Since WFH (work from home) became the new norm, I have played around with different routines and I finally came to one that works. Meaning being able to maintain a healthy work life balance whilst working from home.
Welcome to a typical day in my work life.
It’s very easy to sleep in until 10 minutes before checking in time at work. I enjoy having some time between when I wake up and when I have to start work. That’s my ‘Lulu time’, and it’s usually around 2 to 2.5 hours. I wake up at 7am, on a good day. Between 7am and 9am, I’ll have my devotion, take a shower and get ready for the day, have breakfast or hot beverage. The last two depend on how I feel really. Seems like very few things to occupy 2 hours, but they actually aren’t. Especially since I take time in all of them, to just enjoy the morning before I get my head into code.
9am
I’m at my desk logging into work at 9am. I usually start with making a to-do list for the day. If I hadn’t finished tasks from the previous day, then I’ll start off with those (if they were urgent). The first half of the day is the best to tackle the important stuff. I work in intervals of an hour.
After every hour is a short break where in my first break I’ll make breakfast if I didn’t or just stretch a bit. Usually ten to fifteen minutes is enough.
Midday
Stand-up time. Nope, it doesn’t actually mean standing up but a meeting with my team where everyone talks about their previous day’s tasks and their tasks for that day.
Fun fact: Dehydration leads to fatigue, hydrate to feel more energised throughout your day!
Lunchtime
Means just that. Who doesn’t love their lunch break. An hour of having lunch, taking a walk… anything relaxing really. I just make sure it’s away from my screen. I like having my lunch ready made or whip up something easy like a salad 🥗 so that I have the rest of my hour to reset.
2pm to 5pm
This is the time when I’ll have meetings, debugging time with my colleagues, ask for help in my tasks or check-in what I was working on in the morning, respond to comments in my work… etc. Many calls happen within these 3 hours.
Last hour of the work day
I don’t know who else feels foggy towards the end of their day but I do. So much so that I use this hour to read and respond to emails. That’s a lot easier than doing anything code related. If I’m up to it, I’ll even watch some learning videos and or plan the next day.
Finishing my day with a cuppa ☕️
This routine isn’t set in stone. Some days are completely different depending on the events of the day. i.e. meetings, difficulty and urgency of the task I’m working on etc. Sometimes I’ll log off at 7pm or 8pm… some days earlier than 6pm…
Something I have learnt is that rest is super important for you to be the most effective and sharp you can be!
Comment below if you enjoy your work routine whilst working from home.
Hi Lulu. My routine is a bit different from yours. Starts at 9, but no breakfast yet. Will have breakfast/brunch at around 11. My day starts with emails because that’s important on this side of my profession… Then it moves to other tasks for the day. Lunch will come at around 3PM because I had breakfast late and finally, evening is usually for meetings. During the course of the day, I will read a few work-related articles and some YouTube videos – realized that while working from home, one gets more done especially if you’re disciplined.
So true! The amount of learning materials I have been able to consume whilst working from home is a lot more than when I was in the office. It’s definitely a plus for me.
Hey Lulu. Great piece. I am of the crowd that wakes up 10 mins before work. However I have slowly been incorporating a morning work out to give me the extra boost. I barely have breakfast and I don’t understand why yet. Question, what keeps you motivated to stick to your routine on those exceptional unbearable Mondays?
Sometimes I’m unmotivated all 5 days in a row, but I always feel happier at the end of the end of the days I stick to my routine.