0: - Many of you have asked me,

1: "Scott, what does your typical workday look like?"

5: Well, in this video,

6: I'm gonna walk you through hour by hour

9: what an average workday looks for me.

12: Hello everyone,

13: Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity,

15: helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

19: And I'm gonna be using Google Calendar here.

21: I'm gonna throw on emojis and titles

23: so you can see exactly

25: how I sort of structure and break out my day.

28: I have always found it very helpful

30: to take a glance at other people's schedules,

33: whether they're famous people such as Benjamin Franklin,

37: or just my next door neighbor,

38: just to get some ideas and inspiration

41: as I've experimented on my own schedule.

44: So hopefully, you find this valuable

45: and maybe there's some ideas in here as well.

49: Now I used to start my day off bright and early at

300: a.m.

54: This was particularly useful when I had young children

57: and I wanted to get a number of things done

59: before they awoke,

61: and before the rest of my family awoke in the morning.

64: However, over the last few years,

65: I've adjusted that a little bit,

67: and I start my day off sometime between

360: a.m and

390: .

73: So let's find something like a sunshine icon here,

76: and I'm going to say, "wake up."

79: Now, you're probably asking yourself, what do you mean

81: you're getting up sometime between 6 and

390: ?

84: Don't you set an alarm? Yes, I do.

87: But it's a little different than what I did in the past.

89: About a year ago, I purchased what's called a wake up light,

94: meaning that it tries to mimic the effects of a sunrise.

99: So this little light alarm starts off very dim,

102: but over the course of the half hour it gets brighter

105: and brighter and brighter.

107: So depending on how deep I am in my sleep,

110: it will awake me sometime within that half hour range.

113: I really, really like this wake up light

116: and prefer to wake up this way

118: rather than adjusting an alarm or being tempted

121: to hit the snooze button multiple times.

123: So I'm certainly up by

390: ,

126: sometimes it's just a little bit earlier than that.

129: The next thing on my list,

130: the way I like to start my day

132: is to doing just a little bit of reading,

134: and you know what? I forgot to include the emojis.

136: So let's go add, let's go add something like a book emoji,

140: something like that, a stack of books to start off my day.

144: Now, this is usually relatively short,

146: sometimes as short as only 15 minutes,

149: I like to read something that is non-fiction

152: and something that is uplifting in the morning.

155: And I make sure that it is not social media.

159: It is not a news site.

162: I would much rather read a physical or a tangible book,

166: probably something that I was reading

167: earlier the night before for example,

170: or earlier in the week.

171: But I just find it a nice refreshing and positive way

175: to start my day.

176: After I've done a little bit of reading,

178: it's time for me to do some exercise.

181: And my favorite exercise is running.

184: So, it's doesn't happen every single day,

187: but if I'm not running,

188: I'll do some other type of aerobic

190: or body weight workout to start my day.

194: Now, when all is said and done,

195: it probably takes me roughly 45 minutes

198: to complete this step or to work out this entire time.

202: I'm gonna hit 45 minutes there and then drag it down

205: just below where the reading stops there.

207: So

405: is roughly when I'm starting my exercise routine.

213: I used to be an outside runner,

214: last year we purchased our very first treadmill

217: and I've really enjoyed it,

218: not only the convenience of being able to run

220: in just a few minutes time,

222: but I find it keeps me a little more honest as well

225: as I'm going through the different inclines

227: and going through the different programs on the machine.

230: Now, after running,

231: if that's going to take me to about

450: ,

234: well, next up for me is breakfast.

237: And let's see,

238: let's type in something like, maybe an egg.

241: I'm not usually eating an egg.

243: In fact, I usually start my days with a smoothie,

245: but I don't believe that there is a smoothie emoji

249: that we can use.

250: So breakfast, in my case,

251: probably when all is said and done

254: is roughly 15 or 45 minutes in length.

257: And what I mean by that,

258: it doesn't take me that long to eat breakfast,

260: but this is also a time where I can spend it with my kids.

264: I can spend it with my kids before they're off to school.

267: I can spend some time speaking with my wife,

269: sharing a few laughs,

270: talking about what we're going to do later in the evening.

273: So, roughly 30 minutes to maybe 45 minutes

276: of a family time slash breakfast.

279: Next up, because I'm still sweaty at this point,

282: it's time to jump into the shower.

284: So I think there's a shower emoji here.

286: So, let's just say,

288: "shower and get dressed,"

291: I guess is exactly what we're doing at that particular time.

293: And, no, it doesn't take me very long at all.

295: This should only take me roughly 15 minutes in total.

