One of the points that I keep coming back to over and over again is to give yourself space. You need space to think and process new information. If you're so busy with day to day work for 8 hours a day you're going to miss opportunities. Being a remote worker have given me a lot of freedom to create the schedule that works for me and today I thought I'd share it with you.

My Typical Workday

7:00 – Wakeup.

7:10 – Go through my email on my phone while in bed. In a team of 40 people there's a lot of notification updates that I get that I like to read through in the morning before getting to my real work.

7:40 – Take the dog for a walk

8:00 – My inbox should already be clear of notifications. If there's nothing that's on fire I work on my most important task of the day. A few months ago that would have been coding up a plugin. Now a days I'm talking to customers, running surveys, and writing up specifications for new projects.

If I get stuck on any particular point in this process I take a shower and then come back to it.

12:00 – Lunch! Followed by a shower if I didn't take one already. Followed by taking the dog out.

1:00 – Walk to a coffee shop

1:20 – Do something for myself. Writing a blog post (like I'm doing right now), write part of my book, code up a little plugin, anything for myself.

2:00 – Get back to work. This part of my day is usually a bunch of small tasks. Auditing plugins, going through my ticket queue in case any of my coworkers have questions about the things I've been working on.

6:00 – Head home

Spaces

The thing I just love about my schedule are the number of spaces I've put in. I usually listen to podcasts or an audiobook while I walk the dog and that always puts me in a good mood. And they take my mind off of what I'm doing so that when I go back to the keyboard my mind is fresh. If you have any flexibility in your job make sure you can make some spaces in your schedule. Come in early if necessary so that you can take breaks.

Also, take time for yourself. If I take time for myself right after lunch it happens every day. If I said to myself, “I'll write a blog post at night”, I know that's never going to happen. Put it in your schedule so you can't ignore it.

Happy spaces!