HISMD: Associate Dean at a Medical School

Partner. 2 kids (12yo girl & 9yo boy). Hybrid (though in office most days).

This "How I Structure My Day" Series started from an Instagram post I did about my own life, under which a woman asked if it would be possible to see how women working a more full-time, traditional job did it. I asked women to share, and, man, have people responded. The goal is to show how women from different industries, with and without kids, with and without partners, with family living with/near them and not, wfh to 1+ hour commutes, etc. structure their day. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do!

The Snapshot

• Partner: Yes

• Children: Yes – 12 girl & 9 boy

• Hybrid, though in office most days

Typical Morning

• Right now I'm prioritizing sleep, so I'm waking up naturally around 6:30 with my husband's alarm going off a little before 7.

• I get out of bed by 7:15, feed the cat and give her medicine, refill her water dish, scoop litter box, grab laundry at the bottom of the laundry chute and put in hamper (litter box is in laundry room), holler upstairs to ensure both kids are getting themselves ready (their alarms go off at 7 - they do snooze them).

• I get myself ready (wash face, brush teeth, quick skin care stuff, get dressed) and am out in the living room around 7:30.

• I refill water bottles, pack my lunch, get lunchbox for my oldest if she is packing, get my work stuff together.

• Both kids are typically downstairs by 7:40. My husband usually comes out around then, too.

• I help my oldest brush her hair (it's down to her rear) and ask my youngest if he wants breakfast.

• I make sure my oldest has all her stuff (computer, phone, etc.) for school, and we give hugs and goodbyes to the boys and take off for school and work by 7:50.

• I drop my oldest off at school around 8:05 and my husband typically lays back down while my son plays in his room. My husband helps my son get on the bus at 8:25.

• I get to work around 8:30.

Morning "Make Life Easier" Hacks

• Driving time and bus pick up time are in my calendar so I get alerts on my phone/watch. I do have an alarm that goes off at 7:40 to remind us that it's time to get shoes on and leave, but I think I need to scoot that back because we have shifted to leaving a little later this winter (by 10 minutes) probably just because it's dark. [side note: ok, I just did that, let's see how tomorrow goes :)]

• I want to be the person to pick out my clothes the night before, but I don't. I also don't really plan lunch ahead of time - I just grab a soup or leftovers.

• I print lunch calendars for both kids and my daughter X's out days that she does not want to buy (only one meal option at her school) so we know to pack that morning. My son always buys because they have 4 options.

Transition into Work Mode

• After I drop my daughter off at school, I drive to work while listening to podcasts. Sometimes I sit in my van in my work parking lot and check email for a bit before I go inside. It's not a hard transition to work.

A work day tends to look like

• I get into my office around 8:30 and kinda putter around a bit doing email and reviewing the day before and the upcoming day. I've never been able to hit the ground running with deep work in the morning.

• I try to take a walk with colleagues in the morning around 10 or 10:30 (it's calendared as a reminder).

• Typically after my walk, I can start with deeper work.

• Right now, typical weeks have about 10 hours of meetings, so 2 a day is average (I have 3 today but only one yesterday).

• I do time block my schedule (shout out to the Bright Method) in my digital calendar. I hold things loosely and am fine moving things around.

• I'm an Apple gal, so iCal and Apple Reminders are my work brain. LOTS of recurring reminders. If I'm working from home, I tend to mix in some home tasks (laundry, phone calls) throughout the day.

• My alarm goes off at 2:50 to remind me to leave to pick up my daughter from school.

Hybrid Work Setup

• I go in most days and work from home every other Thursday when our house cleaner comes.

• I also have flexibility to work from home when kids are sick or have day off from school.

• I also leave at 3 to pick up kids each day and work from home a bit after that.

Lunch/Snacks

• I have 12-12:30 blocked on my calendar for lunch. On days with meetings during that time, I'll eat before or after (or break up my lunch into some pre/post meeting).

• I might grab an afternoon snack around 4 after I get home.

Breaks during Work Day:

• I have "take a morning walk" in my calendar at 10 each day. I really try to do that.

• I also have a standing desk and walking pad, so meetings that I don't need to be super active in or webinars tend to be good times to walk on that while working.

  • (Side note: using the walking pad during certain meetings tends to make me not as aggravated with specific individuals because I'm doing something physical)

Leaving Work

• My phone alarm goes off at 2:50 to remind me to stop and get my daughter from school. I love this because I can be completely immersed in my work (afternoons are prime productive work time for me).

• We get home around 3:45.

• I have a 4-5pm meeting about 2 days a week. Other days, I sometimes work and sometimes I just read a book.

