Last month I shared a “day in the life” post which showed a photo an hour from a Friday that I worked from home, which I do twice a week. Since I’m focusing on work this month for my goals, I thought it would be fitting to share what a day at the office looks like for me.
I work as an executive assistant to a CEO and CFO of a wellness company. I schedule meetings, arrange travel, plan events such as board meetings, and manage various other projects that support the executive team. My bosses give me a lot of flexibility and I am thankful to be able to work from home two days a week and sometimes more when needed. However, I do hope to eventually finish my Masters in Library Science and get a job at a library. For this stage of my life with young kids though, this job has been a good fit.
Although my day to day varies quite a bit, here’s a fairly average Wednesday from last week.
{5:00am} My alarm goes off, and I get up and brush my teeth and wash my face before getting back into bed to read. Right now I’m reading The Four Tendencies on my Kindle in the morning. Sometimes I go back to sleep for a few minutes if I reach a stopping place before I have to get up.
{5:30am} By this time I get up and get dressed and ready for the day. I listen to podcasts in the morning while I get ready, and they make a boring routine feel more like me-time.
{5:45am} After I get dressed I put on makeup and fix my hair. I have a pretty quick make-up routine (see my go-to products here) and since my last trim my hair doesn’t take long to style either. I’m usually done getting dressed and ready by 6.
{6:05am} Over the weekend I made myself some breakfast burritos, so I heat one up in the microwave and sit down to eat. Usually I read the She Reads Truth devotional while I eat breakfast. After breakfast I gather up everything I need for work, my lunch, and my coffee. Usually Jona is up by the time I’m done with breakfast and I say good morning to him while Aaron gets him ready to go to preschool.
{6:40am} I take Violet to daycare in the morning, and Aaron takes Jona to preschool, since they go to different places. If Violet is sleeping, I try to get everything ready to go so that all I have to do is get her up and dressed so we can head out right away. If she’s up early I get her up and then let her play while I finish getting ready. This is less than ideal, so I like the days (like this one) when she sleeps until I get her up. I get her up and dressed–if I’ve planned ahead I lay out her clothes the night before.
{6:50am} I comb Violet’s hair and brush her teeth before we head out. Lately she’s been wanting to stand on Jona’s step-stool and brush her teeth herself after I brush. Does she not look so BIG here? Goodness.
{7:10am} I forgot to snap a pic but about this time I drop Violet off at her daycare. She adores her daycare provider, Ms. Anne, so she is all smiles when I leave.
{7:20am} I drive to work. It’s about a 15 minute drive from Violet’s daycare to my work, which isn’t bad, although my house is about 5 minutes from work. I have to backtrack after dropping Violet off.
{7:30am} My work day begins. Once I’m settled I start checking email and responding to anything that needs immediate attention.
{7:45am} Once my inbox is taken care of, I make (or update) a task list of the things I need to work on. I color code the list because I love colorful pens, and I also note the items that are priorities for the day so I can be sure to get to those first.
{8:15am} I got an email from a coworker about an office bracket challenge for the NCAA basketball tournament, so I take a little break and fill out my bracket.
{9:30am} After I get some more work done, I go on a quick errand to the post office.
{9:45am} Since I was out and about I decided to pick up a little treat for a coworker and me from a donut shop right by my office (dangerous!). I guess I was a little late, because the selection was very limited and they were all out of regular sized donuts. I had to get this giant chocolate long john, which was delicious but left me feeling like I’d overdone it. Which I totally had.
{10:20am} Most of my files are electronic, but I keep a few paper files as well. We recently finished a lease on some vehicles and leased a couple of new company vehicles, so I needed to fill out some paperwork related to that.
{10:55am} If you follow me on Instagram you know that I usually share an outfit photo on days when I’m in the office. So I snapped a few quick shots of my outfit so that I could edit and post during my lunch.
{11:05am} I got a notification from TimeHop so I checked in on a few photo memories. I love that app! Look at my little baby Jona from 4 years ago!
{12:00pm} Usually I’ve already eaten lunch by now but after that huge donut I wasn’t very hungry. So instead I worked on a project that I wanted to finish by the end of the day that involved getting information from colleagues from different departments, sending emails to our board of directors that included all that information, and then trying to ensure that I’ll get a response by a certain deadline. I feel like half my job is waiting on other people to respond.
