I’ve been struggling with my schedule for a long while now. Working from home was always my dream (as someone with high sensitivity and social anxiety, being able to control my environment and not be around people all the time has done wonders for my mental health). While I never thought a global pandemic would be the reason I started working from home full time, that’s just what happened and I am thankful that I really, really enjoy WFH life. I also realized that work from home devops jobs, as the remote work trend creates opportunities for individuals worldwide, fostering economic growth and inclusivity.
But my schedule? It’s been all over the place since March 2020. At first, I wasn’t worried about giving myself some sort of schedule. We were all struggling through the scary early days of a pandemic and just making it through each day was enough. But it’s now been almost two years of working from home and it’s more than time for me to have a better daily schedule/routine.
Before I talk about what I envision my ideal schedule being, let’s first discuss what my schedule looks like these days:
- 6:30ish: If it’s a workout day, I’m up around 6:15-6:30 to do my workout. It’s either a 30-minute spin class followed by a 1-mile walk or a 1-mile walk followed by a 20-minute strength class. (All on the Peloton app.) My goal is always to be up and out of bed by 6, but I usually snooze my alarm until 6:30.
- 7:30ish: Breakfast time. I make eggs (either fried or scrambled) and cinnamon toast. I usually have iced coffee, too. These days, I read blogs while eating breakfast.
- 8:30ish: I wash all of my breakfast dishes, brush my teeth, and do my skincare routine. Sometimes I run out of time to do all of this, so I have to do it during a work break.
- 9:00-6:00: Work! Throughout the workday, I take lots of breaks. (Typically, I work for about an hour and then take a 15-20 minute break and continue to do that throughout the day, depending on the meetings I have.) The break may entail reading on the couch, doing a cleaning task, reading blogs, or working on a blog post.
- 6:00-6:45: I’m usually wrapping up my workday sometime around 6, maybe closer to 6:30 if I get caught up in a work task. And then I need a moment to veg on the couch before starting dinner. I’ll either listen to a podcast and play Happy Color on my phone, or read my book. Sometimes, my mom and I will FaceTime with each other.
- 7:00ish: I make dinner and eat it while watching something on TV. I’ll usually watch two episodes if it’s a 30-minute show.
- 9:00ish: Since I’m usually not sitting down and having dinner until 7:30 or later, I often don’t start preparing for bed until after 9. My nighttime routine involves tidying up my apartment, washing the dinner dishes, scooping litter boxes (I do this every other night), brushing my teeth, and doing my skincare routine. And I am so slow about it! Usually, I’ll set a time for 10 minutes and try to do as much as I can, and then I’ll take a break. (I try not to sit down with my phone because then I’ll get sucked into social media and I’ll be on the couch for dayssss.)
- 10:30ish: I’ll finally finish up my nighttime routine so I can go to bed! I’ll read for a bit and then turn on ASMR Youtube videos to help me fall asleep.
- 11:30ish: Lights out.
Kinda chaotic, kinda exhausting, eh? One thing to note is that my work schedule is very flexible. While I need to be logged in and available during “normal” work hours (9am-5pm), I don’t have a specific time I have to start working. I could start my workday much earlier so that I could log off around 4 or 5, but I just really like having a slow, relaxing morning. My mornings used to be so busy and rushed when I worked in an office, and I hated it. Ideally, I’d start my workday at 8 so I can log off by 5, but that just feels very ambitious right now.
Here’s what I want my days to look like:
- 6:00am-7:00am: Some sort of exercise. It would be nice to make this a normal part of every morning. Three days a week (likely Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), I’d do a “hard” workout: a 30-minute spin or strength class followed by a 1-mile walk. Two days a week, I’d do two loops around my apartment (nearly 1.5 miles) followed by a short, gentle stretching class.
- 7:00am-8:00am: Make breakfast for myself, eat while reading blogs, and tidy up the kitchen afterward.
- 8:00am-8:30am: Take a shower, do my skincare routine, and make my bed.
- 8:30am-5:30pm: Work! It would be nice to log in by 8:30 so I can be done for the workday before 6.
- 5:30pm-6:00pm: Reading block. I really crave a bit of breathing room between logging off work and starting my evening routine. Having a half-hour to lay on the couch and read would feel so rewarding.
- 6:00pm-7:30pm: Make dinner. Watch one 30-minute show while eating. Clean kitchen afterward. Instead of spending your precious time scrubbing floors, consider outsourcing this task to a local floor cleaner.
- 7:30pm-8:00pm: Blogging block. I can use this time to work on a blog post, read blogs, respond to comments, answer emails, etc.
- 8:00pm-9:00pm: Do my nighttime routine (clean litter boxes, tidy apartment, do my skincare routine/brush teeth).
- 9:00pm-10:00pm: Get into bed. Read my book and watch ASMR videos on Youtube until I’m sleepy.
- 10:00pm: Lights out!