Transitioning from Work to Personal Mode:

• That's been a challenge I haven't quite figured out. I get home at 3:45, start laundry, get my daughter settled. I meet my son off the bus at 4:10 (if I'm in a meeting, my daughter meets him), and then often do a little more work but it's not deep work since kids are home and I need to monitor homework, snacks, etc. I'm trying to do a "wind down walk" on our treadmill around 5 each day as that transition, but it's not quite working.

Typical Afternoon/Evening

• Misc family stuff. If we eat stuff cooked at home, I cook 90% of the time. Then clean up and dishes (I do that, too).

• My husband likes to watch TV, so we will often watch last night's Late Show with Stephen Colbert that we recorded.

• Monitor my son's homework.

• I try to get some reading in.

• My daughter has gymnastics on M and W nights and son has piano on M nights, so my husband and I typically split the driving.

• Kid bedtimes (pretty quick) around 9.

• Typically my husband wants me to watch TV with him.

• Shower for me at night and then bed.

• I like to be in bed by 10. I'll typically read on my phone (yay for Libby!) until I get sleepy.

Nightime non-negotiables

• Dishes

• Laundry

• Shower

• Read

Afternoon/Evening “Make Life Easier” Tips

• I set Facebook to "hide and need FaceID" so I don't even see the app icon on my phone (it's in the hidden folder).

• I try to have a good book on my phone (Libby or Kindle) that I'm excited to read so that it draws me in (I've read 2 books in the last 2 days).

Outsourcing

• We have a house cleaner that comes every other week. LIFE CHANGING!! When I got my promotion, this is what I asked to do with some of the extra money. Worth. every. penny. I wish I had done this sooner.

• We outsource lawn mowing.

• We also eat out / have take out a few times a week.

Exercise

• Once it starts getting lighter earlier, I'm going to try to get back into the morning 6:00 workout (strength, HIIT). It's just been too hard lately so I've given myself a pass.

• I try to take at least 2 walks a day. I have a dietary health goal that is taking priority right now. In a few months, I'm hoping that is more automatic and I can move to adding back in more fitness. Really trying to do one thing at a time to make it stick and not go all "new year new you" for a week and burn out and change nothing.

Anything extra the share-er wants to share (2 things)

• My calendar and reminders run my life. I set them up, so I'm in charge, but it is SO GOOD to not have that mental load. It's all in my calendar. I just follow my plan.

• I'm in a salaried position with the expectation to work a minimum of 40 hours a week. I did a time audit a while back and saw that in reality, I'm working 8:30 - 3 (6.5 hours) and then if I'm lucky, another hour from 4-5 after I get home for 7.5 hours a day (35-37 hours a week). A lot of times I get 30 minutes of work in, sometimes I don't feel like doing anything after I get home. So I don't. I think people assume I'm working crazy hours because I get a lot of stuff done. I'm efficient. The way I see it, I'm hitting my goals and I have no complaints about my work (quality nor quantity). So I don't stress about it. In the summers when my kids are not in school, I have child care that runs 8-5:30, so I do stay at work until 5.
  And if needed, I do work the crazy hours (big project due Dec 30 so Christmas was fun this year... not) or spend a couple hours on something during the weekend. But typical times are not crazy and I don't force myself to work crazy hours just for the sake of the hours. (Obviously if I had to bill for my hours, it would be a different story, but that's not the case.)

That’s a wrap for this one!

Thank you so much to this woman for generously sharing.

A reminder of the ground rules to ensure women continue wanting to share about their days and feel safe doing so.

• Encouraging comments always welcome!

• If you have questions or even hang-ups about what someone shared, you are welcome to ask a question for the sharer in the same kind, genuinely curious way you would if you were looking at that woman in her eyes. She might respond through me.

• If comments are judge-y or mean-spirited, I reserve the right to delete comments. I can handle being criticized about my own work here (and even still, to a degree – I’m also a person), but I go into full mama bear mode when people come after my people – including women who are being vulnerable and sharing in the first place.

• Thanks to the vast majority of people who are so kind!

New here? Welcome!

I’m Kelly Nolan, an attorney-turned-time management strategist and mom of two. I teach the Bright Method, a realistic time management system designed for professional working women. In addition to this fun new series, I share bite-sized time management strategies on Instagram. Thanks for being here!

After experiencing overwhelm as a young patent litigator in Boston, I figured out a time management system to help me show up in the ways that I wanted to at work and at home – without requiring my brain to somehow magically remember it all. I now teach other professional working women how to manage their personal, family, and career roles with less stress and more calm clarity using realistic time management strategies. My system, the Bright Method, has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, and my work has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more. Learn more on my website, come learn bite-sized strategies with me on Instagram, or jump into my free 5-day program.

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