How I Schedule My Workday

We’ve all been sheltering-in-place for a few weeks now, and while we are happy to be doing our small part in keeping our communities as healthy as possible, the novelty is wearing off. Things are feeling less like a never-ending weekend and more like an eternal Monday—it’s a constant struggle to be efficient when most of us are out of our daily routines.

I just recently the move to a new, entirely private office space, but I worked from home for many years, and even now, I have little face-to-face contact with clients or team members (most of our team works remotely). I have found that giving myself structure and accountability doesn’t just keep me organized and productive but also gives me the opportunity to be creative.

 

 

When I was first building my own schedule, it was so helpful to have some insight to how other design professionals structure their day. That inspiration, coupled with a little trial and error, led me to group my days into three parts, with each day having a theme. Additionally, I set some rules for myself that help me maintain work/life boundaries so that I can focus on work during work and leave it when it’s time: I don’t sleep with my phone next to me anymore, I don’t check emails until after lunch, and I close all browser windows except for what I’m working on. While my daily theme and schedule may vary, these key items remain constant all week.

Just a note: We don’t have children. That is obviously a game changer and huge factor into what many of your schedules will look like. Either way, I hope you find some helpful takeaways in this candid layout in whatever way works for you and your family.

Here it is – every hour, broken down by day of the week of how I schedule my workday:

 

Monday

Theme: Social Media Scheduling

 

7:45 Wake Up + Get Dressed*

8:00 Breakfast

8:20 Short Dog Walk

8:45 Sit at Desk, Restart Computer**

9:00 Client #1 Social Media Content Scheduling – photo curation, copywriting, hashtag research, engagement data

10:30 Weekly Partners Call with Lexi 

12:00 Client #2 Social Media Content Scheduling

1:30 Lunch Break

2:00 Emails + Admin

3:00 Client #3 Social Media Content Scheduling

4:00 Client #4 Social Media Content Scheduling

5:30 Shower + Get Dressed

5:45 Pick-up House / Prep Dinner

6:00 Walk Dog

7:00 Cook + Eat Dinner

8:00 Hang with Quinn

8:30 Pre-Scheduled IDCO Instagram Post goes live

9:30 Personal Projects***

12:00 Bed Time

 

Tuesday

Theme: Client Creative

7:45 Wake Up + Get Dressed

8:00 Breakfast

8:20 Short Dog Walk

8:45 Sit at Desk, Restart Computer

9:00 Client #1 Branding Project Time Block

11:45 Social Client Check-in + Engagement

12:30 Lunch Break

1:00 Emails + Bookkeeping

2:00 Client #2 Branding Project Time Block

4:30 Team Check-in, Proof Review + Creative Direction

5:30 Shower + Get Dressed

5:45 Pick-up House / Prep Dinner

6:00 Walk Dog

7:00 Cook + Eat Dinner

8:00 Hang with Quinn

8:30 Autopost to IDCO Instagram

11:00 Bed Time

 

Wednesday

Theme: Client Deliverables

 

7:00: Wake Up + Get Dressed

7:45 Breakfast

8:00 Water the Yard + Short Dog Walk

8:45  Sit at Desk, Restart Computer

9:00 Client #1 Creative Work

10:30 Client #1 Prepare Deliverables

12:00 Client #2 Creative Work

12:30 Lunch Break

1:00 Emails

2:00 Review Team Deliverables + Creative Direction

2:30 Client #2 Prepare Deliverables

4:00 Errands/Tasks Not Related to Work****

5:45 Shower + Get Ready

7:00 Date Night with Quinn (currently, this is takeout in the backyard)

8:30 Autopost to IDCO Instagram

11:00 Bed Time

 

Thursday

Theme: Inquiries + Deliverables

7:00: Wake Up + Get Dressed

8:00 Breakfast

8:20 Short Dog Walk

8:45 Sit at Desk, Restart Computer

9:00 Client #1 Send Client Deliverables with Tutorials/Updates
(this gives them the weekend to review + respond)