{12:15pm} I still wasn’t too hungry but I was at a stopping point so decided to break for lunch. I had leftover pasta carbonara (not a great decision after that donut…) but didn’t end up eating very much. I tried this recipe and it didn’t turn out all that well for me, and it especially wasn’t great heated up the next day. (Although I’ve had a lot of success with her other recipes!) Oh well, at least I had good reading material. I know I may seem like the most anti-social person ever, but I read at my desk during my lunch break. I don’t have a specific lunch time, I just eat when I can/when I’m hungry, so even if I wanted to eat with coworkers it wouldn’t always be easy to coordinate. That’s really just an excuse. In reality I just want to shut my door and escape into a book for a bit! I also usually post my outfit on Instagram during lunch as well.
{1:15pm} One thing I like about my job is that the days are always different and I fill my day with a variety of tasks. One thing I had to do this day was update a spreadsheet and compare what I had printed to what was on my screen. I’m glad for variety because if I had to do that all day I’d go crazy!
{2:00pm} I forgot to take a picture when I was actually out there, but today it was nice enough to walk outside. I try to walk for about 15 minutes in the afternoon, and I love when I’m able to do it outdoors. With a light jacket it was perfect!
{2:20pm} One of the things I’m responsible for is keeping our lobby stocked with coffee, water, and soda for visitors and executives, so I spent a few minutes doing that.
{2:50pm} Time for a snack! I usually use my healthy snack list for snack-time inspiration, but today I added a piece of dark chocolate to the mixed nuts I keep in my desk drawer.
{3:30pm} My work day is close to being done, so I gather up all the items I need for the project I’d been working on. I’m still waiting on some responses, so it looks like I’ll have to finish it up in the morning.
{4:30pm} I pick up Violet from daycare and since Aaron is off this week for spring break, we head home. Typically I pick up both kids because he has golf practice (he’s the assistant boys coach).
{5:00pm} We get home and Jona is already engrossed in his legos.
{5:15pm} Violet plays on the floor with Jona’s magna-tiles and builds a “how” (house) while Ellie relaxes nearby.
{5:35pm} Tonight’s dinner is a lazy one. I made some soup a couple weeks ago and had enough left over to freeze. Tonight I just heated up the soup and some bread to go with it. (By the way it’s this Spaghetti and Meatball Soup, which was so good! It’s hard to eat though so when I make it again I’ll use a small, spoon-friendly pasta instead of spaghetti.)
{5:55pm} There was only enough soup for Aaron and I, so I made peanut butter toast for the kids. Usually we all eat the same thing (in theory–Jona just picks at his usually) but I try to plan an easy no-cook dinner like this one at least once a week. Mama needs a break sometimes!
{6:35pm} After dinner, Jona and I do our reading (following Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons). Sometimes he’s excited to do it, other times he complains because he wants to play. Usually we end up doing it, but I’m kind of torn on whether I want to really push him on this. It’s pretty quick (around 20 minutes) and he usually ends up enjoying it, but at the same time, he’s 4. It’s too early for forced learning!
{6:50pm} After Jona and I are done with reading, I go downstairs where Aaron and Violet are hanging out. Her favorite thing right now is getting up on the couch, so I let her bounce around up there for a bit. She has some teeth coming in, hence the hand in her mouth and drool-soaked bib.
{8:00pm} It’s my night to put Jona to bed (we usually alternate) so after he puts his pajamas on and brushes his teeth, it’s time to read a couple of books. Tonight we read a superhero book (of course) and Olympig! Jona is a champion staller at bedtime, but usually if I threaten to take away a story it gets him moving. Of course if I do actually take away a story he has a giant meltdown, which ends up taking more time, but usually just the threat is enough.
{8:20pm} Now that Jona is in bed I take a shower and get into pajamas. In the evenings I listen to an audiobook after I shower and as I do end-of-the-day tasks like taking off makeup, moisturizing, picking up, etc. That day I was listening to Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, which I finished earlier this week.
{9:30pm} I try to go to bed by about 9:30 when I can so that I don’t stay up way too late reading. I recently started reading Glimpses of Grace by Madeleine L’Engle, which has a short excerpt from one of her works for each day of the year. I read the one for the day and then whatever (usually fiction) book I’m reading at the time. I try to go to sleep by about 10 to get 7 hours in. I know 8 is the goal, but it’s just not happening right now!
What does a work day look like for you?
