A Day in My Life
It was much like any other day.
Many people have asked me to share how I structure and organize my days to ensure success. It’s critical for today’s leaders to optimize our most precious resource, time. With that in mind, I thought I’d share how I spent the day yesterday — a typical day for me.
4:30am: I woke up early today, as I do every day, and began my usual morning routine with half an hour of yoga.
5:00am: I followed that with another half hour of Pilates. Some days, I go for a run instead.
5:30am: I meditated for 20 minutes, which helped me clear my mind and set my intentions for the day. Like Steve Jobs, I ask myself every morning, “If today were the last day of my life, would I be happy with what I’m about to do today?”
5:50am: After meditating on this question, I journaled for another 20 minutes to capture my ideas, clarify my thinking, and focus my mind on my goals for the day as well as my long-term goals.
6:10am: I followed all this with my daily cold shower, which always helps me start the day feeling strong and disciplined. Then I was ready for my breakfast of a protein smoothie and a large mug of Bulletproof Coffee. While I was having my breakfast, I read a chapter of Steven Covey’s Trust and Inspire, a game-changer for today’s leaders; I really lean in to his advice for unleashing greatness in others.
6:40am: As I always do after breakfast, I moved on to focusing on my top priorities. As a leader and serial entrepreneur with several side hustles, I have a lot to get through every day. I’m always finding ways to optimize my time, utilizing methods like the Pomodoro Technique and Timeboxing. Setting top priorities for the day is a key component of this, and it begins the night before. Last night, I asked myself, “What’s going to make each part of my day the most successful?” Next, I envisioned what that success would look like. By thinking about this the night before, I started my day prepared and focused, setting myself up for successful outcomes.
6:50am: During my commute I conducted an early meeting with some contacts on the East Coast. I always optimize my commute to ensure I don’t waste one minute of the day.
7:50am: I arrived at my office before anyone else to make the best use of my time, making progress on a couple of top-priority items while my brain was at its sharpest.
9:00am: After the rest of the team arrived, I spent the morning strategizing, attending meetings, organizing my tasks and projects, and communicating our goals with my team.
12:00 noon: While eating a healthy salad for lunch, I took some time for myself to reflect on the day’s progress and reset priorities.
12:30pm: I spent the afternoon on project work and meetings, conducting some of my meetings while walking to reach my daily goal of at least 10,000 steps.
3:00pm: I spent 30 minutes tackling my email inbox during this period I set aside each day, to avoid the constant distraction of emails throughout the day.
3:30pm: I took a short break to eat a protein bar and continue my reflections on the day’s progress.
3:40pm: More meetings and project work.
6:30pm: Before leaving the office, I took some time to reflect on the day. I wrote down three things that I want to accomplish tomorrow, which not only set up my attack strategy for first thing tomorrow morning but also served as a bookend to my day, signaling the end of my work day.
6:45pm: On my commute home, I listened to a leadership podcast as part of my growth mindset of continuous learning.
7:45pm: I made myself a dinner of baked salmon and vegetables while listening to empowering leadership affirmations. While having dinner, I took in another leadership podcast.
9pm: To disconnect from the daily grind, I took a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood. This evening winding-down period helps me evaluate my day’s work, reflecting on the big-picture challenges that lie ahead. As I always do in the evening, I once again asked myself, “What’s going to make each part of tomorrow the most successful?” I took some time to envision what that success would look like.
9:20pm: I meditated in the hot tub to relax and further wind down.
9:50pm: I wrote down my three daily gratitudes, which always puts me in a positive state of mind and helps me appreciate all that I’ve accomplished during the day.
10:00pm: To get my mind off business and wind down all the way, I read a chapter in a book about sea turtles in Malaysia.
10:30pm: Lights out!
Just kidding! As IF! Do you know me? Does anyone live like this? I certainly hope not, though you wouldn’t know it based on the articles that seem to pop up every day from leadership “influencers.” They must be more optimized than I am.
I have more to say about that — stay tuned for next week’s newsletter!
I started reading, and I was all like, WTF?!? Ya had me going for a nanosecond!
If the 4:30 wake-up time wasn't enough, I got hung up on the reading of the Steven Covey masterpiece (for "unleashing greatness in others"), and thought, Wow, this is not the Rosie I remember. What happened to Banana Yoshimoto? Haha.