11:00 Client #2 Send Client Deliverables with Tutorials/Updates

1:00 Lunch Meeting (now via phone)

2:30 Social Client Check-in + Engagement

3:00 Emails

3:30 Proposals Go Out to Any Inquiries of the Week

5:45 Pick-up House / Prep Dinner

6:00 Walk Dog

7:00 Eat Something

8:00 Personal Projects
(Quinn’s plays ice hockey, so I work late – although during Quarantine he’s not)

12:00 Bed Time

 

Friday

 

Theme: Flex Day

 

On Fridays, studio hours are closed + our housekeeper comes. If I’m behind on a deadline, I’ll work from the back patio. If I’m on schedule, I will typically split the day to catch up with the team and make sure they have everything they need, then take a “me” afternoon. This usually includes “fun” errands like shopping, manicures, or mid-day movies. Right now, while staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, that translates to spending some time in the garden, meal planning or working on a house project. Typically, one Friday a month are our shoot days with our photographer, Madeline Harper. If you want to implement that during self-isolation, just give your house a good cleaning, rearrange some decor and photograph some evergreen content you can mix in with professional images in your stories. Here are our tips for great iPhone pics.

 

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A Few Notes About Our Workload, Our Team + Realistic Expectations

 

We currently have 7 full-service social clients and 5 mini Instagram management clients, to give you a reference point. We schedule 14 days out, so we alternate half out clients one week, then half the next. Additionally, we carry 2 or 3 full service branding and web design clients at a time, an additional 4 branding clients and our website templates for interior designers.

Further, it’s important to note that we have a team of 8 and most of these tasks are shared with their relative experts. As IDCO Studio has grown to include templates, copywriting, implementation and lots more marketing services, the majority of my day is spent managing and directing the team. They are wildly self-sufficient and need very little managing, but as a creative studio, we do provide each other with a lot of feedback and ideas.

I hardly ever have in-person meetings, and certainly aren’t having any while social distancing. Getting “dressed” for me is probably much easier than most. I do get dressed in real, full outfits, every day. I use a capsule/edited wardrobe, so every outfit is pretty put together. During the pandemic, I’ve made extra efforts to get ready with a full face of makeup and styled hair each day. Next week I’ll do a more fun post about the products I use to get ready in 15 minutes.

 

****It is not lost on me how fortunate I am. My husband is incredibly self-sufficient and carries the majority of the daily household tasks with a smile. In a normal season, I use Instacart to do my grocery shopping because it’s neither something I enjoy or am good at. However, during shelter-in-place we’ve been grocery shopping once a week after careful meal planning. You can follow our weekly shopping list and menus here. We have an incredible housekeeper once a week, so minimal housekeeping is needed each day (during normal months). Errands typically involve sending off any client gifts or household chores out and about. We do not have children, and therefore have flexible schedules.

** It’s imperative in your computer’s performance (especially as a graphic, web, or interior designer) to restart your computer every day. It’s short term memory that runs the Creative Suite. Every time you restart, you’re refreshing that very limited short term memory. I promise, your computer will thank you.

*** Personal projects will include any blogging or content updates for IDCO, SEO updates for IDCO, Pinterest, + any non-profit design work.

 

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To learn more about leveling up your business, check out Studio Sessions; our online mastermind courses for interior designers.

 

Here are a few more posts you might love:

 

• The Best Apps for Small Business
• The Best Hashtags for Interior Designers
• The Best Software for Interior Designers
• Optimizing your Interior Design Portfolio for Pinterest
• How to Get Your Work Published
• Branding Your Portfolio

 

 

The Identité Collective is a full service creative studio for interior designers and boutique lifestyle brands. Offering bespoke branding, web design and social media content creation, we help brands built around beautiful living elevate their digital presence to represent the physical spaces they design. Want to work together? Shoot us an inquiry here.