A day in the life of this professional blogger

I often refer to a big reason for choosing to be a blogger is that I have plenty of freedom and flexibility with my schedule. Given that you may think that I have a crazy schedule that often changes. Well, to be fair, I guess my schedule would be considered strange by quite a few people, but the fact is it rarely changes from day to day. I guess you can chalk that up to the fact that this professional blogger also deals with OCD and finds comfort in pattern and routine.

So, you may be asking yourself where does that freedom and flexibility come in when you always work the same routine. I would say that is a fair question, and it comes in by the fact, that I am able to get in a “full day” of work, take my daughters to day care and the bus stop in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon, get about an hour or hour and a half to run or bike and still finish working by 3:30 each day. For me, its a good mix of work, my hobby (addiction) and most important being a dad.

Here is what a typical day consists of for me:

I wake up just about 4am, grab a cup of coffee and begin working immediately. I generally work till 6 or 6:15am, at which time I shift into family mode and get my girls up, dressed, fed and ready to leave. My youngest daughter gets dropped off at daycare at 7:30 (which means we leave the house at 7:15) and we leave to take my older daughter to the bus stop at 8:15. The bus comes at about 8:30, and then I begin my day again. Assuming the pool is warm enough, I head straight to the community clubhouse (which is on my way home from the bus) and swim for about 20-30 minutes. I get back home around 9am, grab a cup of juice and one more cup of coffee and begin my work day by 9:10. From then I work till I get bored working, which is generally somewhere around 11 or 11:30. This puts me at about 4 or 4.5 hours for the day. Then I head out for either a run or bike (sometimes both) workout. I usually workout for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. After that is over, its time for a nice shower and then back to work. After the shower, it is usually around 1:30 or so at the latest, and then I settle in to finish my work day. I work again until 3:30, at which time I wrap things up and prepare to head back to the bus stop at 4:00, after which both me and my older daughter pick up my youngest from daycare. We arrive home at around 4:30 and then its family time once again. That gives me a total of about 6 to 7 hours for the day.

As for meals, during the day, both breakfast and lunch are eaten either on-the-go, or at my desk. I generally eat something in the morning during the drive to daycare (a bagel) and again (another bagel) on the short walk to the bus stop. For lunch, that is generally a quick sandwich (usually two) that is eaten while I am working.

If you noticed, I did not mention my wife’s schedule, she has about an hour (each way) commute to work and generally leaves the house at around 6:15 and then gets back home around 5:15 in the afternoon.

I sometimes do a little work at night, maybe the odd conference call or meeting, but typically it will be nothing more than jotting some notes if I think of something good and checking and bookmarking feeds in Google Reader while sitting on the couch and watching television. Then I am in bed by 10 during the week.

Friday and Saturday I tend to stay up a little later, but not by much. I also generally work a little on Saturday and Sunday. A typical Saturday is usually around 2-3 hours at the most. I generally begin at somewhere around 6 or 7am. Saturday is pretty much a given, but Sunday is not as set in stone, and Sunday is usually no more than 2 hours. After those few hours on the weekend mornings, I am mostly offline till the next morning. I tend to avoid my laptop and office as much as I can during the weekend.

Well, that sums up my definition of freedom and flexibility.