My Real Life WFH Schedule, Lockdown or Not!
I’m frequently asked how I “do it all” and the truth is, I don’t! Since we’re all working from home at the moment, I thought I’d share my rough schedule for M-F with you in hopes to shine light on life behind the brand. In addition to running Roam Rentals, I also own and operate Tolentino Honey Company, lead the Hawaii branch of Bustle Events (wedding design and coordination), and am a mama to a 5 year old energetic boy, and a 2 month old baby girl. None of this would be possible without the help and support of my husband as we tag team and balance life as it changes day to day together.
Photo by Ashley Goodwin Photography
I put “doing it all” in quotations because it’s a myth that puts pressure on us to tick every item on our list before the sun goes down. The hustle mentality is a burden we aren’t meant to bear! (“To Hell With The Hustle” is a great book BTW!) While there are seasons of life that require a go-go-go attitude, continuing at that pace will only cause burn out and breakdown. So, the way I run my life is that of prioritizing and balancing each day keeping the big picture in perspective.
While the breakdown I give below is an ideal day to day run of events, life is not as predictable and there are some days that this schedule gets thrown out of the window completely. Projects and events may need us to be on site and away from emails for 1-2 days, kids get sick, the farm may require more time than usual, and life goes on! Allowing myself flexibility gives me peace of mind there’s always enough time and family comes first. It’s taken me a few years to really let that sink in, but in the current season I’m in with our baby girl I’m enjoying a slower pace to life for the time being as she requires more attention at this stage.
It’s also super important to note that a happier life requires communicating with your partner the expectations you have for each other. They can’t read your mind, so being upfront about the timeline in your head helps clear up any end of the day tiffs that could have been avoided.
Here’s a real life example of my days these past few weeks:
6:30 am Wake up, feed the baby
7:00 am Breakfast while catching up on the news, quick morning devotional if I can squeeze it in, skim emails on my phone noting anything of priority for the day, peek at Instagram with intentions to get off the app in 15 min or less.
7:45 am Get dressed for the day (PJs are acceptable at this time for 24 hr apparel, but changing into a fresh pair of yoga pants helps wake up my brain a bit more). Make sure my 5 year old has eaten and cleaned up.
8:00 am Take the dogs out for 15 minutes
8:30 am Feed the baby, prepare an activity for my son to occupy him for at least 30 minutes, ideally 45!
9:00 am While baby naps, get 2 hours of work in
11:30 am Feed the baby, prepare lunch
12:30/1 pm Put both kids down for naps (pray they go down without fighting it and are asleep by 1:30 pm)
1:30 pm 1-2 hours of solid work time
3:30 pm Feed the baby, misc house tidying, educational screen time for my 5 year old
Photo by Ashley Goodwin Photography
4:30 pm Misc work tasks or wear the baby to get anything done (at 2 months old she’s still giving us the afternoon fussiness and cluster feeding from 4-7pm. I’m lucky if she cat naps during this time and can be put down).
6:00pm Try to get outside, catch the sunset
7:00 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Bedtime routine
8:00 pm Both kids in bed
9:00 pm Lights out, and yes I go to bed this early because I nurse 2-3 times throughout the night and NEED my 8 hours to be functional the next day!
Like I mentioned earlier, each day varies as you’ll see this schedule only has 4 hours of work noted. With my current workload, this is pretty accurate and allows me the time I need to check in with clients online and stay one step ahead without feeling bogged down by emails or like I’m sacrificing family time. Some days can be a 10+ hr project day and others I’ll just take 1-2 hours to check in on work and make sure anything urgent is addressed. And that is my version of “doing it all”!
I hope you found some inspiration from this, or at least light reading entertainment today. If you want to know more, send me an email- I’m an open book and love to talk work/life with other entrepreneurs (and anyone in general now that we’re all WFH). :)
Wishing you health and joy,
Marina