[Working from home: Daily Schedule // Personal post]
I get asked often about what my daily life looks like and how I schedule work time with being a full time mama.
For those of you popping in who don’t know me, here are some facts!
— My husband's name is Clay and he's amazing. He works full time and has several *side hustles* including DJing weddings!
— I have a 15 month old bundle of crazy! His name is Ellis and he’s the best.
— I run a fine art wedding + lifestyle photography business (I also do freelance and high light reel video AND freelance graphic design. Because of all these hats my business LLC is “Aly Sprecher Creative”)
— I work part time (also from home) as a social media manager and graphic designer for my church
— I do social media mentoring!
I know that seems like a T O N when you see it all spelled out, but the beauty of being a business owner is that I can take on how much work I can handle and there is freedom to say no to projects that are either a) too time consuming or b) I’m not interested in.
NOW— what do my days look like?
I want to preface by saying:
— Taking care of Ellis and helping him grow and develop is the most important job I currently, or will ever have
— I LOVE all that I do (running my business, my part time job, raising Ellis) I feel insanely blessed to be doing all that I get to do because I truly feel like these are the things the Lord has given me the skills and passion for— PLUS I worked really really hard in college and in my master’s degree to be qualified to do these things and find value in that.
—This is all still a work in progress for me and I know I do NOT have a perfect system. Every new developmental stage Ellis enters, I have to reevaluate, and adapt.
— Each day I have to give so much space for grace or else I will be disappointed a LOT. What I mean by this is that with a young child, getting through the day can be a feat. in and of itself. If I went into each day with expectations that it’s going to be perfect and the most productive day EVER, I would be disappointed a lot. Instead, I try so hard to go into the day knowing I will try my best and to give grace if we have to slow down or finish something later.
OKAY, so with all of that prefaced here is what our current schedule looks like:
WAKE UP: With Ellis teething lately and us being up sometimes multiple times for multiple hours, mornings are HARD.
IF we can sleep through the night, I try to wake up early to get in my quiet time, drink coffee, knock out emails, and get some editing/photography business work done.
This is IDEAL, but doesn’t always happen. Lately I am awoken by Ellis and we wake up together and he’s normally ready to hit the ground running and I am haggard and in survival mode.
Once E is up, I strive to spend concentrated time with him. We eat breakfast together and we play until his morning nap time.
NAP TIME #1: during nap time #1 which is around 10am and can last either 1 or 2 hours depending on the day, I jump into my church work (social media/graphic design)
AFTERNOON: Afternoons can look THE MOST different, to be honest. We use this time to run errands, go on coffee dates with friends, clean around the house/laundry etc. We play a ton but the most important goal for me and Ellis: OUTDOOR EXERCISE. This is when we go outside either for a run or walk. Me and Ellis both go stir crazy and are lovers of the outdoors, so this is really important to our day.
NAP TIME #2: Depending on how much I got done during nap time #1, I may have more church work to do during this time. If I’m all caught up, I dive into editing photography sessions. If I can get all that I need to done during nap time #2, I should have a free evening to spend with my guys/have some personal/introvert time/ whatever else. If I do NOT get everything done, I will work more in the evenings only once Ellis goes to sleep around 7/7:30.
WORK NIGHT: This is HUUUUGGGGEEEE for me. One night a week once Clay gets home from work, and I roll out to a local coffee shop and work hard and uninterrupted until they kick me out. This is some of my must productive time and I have no specific agenda until the day-of. Social media planning, graphic design, emails, editing— whatever I need to get done that evening I tackle as much as I possibly can.
That’s basically it! To reiterate, it’s always changing and I know once E moves to one nap a day (or none— eek!) I will have to reevaluate and see how I need to adapt.
One thing to mention: our closest family is 3.5 hours north and 3.5 hours south! So IF we did have family close by, I’m positive I would accept ANY and all help offered. ;)
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
