Creating An Awesome Workday That Works For You & A Look At What I Do All Day
Whether you work from home, are starting your own business or you're studying. Creating a work day that works for you is something that seems simple on the surface but in reality, it can be pretty difficult. And it's really easy to get a certain stereotype in your head when you imagine people working from home. Sadly it's not all yoga pants and watching Netflix all day. Since I started to share a little bit more of my life over on IG stories. I wanted to share what my work day generally looks like and talk about some of the things that I've found to be true when you're in charge of your own work day.
YOUR DAYS ARE NEVER THE SAME
For so long I've tried to fight against the reality that when you're your own boss that you're never going to have the same day twice. It's just the same as any other job in that respect as you don't go to work and do exactly the same thing day in day out. There is a lot of pressure when you work for yourself to follow strict guidelines but it seems silly in a lot of ways to not embrace the freedom self-employment brings. One of the biggest lessons that I've learnt is that you can only plan your days so much because things can change in instant and having wiggle room is key.
THE WORK FROM HOME UNIFORM
By far one of the most important things I've found about working from home is that you have to get dressed for the day. Because even if you can work in your pj's it's not the most productive mindset to be in and it makes it hard to switch off for the day. In the summer months I find it easier to get dressed as I can wear a simple dress but in the winter months, it requires a little more effort. In general, I wear a long sleeved top, jumper and leggings on the bottom. I will never wear jeans just because they're incredibly uncomfortable.
Getting yourself ready for your workday even if you're going to be inside all day is so important because it gets you in the mindset to work. I won't lie sometimes I do work from my bed all day if I'm unwell but it's not something I like to make a habit of because working from home blurs the boundaries between work and home enough without making your bed your workstation.
PICK HOURS THAT WORK FOR YOU
Whilst I could sit here and tell you that I work 9-5 every day, I don't because those hours don't work for me. For the past, few months I've been trying to aim for a working day of either 11-6 or 12-7 with around an hour out in the middle to eat and that's worked really well for me. Whilst I'm a morning lover and it's a time of day that I get a lot of joy from it's not a time that my physical health is good with so I tend not to work in those hours. I could go into really grim and gross detail here but I won't because I know the subject of bowels makes a lot of people want to be swallowed by the ground.
Working those hours still allows me to talk to everyone who works traditional office hours and have phone meetings etc. And as I often work with people who are in other countries finding a time to chat consistently over e-mail can be hard so working a little later in the day is great. I think when you're self-employed there is a lot of pressure to work exactly the same way as people in traditional office settings and it took me years to realise how pointless that is. Our jobs aren't the same so why would our hours be? It doesn't mean I work any less hard but our days are bound to be different.
SET YOUR BOUNDARIES
Self-employment guilt is a very real thing because of course you feel bad when people are leaving for work at 5am and you're still asleep because your office is at home the commute time is a matter of seconds but having work boundaries is important. Working from the moment that you wake up till you go to sleep isn't beneficial for anyone and trying to prove a point that you work hard to everyone else really is pointless. Having boundaries like you would in any other job is key I've found and having a cutoff point where you put whatever you're working on down is important and prevents horrible burn outs from occurring.
HOW MY DAY LOOKS
As of right now I'm a full time blogger and a freelance photographer and this is how my days typically pan out:
9AM
Although I don't properly start my work day until around 11 or 12 I will always answer any comments, important e-mails and general social media stuff at around 9. I wake up at typically between 6/7 but I like to take those few hours before I start my day for myself as I tend to work later in the day.
11 - 1PM
I always write my to-do list the night before as I find it's the best way to get prepared for the day ahead. Whenever I try and write my list in the morning I find my entire day is thrown off. It's something that's so simple but it makes all the difference in the world to how my day goes. As we're in A/W now that means the good light is limited whereas in the summer I always try to take all my pictures in the morning where the light is best in the room that I photograph in. So my typical routine is switched around and I tend to write and proofread any upcoming posts that are due to go up and then schedule any social media posts first.
1-5PM
When I've got all writing out of the way this is when I'll either take pictures or edit any images that I've already taken. Right now I'm currently working on a new package for the A/W bundle for The Stock Shop so I've been planning images that I want to go in the package as well as editing photographs. Spending the afternoon taking pictures is something that might sound incredibly glamorous but it's not at all. It mostly involves a tonne of mess and me getting myself in ridiculous positions to try and get a good flat lay. Without a doubt, the thing that takes the longest when taking pictures is the amount of prep work that goes into it.
5-7PM
This is when I try to respond to all my emails and do any admin that needs doing like chasing invoices, sending invoices and general financial responsibilities. It's also when I write my to-do list for the next day so then I'm prepared and know exactly what needs to be done. And that's it I'm done for the day, of course, this changes constantly and it also depends on how much client work that I'm doing as sometimes I might spend an entire day working on a project for a brand which means my work day is totally different. When people think of full-time bloggers it's easy to just imagine the very typical going to meetings in London etc but that's not the case for all of us.
