A Workday In My Life can vary drastically. Everyone has a workflow, everyone has a routine specific to them and their lives. Mine changes, based on which life season we are in. Right now, we have kids ranging from 18 months-14 years. Yup, 5 kids with a range. Which we love, but it’s not without its challenges.
I wrote a post a hot minute ago about work/life balance and this blog is a follow-up to that. So if you haven’t read that one yet, head over there! You’ll find some easy but crazy helpful tips on how to find your balance.
So here’s the deal- back to those 5 kids . . . I homeschool them. So, I don’t have the typical ‘school’ hours. They do multiple outside classes and activities so it looks different day to day. I also have a husband, a house big enough to fit them all (read so. much. to clean) and a golden retrevier who still acts like a puppy. I’m the president of the Board of Directors of a local preschool, I mentor teenage/young women, help run a local non-profit, am a full time photographer, and am pretty adamant about our health so we don’t eat out tons or buy copious amounts of processed stuff. So, that means that I’m in the kitchen . . . a lot.
So here’s a peak into my world and what a typical workday looks like:
6:30: Wake up (this is a struggle, I envy you morning people, teach me your ways)
7:00: Head to the gym (I am my best self when I get in a good work-out, I skip one-two days a week and do yoga/meditation at home, job around my neighborhood, or workout in my garage)
8:00: Home/shower/get ready (this seems late to a lot of you reading this, but my husband and I have our schedule mastered by this point so I don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn)
8:30: Start school with the kids, pick up the house, oil up (I should do a blog on how obsessed I am with my Young Living oils- have a question? just ask)
9:00: Check e-mail, make a cup of coffee, help kids with school, have breakfast (I do intermittent fasting so sometimes breakfast has to wait until 9:30 or 10, insert sad emoji face here)
10:00: Find the millionth busy box to keep my baby happy, and gave him either third breakfast or snack #8)
10:30: Get the baby down and make sure the little kids are set to do the rest of their school on their own for the next hour or so
11:00: Edit & other photography work. When my baby is down, I look at my tasks list for that day and start the first one. This sometimes is the only solid time I have to focus during the day. This time can look like anything! Examples are: Editing yesterday’s session, sending out galleries or contracts, blogging, updating my CRM, setting up sessions, updating my website, SEO, social media content, communicating with clients, zoom meetings, continuing education (I’m always signing up for workshops and courses to further my skills, literally always have one I’m working on), answering e-mails, making phone calls, etc . . .
12:30: Lunch and pray that my boy is still napping. On busy days my big kids make lunch for themselves and the littles (hey moms, looking at you, it’s okay to do this- let them help, teach them to do these things).
1:00: He’s awake for sure. Get him and myself lunch. Pick up the house and spend 30 minutes with one of my kiddos (I have a rotating schedule, they each get a day of the week and get to pick what we do during our ‘special time’ this could be- playing a game, baking, coloring, playing barbies, building legos or a fort, etc . . .)
2:00: Set the baby up with a hopefully engaging activity and hope he gives me another 20-40 minutes of work time.
3:00: Get my little girls down for a nap/quiet time, and then each of the big kids take 15 minute shifts playing with baby boy while I crank out some more work. (Again, I just go down my tasks list for the day, check out my post on Things I couldn’t live without on how I do this)
4:00: Start dinner, laundry (so. much. laundry), pick up the house, recheck e-mails at the end of the day, return any phone calls, wrap up work for the day.
5:00 Hubs usually gets home around this time and we get dinner on the table. Eat as a family (always, always) clean up– we have a system, each kid has a job in helping, more on this soon.
6:00: Nightly task (there’s always something)
7:30: Read to kids, bed time routine, tuck them in
8:30: Baby goes down and then we try to read for a half hour or so, do any administrative household tasks, then watch our show and get to bed afterwards
So, there ya go- thats what my typical Workday in my life looks like. Of course this day’s example is on one of our home days. We also have things like dance, co-op, PE class, baseball, gymnastics, jujitsu, board meetings, doctors appointments, mentorship meets, and a few other random things that life throws in there. So, I schedule those the best I can around my day.
Time management looks different for everyone, we all have different demands that make our schedules look drastically different. I promise no matter your schedule, there are some things you can implement during your Workday that help you save time, stay focused, and make the most out of the time you do have. I recently read 168 Hours, you have more time than you think, and highly recommend it.
Share what your Workday looks like below!
And, enjoy a few sweet random photos of my crew. Capturing these little humans and documenting our life is one of my favorite things ever.
