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My typical day

— 5 min read

Last week Matthias Ott tagged some others and me on a series of “My Typical Day” posts started by Colin Devroe.

I enjoyed the ones I read and learning about people's routines and non-routines working in this tech bubble I'm part of as well.

You can find that first tweet here.

I thought it was lovely to read people's posts in their personal blogs [yeih, for indie blogs].

Inspired, I'll share bits of my typical day.

The freelance life

First of all, these days, my typical day in a working week is rarely the same.

Unless I'm booked for a period somewhere with a team, I work on my own.

When I work with a team, I tend to have a routine given that I must work with my colleagues, have dailies, participate in meetings, etc. If so, my working schedule is roughly in between 9:00 — 10:00 to 17:00 — 18:00. And my morning and evening activities outside work are prone to be similar too.

Nevertheless, since I started freelancing, I seldom work more than six months in a year with a team.

Recently, I've worked mostly by myself, so I thought of sharing more details about this period.

Schedule on a working week

My typical day varies from day to day. I don't have a steady routine, but I have some habits.

  • 9:00 — 11:00. Rise and shine. I wake up at some point in this time slot. I ain't nothing of an early bird. Kudos to everyone who is. I wished I could start my day earlier sometimes, but it's a struggle as I'm a night owl. First habit of the day — breakfast. Porridge with greek yogurt, a dash of milk, blueberries [give me antioxidants], apple, and another fruit. Oh, don't forget a latte macchiato with foamy oat milk. Second habit of the day — a ten-minute stretch.

The following daily time slots begin to blur because here is where the routine breaks. Instead, I have activity slots, similar to Sara Soueidan's activity blocks.

  • A short walk with my neighbor and her dog after lunch.
  • A twenty-minute light yoga stretching. It's a habit since last summer.
  • Browse for design trends and digital art for inspiration.
  • Do parts of an online course for some hours.
  • Drink a homemade matcha latte with foamy oat milk. Maybe a cookie or two.
  • Meditation walk for one or two hours in the park or the city. Walk between five to eight k.m. while listening to a podcast, music, or my thoughts. Another habit.
  • Read news or posts about creative/front-end development, design, and digital art.
  • Remote meeting with a client to discuss project development.
  • Take half an hour or an hour for a lunch break alone or with my partner.
  • Work and experiment on my digital art [shaders, lately] for some hours.
  • Work and experiment on my creative/front-end learnings and design with a personal creative project for some hours.
  • Work on a client project for some hours.

I mix and match those activities during my day before dinner time. Don't do all of them every day. But try to do yoga stretching and meditation walks almost daily. I might do one activity twice during my day, like working on a client project or digital art, but with a break after every two hours.

My mood and mental health influence my daily schedule as well. If I'm having a bad day or not feeling productive, I most likely won't do much of the 'working part' on the previous list of activities. Instead, I'd probably do other leisure activities.

If I'm having a good day but feel like having a Sunday on a Tuesday, I also don't work at all, as long as I don't have any client projects or deadlines and alternatively focus on other hobbies or personal affairs.

  • 19:00 — 21:00. Dinner time at some point. Some days either my partner or I cook. Some days we order take out [we're currently addicted to salad bowls].

Next time slots are also a blur and a case of mix and match.

  • Leisure time with my partner. Watch some TV — News, Netflix, YouTube. Whatever strikes the mood. Maybe play some Nintendo Switch.
  • Online call with a friend or family [life of an expat].
  • Play with digital art [yep, probably shaders].
  • Read a book for at least thirty minutes.
  • Take a bubble and salts bath [my mind and back are happy] while listening to a podcast or watching Netflix.
  • Take a midnight walk with my partner. Maximum for an hour. We started doing this activity after the pandemic hit. We're both night owls, and I love to wander in the city when everybody is sleeping or cozy at home. I feel like a vampire going out in the darkness and finding almost no one in the streets at that time, especially during the winter.

Last activity of the day. ✨

  • 24:00 — 02:00. Sleep tight. Try to read a bit offline or online before zoning out.

Closing notes

I probably didn't mention some activity slots that might come up some days. But I wanted to highlight how unpredictable my working days can be, as I don't think of myself as a routine person.

Routines for a long time bring me down. Uncertainty, spontaneity, and wonder light me up.

Thanks for giving me a reason to write my first blog post of this month, @m_ott.

If you made it until here, haven't written about your typical day, and feel like sharing, I'll be happy to read it! Tag me on twitter if you do.