Looking at this schedule makes me sigh with happiness. I want this schedule! There are just a few new habits I need to implement to make it work:
- First, I need to stop hitting the snooze button. It’s just so tempting to hit snooze and give myself 10-15 minutes to wake up. I’m just not the type of person who can get out of bed right when my alarm goes off. I need at least 10 minutes to wake myself up. How I’m going to solve this: I’m planning on re-downloading the Sleep Cycle app. I used to use this app religiously many years ago, but stopped because it required leaving my phone under my pillow all night long and that was annoying. I did like that it tracked my sleeping habits, though, and had a very gentle alarm that would slowly start going off about 15-20 minutes before I set my wake-up time. The alarm starts going off when I’m in my lightest phase of sleep, so that the wake-up isn’t so jarring. (And with the new version of the app, I can leave my phone on my bedside table!)
- Second, I need to stop using my phone in the morning. I’ll usually spend a few minutes in the morning sleepily reading any notifications that came through overnight, scrolling through Instagram, and going through my emails. Then I’ll bring my phone in the bathroom with me as I do my morning pee where I’ll play Happy Color. I’m embarrassed to admit how long I can stay in the bathroom as I try to finish up a picture I’m coloring, but it’s very ridiculous and leads to me not starting my workout until 6:45 or later. So, anyway, I really need to get in the habit of not using my phone in the morning. How I’m going to solve this: I’m going to change my Do Not Disturb settings to last until 8 a.m. That way, I won’t see any notifications when I wake up. I can just turn off my alarm and then not use my phone until my workout is over.
- Lastly, I need to work through my nighttime routine in a much more efficient manner. I am sooo very slow with my nighttime routine. In reality, it shouldn’t take me more than 30 minutes, but I can stretch it into an hour and a half if I’m not careful. I need to be more efficient so I can get into bed at a reasonable hour. How I’m going to solve this: With a timer! When I start my nighttime routine, I’m going to set a 15-minute timer and try to get as many things done in that time as I can. Then, I’ll set a 5-minute timer for a short break. And then I’ll set another 15-minute timer. I think setting a timer not only as I go about my nighttime routine but also as I take a short break will help me get through it much, much quicker. (Maybe I will one day get to a place where I can speed through my nighttime routine without breaks, but right now, I need those breaks.)
I really hope that, by figuring out what my ideal schedule looks like and what changes I need to implement to make sure I can actually make it happen (i.e., stop hitting that snooze button!) that I can enjoy a schedule that more closely aligns with my goals and needs.
Do you have any bad habits related to your daily routine that you’d like to change?
Oooh I liked reading this, Stephany! I find if I pick up my phone too early in the day, or when I’m trying to do something productive, I get sucked into it. So I try to set it somewhere where I have to physically get up to look at it. It really helps me to be more efficient.
I’ve broken my very bad habit of doomscrolling, so now I just quickly glance at the headlines so I am at least aware of life outside my bubble, and get on with my day.
Doomscrolling can be so challenging, especially during a difficult period when we’re getting so much news! I totally understand. I need to get better about silencing my CNN alerts because those can be the start of my doomscrolling.
You got this! I like how you have an action plan for each item. Have you thought about turning off notifications except texts? I only have them on for texts/Messenger and it makes everything else feel much less urgent. I get to it when I do! Then you wouldn’t have so many when DND came off at 8:00 am!
Hmm. Bad daily habits related to time… I think all my bad daily habits are related to boredom eating. LOL!
That is a really good idea to turn off some of my notifications. I tend to get a lot! I don’t have them on for Instagram (only if I get a message) but I do have CNN breaking news alerts and some other push notifications set up that I could definitely do without. Having DND on until 8 a.m. has been super helpful, though! It’s nice to not start my day with a bunch of notifications to scroll through.
So many thoughts on this!
I don’t use an alarm, and don’t need one at this point (little kids); I actually do like scrolling for about 10 minutes first thing. I know all the gurus say it’s bad, but I like to catch up on texts, blog comments, e-mails and the news in a short time span. One thing I’ve started doing lately has been shutting my phone OFF at around 7:30. I have been loving this new habit. It was so easy for nighttime scrolling to get in the way.
Bad habits – like Kim above, I really have been struggling with food lately. I have long been anti-snacking and now I snack constantly which is kinda bumming me out because then I’m not eating full meals at meal times. I want to get back to eating my three meals a day and keeping that more structured.
Such a fun post. I really do love these sorts of glimpses in to people’s days and how they structure their time.
My problem with the morning scrolling is that I tell myself I will get up in 10 minutes and suddenly, it’s been 30 minutes and I’m stuck in an endless social media loop. Sigh. I wish I could be more structured with that, but I think that’s the benefits of knowing yourself. You will stick to your 10 minutes of morning scrolling and it’s the nighttime scrolling that can be a problem. For me, it’s the opposite. So we just have to set up our lives to enhance our good habits and detract from our bad ones. 🙂
Here’s the thing – I think it’s SUPER HARD to maintain a schedule when you live by yourself. My husband is out of town and I have the house to myself and it’s lovely, but I found myself staying up too late and eating at weird times and it’s just because there’s no one here to “check” me. Thank goodness for the dog and cat to get me out of bed in the morning because the cat was screaming at exactly 6:31am this morning and I feel too much guilt if the dog doesn’t get a morning walk right away.
