HISMD: Associate in Client Accounting Services at a Top 50 firm

Mostly in office. 2yo. Partner (in office). Pacific Northwest-ish. Has ADHD.

This "How I Structure My Day" series started with an Instagram post I made about my own life, which prompted a woman to ask if it would be possible to see how women working a more traditional, full-time 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!

A quick note before we jump in: My free holiday guide is here

If you want my free guide of all the action steps you could calendar now to avoid the last-minute scrambles around the holidays (including Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Jewish High Holidays, and Christmas), you can grab your free copy here!

Okay, on to the good stuff!

The Snapshot

• Profession: Associate in Client Accounting Services at a Top 50 firm

• Partner: Yes (in office 5 days a week, up to 3 days a week starting at 6:30am, consistently done @ 5:30pm)

• Children: Yes – 2yo

• PNW-ish

• In the office mostly; I have flexibility to WFH as needed almost anytime. I prefer not to, though, as I am more productive in the office.

Typical Morning:

• I usually wake up whenever husband gets in the shower, which can be anywhere from 5:30 to 6:45.

• Toddler reliably wakes up between 6:30 and 7 and will come to our room. Often this is what actually gets me out of bed, despite all my aspirations to get up and get ready in peace first. Maybe someday.

• I usually get toddler and dog breakfast, then go back to the bathroom to get ready while they are eating.

• Around 7:15 kiddo will usually be finished eating and I will be ready, and I can begin the process of convincing him to get dressed.

• If we make it to daycare by 7:30 that's a win. Daycare is 2-minute drive from our house, and then I have a 20-minute commute downtown from there. I usually make it to work right around 8.

• If I work from home, the same schedule applies, but I probably make breakfast before going into my home office.

Morning "Make Life Easier" Hacks

• I don't think not making time to eat breakfast counts as a hack, but it does keep the machine moving.

• I never unpack my purse, so it's always just throw my phone in it and go.

• Honestly, the thing that's made the biggest difference lately is allowing kiddo to pick his own clothes. The independence factor seems to make him less upset about getting dressed in the morning.

Transition into Work Mode

• My phone is set to go to "work mode" (distracting apps blocked) at 8:30, which gives me time to get to the office, breathe, sit down, text my husband maybe while I start my coffee and ease in, and then once work mode switches on I'm usually sucked into emails.

What my work day looks like

• I like to tee up an easy task for myself first thing in the morning. I have a handful of clients who need their bills paid on a certain day, for example, and that's a low-effort dopamine hit (I have ADHD) that can get my brain running. I do those first.

• Afternoons work better for me for deep work (this from years of self-observation), so I save longer and more in-depth tasks for later in the day.

Lunch/Snacks

• Whenever? I often switch to my deep work around noon and then forget to eat lunch until like 2pm. As long as I'm happily working, though, I let that be. If I can feel that I'm getting hungry or not functioning as well, I'll stop.

• I snack sometimes if I need to focus (crunching corn nuggets or something).

Breaks

• No. Usually I know I need one if I'm hungry or need to pee, and then I batch the break tasks - bathroom, make a cup of tea, take the seven thousand mugs I've accumulated back to the kitchen...

Leaving work

• I leave work at 5 on the dot for daycare pickup. I would log on again at home if I needed to, but that very rarely happens.

• I am working on sharing the dropoff/pickup responsibilities more with my husband. Due to his early mornings, this means we're probably going to splash out on a second carseat so we don't have to worry about the logistics as much (although we work within a few blocks of each other and can switch cars during the day if need be).

• On days when he takes kiddo to daycare, I stay a few more minutes and take care of posting my time, cleaning up my desk, etc. instead of waiting until it occurs to me next.

Transition out of work mode

• The drive home is my chance to do that. I blast music and sing along, or listen to an audiobook. Sometimes I sit in the daycare parking lot for a minute or two if I have the time and read on my phone so I can have a few more minutes doing something for me before I turn on Mom Mode.

• When we get home, my phone goes in the bedroom and stays there until kiddo is asleep.

After work/evening hours

• Phone stays in the bedroom!

• Make dinner, hang out with husband and kid. We are trying to get outside time in after dinner these days as I think kiddo sleeps better with it, but sometimes husband and I are just too tired and we end up watching old Star Trek episodes.

• Husband and I do baby bedtime together at the moment because he likes to listen to me sing as much as kiddo does.

• After that, theoretically, reading and meal prep. In practice...phone and going to sleep. We both go to bed and look at our phones. I love to read, but sometimes my brain is too tired and I just turn on YouTube and pass out.

Evening Non-Negotiables

• My only real non-negotiable is clean kitchen (and husband does this because I cook).

• I am honestly too ADHD to have any true non-negotiables.

• I would like to get better about laying out clothes for myself because deciding what to wear in the mornings drives me crazy when time is short.

• I also much prefer to shower in the evening, so do that as part of getting ready for bed.

Afternoon/evening “make life smoother” tips

• Phone in the bedroom. I try to have a bit of a mindset shift as I'm driving home (my nightly T-Swift karaoke sesh helps with this) to remember that the next few hours are the only uninterrupted time I get with my family on a weekday and I want to be fully present for them. Just saying that out loud to myself is enough.

• I love cooking, but we're in a season of life where I just say yes to letting kiddo run around the front yard with me watching him until my husband gets home to connect with baby and get outside time, meaning dinner is usually a pretty simple affair (chicken nuggets, burritos, spaghetti, leftovers).

Sharing the load with a partner

• I mean, I straight up ignore chores that aren't mine. I don't know if that's possible for everyone, but it works for us. We had a chore chart before kiddo was born, and the rough lines it drew still apply.

Things you do for fun/you during the week

• Reading. Making tea and staying up to read a physical book.

• Ice cream.

Exercise/Body Movement

• Sometimes! Walks to the park with kiddo.

• When I work from home, I try to make sure to walk the dog.

• Recently I've been doing @beforethebarbell before work on days when husband can take kiddo to daycare.

Outsourcing

• No - we let things slide rather than outsource them.

Anything Else the Sharer Wants to Share

• I do find "revenge bedtime procrastination" to be helpful sometimes to feel like I had time to myself, but I always think to myself, "Am I doing something that's worth the tired I will be tomorrow?" Doomscrolling is not that thing!

That’s a wrap for this one!

Thank you so much to this woman for generously sharing. These publish every Thursday!

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.

A quick note: My free holiday guide is here

If you want my free guide of all the action steps you could calendar now to avoid the last-minute scrambles around the holidays (including Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Jewish High Holidays, and Christmas), you can grab your free copy here!

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