on Instagram. The goal is to show how women from different industries, with and without kids, with and without partners, with family living with/near them and not, wfh to 1+ hour commutes, etc. structure their day. Enjoy!
And if you would like to contribute (all posts are published anonymously to allow you to share the nitty gritty details without concern), you can by filling out this form. Thank you!
A reminder of the ground rules to ensure women continue wanting to share about their days and feel safe doing so:
- Encouraging comments always welcome!
- If you have questions or even hang-ups about what someone shared, you are welcome to ask a question for the sharer in the same kind, genuinely curious way you would if you were looking at that woman in her eyes. She might respond through me.
- If comments are judge-y or mean-spirited, I reserve the right to delete comments. I can handle being criticized about my own work here (and even still, to a degree – I’m also a person), but I go into full mama bear mode when people come after my people – including women who are being vulnerable and sharing in the first place.
- Thanks to the vast majority of people who are so kind!
New here? Welcome!
I’m Kelly Nolan, an attorney-turned-time management strategist and mom of two. I teach the Bright Method, a realistic time management system designed for professional working women. In addition to this fun new series, I share bite-sized time management strategies here and on Instagram. Thanks for being here!
