I’ve been obsessed with structuring my daily life and work routine perfectly in the past years. I’ve shared my morning routine several times and now I would like to share my entire day.
This obsession is probably because the nature of my work is business process automation or anything about efficiency and digital transformation.
I’ve been trying to live life with exact time precision, with the least friction, less procrastination and consistent motivation. It comes with a mindset on how to deal with the frustrations when I fail to execute my plan for the day.
I experimented on waking up at 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. I tried exercising in the morning and at night. I blocked certain times of the day spending time with my family and taking care of the dogs. And I tried doing deep work in the morning and the afternoon.
In the past weeks, I feel I am close to the most optimal productive daily routine that is in sync with my circadian rhythm, mood, and energy. I was able to structure this on the premise that there will be no outside visits or client physical meetings due to the pandemic. It is our decision with my partners to work from home 100% for the rest of 2021.
So in this post, if you are someone who’s also trying to find that right mix in your day, this is probably for you.
5:00 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. Hygiene– brush teeth, drink water, defrost dog food (raw), make coffee. I learned this from online articles to clean up germs in the mouth, replenish lost liquids, and have a good caffeine kick for the day.
5:15 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Read– read current events, read one chapter of a book, learn some subjects I am interested in, I have this habit of collecting subjects that I am curious about. These past days, these are dog training, speaking English in native, Philippine labor code, growing your digital portfolio. I limit myself in checking messages during these times up to about 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. because I am sure it will distract me. Though I fail at times even my notifications are off, I see to it that I don’t get frustrated when I do so.
6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Dogs & Sunrise– I have two dogs, a golden retriever Tomy and a black labrador Lucy. My first dog was Drogo, an English bulldog, who unfortunately passed away 4 years ago due to heatstroke. I have learned that owning a dog is a responsibility that shouldn’t be taken for granted. You have to allocate time to take care of their needs. In return, they give me much joy and they relieve my stress when I am on breaks.
So, I put the dogs in their playpen for 15 minutes, I walk each of them for 10 minutes, perform some obedience training for another 10 minutes each, and then prepare their raw food. So far, they have learned impulse control before eating, follow basic commands like sit, down, paw, and heel. I’ve been continuously introducing new commands.
At this time also when I mindfully expose myself to the sunrise for vitamin D and several health benefits.
7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Workout & Affirmations– I start my workout. I normally have a program from the Internet. I’ve been an active person since I was a teenager and I have never stopped exercising since then. Whether it is running, swimming, bike, lifting weights, HIIT, cardio, name it!
I was forced to stop my gym membership during the pandemic lockdown but I was able to invest in some gym equipment at home. That includes a basketball hoop, boxing gloves, and a punching bag.
I also try to learn new basketball or boxing move daily and, I’ve recently been addicted to yoga stretches.
I normally start my workout with my list of positive affirmations from YouTube or audible and then choose a good YouTube video, audible book or a podcast episode during my workout. Recently, I’ve been listening to Online Ad strategies, The Practice by Seth Godin and Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner.
And then I end it with a cold shower and fresh clothes.
8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Write– I alot this time to write down my thoughts. I start with my bullet journal and daily gratitude. I just write whatever is on my mind in the past two hours. I don’t judge. I just write them. And then, I write a draft of any topic in my niche, such as this one. In the next coming weeks, I will be writing topics about human resources digital transformation and topics about business process automation. I post them as a blog and then use them in my YouTube or podcast content. At this time also is when I grab some breakfast when I am not in my fasting mood.
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Highlight – Each night, I plan for the highlight of my day. I see to it that this time block will be the most important task of the day. Normally, these are the development of my online courses, a batch video or podcast recording, video editing, a new online ad, or ad optimization for our company. As they say, morning is the time where we have full energy or battery. So it is practical to allocate the most important work in the morning. This is also when I post content on my social media.
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Deep Work– this is my deep work time block. I usually have a list of things to do using the Ticktick app. I start with checking my emails and messages and then consolidate and add them to my list, re-prioritize then execute. These normally are contract reviews, follow ups, approval requests form our team and message replies.
I also learned a technique from Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter where he has a theme day. In my case, I batch admin and finance tasks every Mondays, operations and service delivery tasks every Tuesdays, sales tasks every Wednesdays, Marketing jobs every Thursdays and product development every Fridays. But practically, you can’t be always batch them strictly but I see to it that I don’t judge or frustrate myself if I don’t follow them diligently.
12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Break – this is normally my break and lunch time with my family. When I am on my 18-20 hour fast, I am usually very excited to eat. I try to balance my meals and I watch my macros. If there’s time, I do a quick walk with the dogs for potty.
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Meetings – this is where I allocate virtual meetings. Whether it is a client presentation, client status meetings, personal consulting or coaching, applicant interviews or internal team meetings.
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Dogs & Sunset– another dog time to walk, train and feed plus exposing my eyes to the sunset to promote better sleep and stimulate my night mode circadian rhythm.
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Family– This is family time. This is when we eat dinner, help the kids with their assignments, steak & wine date at home with my significant other, or movie streaming. I usually avoid fluorescent lights at these times and use warm lights instead including setting my phone to night mode to let my body know it is already evening and so I don’t get a hard time sleeping.
9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Reflections – Bullet journal update. This is when I reflect on the amazing things that happened today, and how could I have made it better. Lastly, I lay out my plan for the next day, what topics to write, weights to lift, deep work and highlights to work on.
Just to add, I set a 2-hour pulse to quickly check messages and log stressful moments of the day in my journal. Though, I always have the urge to check messages most of the time, I’ve been more disciplined these days, probably because of Yoga.
On weekends, I don’t normally follow these routines. My important highlight on a weekend is a song to record, a longer date with my family, meet up with friends, and planned long runs with my dogs.
Here’s a summary of the productivity that I can achieve with these routine:
Health – balanced nutrition and exercise
Emotions – managed motivation and stress levels because of exercise, mindfulness and meditations, and a consistent life appreciation.
Work – successful projects and positive cashflow
Relationships – strong bond with the family, guidance with the kids, happy dogs, and friends.
Art – consistent blogs and content, online courses, music produced, and other digital products.
Personal improvement – new skills in basketball, boxing, Yoga, and English
Mental health – consistent mindfulness and balanced endorphins, serotonin, cortisol, and adrenaline levels.
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