HISMD: Attorney, Small Firm
Kid-free. Boyfriend. Mostly WFH. Pittsburgh. 43.
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!
The Snapshot
Partner: Yes – boyfriend
Children: No
Mostly WFH, a little hybrid
Pittsburgh
43
Typical Morning
Wake up 'naturally' at 4:30 a.m. toss and turn until 6.
6am: Get up. Walk dog, make coffee, unload dishwasher, ideally make the bed, sometimes journaling or reading, get ready for work, try to be at the computer by 7:30 or 8am
Morning "Make Life Easier" Hacks
Having a short but strict little list of "must do" cleaning/housekeeping things for AM and PM has made a huge difference!
AM is make the bed and neaten up the nightstands, unload the dishwasher, and I keep a scrubber in my shower and wipe down a little bit each day or grab a Clorox wipe and clean something else in the bathroom
Transition into Work Mode
My desk is in a room I don't use for much else; but otherwise I'm not great at this! I tend to let the two blend together too much still.
What my work day looks like
Trying to do a couple of focused hours during my peak time (7:30-11:30, somewhere in that block of time)
Morning meetings with my team
Occasionally, a morning client meeting
I try to group client meetings in the afternoons when I'm not great at doing super detailed deep work, and I try to keep them to only certain days.
I've admitted to myself just recently that I do WAY better with open-ended days -- having a hard stop stresses me out lately! So I try to make sure I have a couple days a week with as few meetings as possible!
Lunch/Snacks
Lunch usually around 12:30 or 1
Snacks mid-afternoon sometimes
Breaks
They are on my calendar! I try to arrange them for in between client meetings or in between chunks of harder work.
Leaving work
5 or 5:30 -- sometimes 4:30 if I'm peopled out for the day
Transition out of work mode
Cleaning up my desk helps me transition, then turning out the light and closing the door to the room where my desk is.
The dog's favorite bed is in here, though, so she does not love the closed door. :)
After work hours
I've been trying NOT to be on my phone
I usually walk the dog, feed the dog, feed myself and sometimes my boyfriend.
I sometimes watch a couple of episodes of something (right now it's Younger on Netflix), sometimes read, then get ready for bed and read some more.
Basically, I spend evening hours cleaning and relaxing (I'm a cleaning nerd - cleaning IS relaxing haha)
Nightime non-negotiables
Make sure there are NO dishes in the sink
Run the dishwasher
Make sure trash is ready to go out in the morning (e.g. Amazon boxes broken down, anything from the fridge in the trash) (I'd go at night but there is a family of raccoons)
Clear off the spaces where things tend to get dumped ... not so bad if done daily
"Make" the couch (blankets folded, pillows in place)
Check tomorrow's weather and calendar
Afternoon/evening “make life smoother” tips
Even Opal was no match for me. I have Brick now and it is the best!! It's a physical "key" you can leave in another room. You can override your limits but you have to physically get up and go put your phone near it. This has been a game changer (I just got it in early Jan.)
What do you do for yourself/fun during the week
Covid times made me a hermit – lol. The activity where I have the most fun is spending time with my nephews – they are 7 and 10 and are just the coolest little humans. A few weeks ago we flew kites which I hadn’t done in 30+ years and was surprisingly satisfying and stress-relieving!
Exercise
I have the best intentions to do more, but right now my main exercise is dog-related. I have a 3-year-old Labradoodle, and she is still very puppy-like at times, and very silly and entertaining. If she doesn’t get her exercise, she turns into a little indoor tornado.
Outsourcing
I haven't been in a grocery store since 2020. Only slightly kidding. I try to order online and pick up from the grocery store because I know it's a less expensive, but I've been using Instacart more and more.
Anything extra the sharer wants to share
I have a 3-tier paper organizer like you recommend in your video [this is Kelly: in the Bright Method program, I have a bonus lesson on home paper management] ... It was in my office, but now lives in the kitchen and I'm SO MUCH better at keeping up with it that way. When it was in my office it always got pushed aside for more work! [Kelly again: In short, top tray is in-tray/to-process, next is file (just file when it gets full), and final is “needed for action; action calendared.” Hope that helps! Ep. 12 of the Bright Method podcast is about this, too!)
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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