298: Let's see if I can drag that one down.

300: There we go. Perfect.

301: So, roughly 15 minutes to get myself ready,

304: and now it's time to jump into work.

308: Now I'm fortunate that I get to work from a home office.

311: So there is no commute,

312: there is no transit, there is no driving.

315: And the way that I start my workday off

317: is jumping into email.

320: Now you might be surprised by this

322: because I used to tell people to avoid email at all costs

326: first thing in the morning,

327: I used to advise people and coach people

330: that they should be doing something much more productive

333: than dealing with email.

335: But what I discovered, not only for myself,

337: but for other people as well,

339: is that if you avoid email too long in the morning,

342: a lot of us start to worry about, well, what is there,

346: what's going on in my inbox,

348: is someone waiting for an urgent reply?

350: And we often struggle to focus on those first things

354: as a part of the day.

356: So even though for a number of years,

358: I would avoid email for at least the first hour of my day,

362: now I actually start my day with 30 minutes of email.

366: But I am very strict with myself,

369: meaning I only do a maximum of 30 minutes of email.

374: I wanna try and do as much as I can,

376: but I know I've got a lot more important things to get to

379: as a part of my workday.

380: So by roughly

540: a.m I'm done with email,

384: even if I haven't read everything that's come in overnight,

387: or from the last time I checked my email,

389: it's time to start my day.

392: So at

540: AM, I'm gonna categorize this as a deep work,

396: and I'm gonna grab something, this bulls-eye emoji here,

400: and I'm gonna call this deep work a,

402: a term that, Cal Newport,

404: author Cal Newport has certainly popularized

407: in the last number of years.

408: Now, this is a much bigger stretch of time.

410: In fact, I'm gonna put about two and a half hours here,

413: and I'm just gonna define

414: sort of what I mean by deep work.

417: Obviously, there's a variety of activities

419: that I could be doing during this morning block,

423: but it's often things that are a lot more focus intensive.

426: It's things that require a lot more energy on my part,

431: maybe a lot more research.

433: This is often when I record many of my videos,

436: such as this one here.

438: This is often when I'm delivering classes, virtual webinars,

442: it's when I'm running the RESET Productivity Masterclass.

445: So, almost all of those types of activities

448: are happening first thing in the morning,

451: I realize that it's a big block of time, right?

454: It's two and a half hours,

455: and it certainly doesn't look the same each and every day.

458: But if there's something that I think is at risk

461: of being deferred into another day,

464: so for example,

465: if I don't get to it until later in the afternoon,

467: and I know that there's a high chance

469: that I'm gonna push it to another day or another time,

472: I'll try and do it first thing in the morning,

474: that's where I wanna do my toughest work

477: or my most focus intense work at that time of day.

481: Then at around

690: , I'm going to return to email.

486: So let's grab that email icon again and type in,

489: I think I need to get rid of the emoji,

492: the emoji window here and type in email.

494: And we're only doing that for a another half hour,

497: sometimes not even a half hour.

499: In fact, often I'll work right up

501: until about

705: or

710: .

503: This is just a super quick check-in with email.

508: In fact, I'm often not even replying

510: too many of the messages,

511: I just wanna scan through my email,

513: see if there's anything urgent,

515: if there's anything that's going to change

518: what I'm gonna be focusing on for the rest of the afternoon.

522: I'm a firm believer

523: that we should be spending as little amount of time,

526: as less time as possible within our email inbox,

530: and that only a small handful of us

533: actually need to be dealing with email on a regular basis.

537: So, again, after my morning half hour,

539: this is sort of a quick check-in,

541: again, a half hour at most,

544: but I'd say on average,

545: it's only taking me a roughly 15 minutes.

548: At 12, it's time to break for some lunch.

551: So let's put in something that, especially over the winter,

555: I eat an awful lot of,

556: I'm a big fan of soup, not only eating soup,

558: but making soup as well.

561: So this is gonna be lunch slash break

563: because I certainly don't spend an entire 45 minutes

567: eating and, or making my lunch,

569: but I wanna be able to step away, get out of my office,

572: eat something, hopefully, nutritious,

575: and hopefully delicious as well as I step away from my work.

580: But there's a few other things that I'll include

582: in this block of time.

583: Often I may go and check the mail

586: or do some other household chores

587: such as empty the dishwasher

589: or throw another load into the washing machine.

592: Just try to tidy up a little bit,

593: help the rest of the family.

594: And again, just sort of physically get away from my office

598: and get away from my work.