So, I guess what I’m saying is that I think you’re doing great with your schedule – much better than me when I’m left to my own devices!
Thank you for that, NGS! I think you’re absolutely right; it’s a lot different when there’s nobody around to keep track of your schedule. Everything is just up to me! Even the cats don’t adhere to any particular schedule so I don’t even have them to keep me on track, haha. I just need to give myself a little more grace in this area, perhaps.
This was so fun to read! It’s got me thinking about MY ideal schedule! Like you, I would love to shift my days so they begin and end earlier. I think I could do it if I didn’t have my night owl husband around, but I’m not willing to make that trade! LOL!
Your Sleep Cycle app sounds very intriguing! I may have to look into that one!
I’ve been really loving the Sleep Cycle app. It’s a $30 yearly fee to use all of the good features, which I decided to do to see how I like it. It even records your movements, snoring, talking, etc., so I’m now very sorry for anyone who ever has to sleep in the same room with me because my snoring can be very annoying, haha.
I love that you’ve come up with great ways to tackles the various issues you’ve found in your daily schedule! I have never been a snoozer! Even pre-kids. I’d rather set my alarm for when I need to be up versus setting it with a cushion and then sort of half-sleeping during a snooze-fest. But I think I’m in the minority. I haven’t had to set an alarm for 2 years but now I will when I go into the office as I’ll need to get up at 5:45 so we can be out the door at 6:50ish. But prior to returning to work, our kids were our alarm! And chances are they will continue to be, at least until Will’s done teething – the set he’s getting seem to really bother him and have him up super early (5:18 today!).
I only went to the office one day this week since I got the stomach flu so I have not really established a schedule yet. It’s going to take some time but the first day went better than I thought it would, and that was with Phil being sick and not being able to help as much as he typically would!
I really wish I were not a snoozer! I just can’t imagine just, like, getting up right when my alarm goes off, haha. I need at least a few minutes to acclimate to waking up.
I hope the shift to working in an office a few days a week is going well. That has to be a really crazy change to your schedule!
Yes- I have a very, very bad habit of staying up too late! My goal nowadays is to get seven hours of sleep (bad goal- it should be eight) but I often don’t even hit that. I love to stay up late reading! I don’t have trouble getting up in the morning, and I have to get up pretty early to work out and get my daughter ready and off to school before work- but I definitely feel sleepy during the day, and I know I would do better with more sleep. After reading your post, I realize I’m being too vague. “I should really go to bed earlier” obviously isn’t working. I need to lay our some concrete steps like you have. I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you!
Seven hours of sleep is a great goal! I think anywhere from 7-9 hours is awesome. I’m definitely not getting anywhere near that right now, which is why I’m so sleepy during the day. I think the trick is figuring out the right nighttime routine so that we can be in bed earlier and relaxed enough to fall asleep relatively quickly. But that’s much harder to do than we think.
I do love this – and that you’ve come up with solutions for the challenges you’ve identified. I do think breaking up your night time routine will help – that is a LOT to do at night before bed! (You’re moving “wash the dinner dishes” to “clean kitchen”, I think, too? That gets one thing off the list!
I’m also going to point out that you have characterized yourself as someone who doesn’t work out regularly… and yet, in your current and ideal schedules? You sure seem to be working out with at least some regularity! I’m so impressed – that’s a hard life change to implement. Once it becomes ingrained, though – you should be good to go. I hope. 🙂
I am also not a snoozer. And honestly I think I’ve hit on my close-to-ideal schedule. With the caveat, of course, that it’s not necessarily the best schedule for other people… which led to a lot of disagreements in my previously-coupled existence. You would probably keel over if you knew when I go to bed and get up… So I won’t share. At least not now. 🙂 Let’s just say it’s outside the norm and leave it at that.
I’ll admit that while I do leave a space for working out in both my current and ideal schedules, I haven’t been the best at making those workouts happen. But the goal is always there!
I am really, really curious about what time you go to bed and get up! I don’t know if it’s very, very early or very, very late but curious minds want to know!
It sounds like you’ve really examined and thought long and hard about the things you want to change and how you’re going to accomplish this. Good for you. I can’t wait to hear how it is going.
I use the sleep cycle app (the unpaid version) and I love the slow alarm in the morning. It really helps me to get up at the right time as I set the 20-minute window before the alarm would usually go off. I need these extra minutes to fully awaken too.
I think using timers will also be very useful.
I have really been loving the Sleep Cycle app, and the slow alarm wake-up! It’s helped me actually wake up when I should and not snooze my alarm again and again. Plus, all of the stats are fascinating!