My Work from Home Daily Routine

Having a work from home daily routine isn’t something I planned on. I was pretty casual about such things. But I’ve been working for myself for a while now, so it was time, right? I left my job almost a year ago, and I’ve been working for myself full-time ever since. It’s been the best! Seriously, I’m glad I leapt when I did. And if I were someone who wondered what if, I’d wish I did it sooner. The first few months involved many afternoons spent in the spa, soaking up the sunshine or napping. Then it was summer, and we ALL know how I am during summer; sunshine, naps and cocktails (see the theme here).

 

I call this the recovery period.

 

That said, I think it would be crazy to talk about my current routine without acknowledging that I gave myself plenty of time to settle into it. I’d been working hard; some rest was required. If you’re new to working for yourself or working from home, give yourself a grace period. Time to recover from whatever came before is important.

From there, I’ve settled into a routine that works for me – productivity-wise, as well as being in communication with and available for my client’s and their digital marketing schedules. Of course, there is some variation, but I’m a creature of habit. I like to know what I’m doing and preferably when, so a daily routine works for me. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself if it’s not your thing; all of us are different. You do you, boo.

 

Let’s get into my work from home daily routine, shall we?

Mornings

I’ve learnt that I work better in the morning. It’s too easy to be distracted by ALL THE THINGS in the afternoon, so I focus on getting my work done first thing. The essential stuff or items with deadlines, anyway. This sees me in my office around 7 am with a coffee in hand and breakfast in my belly. After taking it into the house the night before, I’m usually returning my pencil case, a few notebooks, and a refilled water bottle to my desk.

As part of what works for me, I run an A4 page to-do list that I continue to add to or cross things off until I either use up the page or bugs me. The first thing I do is check my emails for news from my team or clients and add any new notes or work to the list. Nothing makes me happier than seeing those things get crossed out at the end of a productive stretch of work.

Around mid-morning, when the sun starts to hit me in the face, I take a break. There’s usually more coffee or a fresh bottle of water. Around this time, I might post to my Instagram story, queue up my shows on YouTube or reply to comments on the socials. After that, I usually eat something and reply to text messages or emails that have come in during the few hours I’ve been working. Then I get back to work on the stuff on my list.

 

Lunch

After my mid-morning break, I find that it’s usually after 1 pm before I get hungry again and the kitchen starts to call. Within the hour, I’m in the house making lunch and tidying the kitchen as I go. It can be easy to get distracted by the state of your house when you work from home, but I find that I can ignore almost anything if the kitchen is clean and tidy, the dishes are stacked in the dishwasher, and I know what is happening for dinner.

Moving forward, I would like to incorporate a walk or a swim either before or after lunch. Exercise is something that has been pushed aside a bit in the last year or so. And as someone who thrives on activity and moving my body, this doesn’t work for me. But I have space here to do it, so hold me to it, okay? Ask me about my walk or swim next time we’re chatting. I can’t keep spending 12 hours a day slumped over a screen. Must improve.

 

Afternoons

I have a thing for afternoon naps. Give me 45 minutes to rest and recharge, and I’ll take it. Some days that is exactly what I’ll do. Other days I sleep for hours, and some I don’t sleep at all. I’m learning to go with it and do what I need to do. Getting back into the office in the afternoon refreshed, that’s my go-to plan; lunch, nap, crush all the things.

We work with a lot of businesses that are heavily involved in email marketing, most with bi-weekly marketing emails (EDMs) as a minimum. That means afternoons are usually spent checking EDMs, checking sales figures and tweaking content plans and advertising as required. Some days this alone can take all afternoon and into the evening. Other days, it leaves time in my work from home daily routine to either get back to my list or deep dive into my emails or reporting.

That said, I tend not to work on the creative or ideas side of things in the afternoon. It’s not that I’m not capable, but I certainly have to force things a little more in the afternoons. Sometimes I book client appointments or meetings in the afternoons, but it’s usually a good time for the grunt work of my business. The invoicing, connecting with the team, book-keeping and all that essential, but certainly not flashy, stuff. By 5 or 6 pm, I’m looking to be out of my office and back in the house preparing for dinner or watching classes, courses or more youtube.

 

Evenings

Dinner in our house is a bit of a hit and miss type affair. Often Kel works late or drops in on friends and clients later in the afternoon or evening. So it would be unusual to see him at home before 6 pm. Sometimes this means that I’ve eaten and have settled in for a movie or scroll through the socials when Kel gets here. A bonus of not having kids is that our nighttime routine, our entire afternoon really, is way more casual around here than it would be for parents.

Part of my new work from home daily routine is that I prefer to log off when I leave my office. Sometimes I’ll post an image to Instagram or share something fun with Facebook. But there’s no work after I leave the office, and mostly I stick to it. Kel uses evenings to do quotes for his business, so it used to be pretty standard for us to be working. But doing things this way makes me wake up fresher and ready to get started if I don’t work into the night.

 

And then, this.

I like to work on weekends when my inbox is quieter. For better or for worse, it works for me. Kel is heading out to do the same most of the time, so it doesn’t feel strange to spend a few hours in the office. I use this time to wrap up the week or plan for the next one. You’ll usually find me starting a new page for my list on the weekend while admiring what a productive human I am.

But there’s no ‘admin stuff’ on the weekends if I can avoid it. I like to get creative and work on my blog or content for the most part. And yes, I know you’re wondering where that content has been, but I did say for the most part. Haha. Lately, we have onboarded three new clients; my weekends have been used to get them sorted.

 

But NORMALLY…

On a Saturday morning, I like to write my Suger News email. It is a review of my week and what I’ve been dealing with or learning. Sunday mornings, I have some fun with my photo or video editing for my youTube channel, content planning or writing. Then, I play music, courses or classes in the background, pump up the volume on some great tunes and get into the groove of making stuff. It’s the best.

When I think about it, I should probably get out more, but to be honest, this is what I’m into right now. It’s where I want to be and what I want to be doing; until that changes, I’m okay with my business also being my hobby. Right now, it’s fun, I feel good, and while I do need to do some work on the systems in my business being more streamlined, I’m good. I can’t argue with that!

 

There you go, team! If you have any questions about my work from home daily routine, leave them below. Want to know more about one aspect or another? Ask away. And with all that said, I’d love to hear about YOUR daily routine. What’s working for you?

 

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