600: Now this last little 15 minute increment,

603: roughly, roughly between

765: and

60: p.m

606: is something that I rarely, rarely miss,

609: and that is a quick power nap.

611: So let's throw in some Z's here,

613: and I'm gonna call this one nap.

616: Now I used to nap for close to a half hour.

620: I've reduced that to only about 15 minutes.

623: And what I mean by that

624: is that in fact, most days I don't even get to sleep.

628: That's not enough time for most cases for myself

630: to even get into a sleep state,

633: but I simply just lie down,

635: dark room as quiet as I can make it

637: and just, just relax, right?

639: Just sort of relax and be still for 15 minutes.

643: Now, depending on where you are in the world,

646: there are different cultural norms when it comes to napping.

649: And I know that especially here in North America,

652: we still sort of frown upon taking a nap,

655: even if it's a short nap in the middle of the day.

659: I find this has been one of the biggest boosts

662: to my personal productivity.

664: This is something that I've been doing for nearly 15 years

667: is including a short power nap.

670: It gives me the energy,

672: it rejuvenates me for the rest of the afternoon

674: and really for the rest of the day,

676: even if you don't get to sleep,

678: just taking that short break can have a massive impact

681: on the rest of your day.

683: Next, we've got another sort of section of work in here,

686: and this would really what I would call

689: sort of slash creative or admin work.

692: So, maybe I'm gonna do something like files.

694: We've got like a sort of a file folder here.

696: I almost feel that I also want to put in something like a,

701: a paintbrush or something along those lines.

703: I'm gonna say this is admin and creative work.

708: It's gonna change day by day,

710: but this is sort of roughly what I'm doing in the afternoon.

714: Now I'm gonna be doing this for roughly an hour and a half.

717: So I'm gonna put that 1 to

150: p.m.

720: So these are things that I need to get done.

723: It's not exactly crucial

724: like the deep work I'm doing in the morning,

727: but these may be things related to budgeting

730: for my business.

731: It may be taking a look at invoices

734: and doing some more administrative tasks.

737: The creative side of things

739: is when I'm having to maybe edit a video

742: or maybe revising a PowerPoint slide deck,

745: or maybe posting some social media content

748: to be scheduled in the future,

749: I find that I really have a lot of energy,

751: much more energy for that type of work

754: later in the afternoon.

755: Now that I've done all that focus work in the morning.

758: So whether it's more admin tasks or creative tasks,

761: I'm gonna save that for later in the afternoon.

764: Lastly, at roughly

150: , we are going to return to email

770: for the third and only time

772: that I will touch email for that day.

775: So this is only gonna be,

776: again, a maximum of half hour

778: finishing up at around

180: p.m in the afternoon.

782: This is where, again, I will be replying,

785: I'll be trying to get through as much as I possibly can,

788: but I space out the times that I deal with email

792: so I can focus as much time as I can with my work.

797: Now I try my best to end my workday at around

180: p.m.

801: Why? Because by that time,

803: most of my boys are home from school

805: and I wanna spend it with them.

807: I wanna hear about their day,

808: maybe help them with their homework

810: and also start to get ready for the evening,

812: whether that's some food prep for dinner

814: or whatever else is going on in the evening.

817: So it's a lot harder for me to fill in the blanks here

820: on a typical average evening,

822: I will tell you that I avoid work at all costs,

826: and I stop my workday as much as I can

829: at roughly three in the afternoon.

832: Why? Because I wanna be completely refreshed

835: when I returned to work the following morning,

838: and not just get into this cycle of checking my work emails

841: and replying to things

843: and working on other things during the evening.

845: I have an awful lot of activities

847: and often a lot of driving to do

849: when it comes to my boys' activities.

850: The only other two things I will add,

853: two things that I rarely miss out on my daily schedule

856: is a return to reading later in the evening.

859: So let's grab this book here,

860: and we're gonna call this one reading.

862: I try to read for about 45 minutes to an hour

866: before I finish my night.

867: And for me, it's my goal to get my head on a pillow,

871: no, not a pill, a pillow,

873: let's put sleep here by

630: at night.

877: So that is bedtime for me

879: to try and get into bed at

630: .

882: So I can get as close to eight hours of sleep

885: before the start of the next day.

887: So now that you know

888: what an average workday looks like for me,

891: I would love to hear from you,

893: what was the biggest surprise

895: as you take a look at my typical schedule?

898: In addition, I would love to hear from you

900: and what does your workday look like?

903: I'm sure others would be interested to know,

905: so they might want to adjust their own personal schedules.

909: Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.

912: In fact, it's very simple.