My Work Day Structure with Climawear

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn as an entrepreneur (especially one whose focus is on working out in the cutest active wear - like the Climawear sets I am wearing in these shots) has been building a structure that works for me into my daily life. I left corporate for the reason of not having that 9-5 structure. Everything about it makes me afraid of a habit driven lifestyle. That may totally works for so many people and industries, don’t get me wrong, it just was not what worked for me. I wouldn’t change anything about having learned the benefits and professional approach from such structure, but looking back now I am more completely myself than I have ever been. 

A friend of mine said to me a few days ago “you know you are making the right choice and on the right path when you feel you are being true to yourself”. I love that! It is about tuning into how you feel, not what you THINK you should do or is expected of you. There are enough jobs, enough clients and enough money for everyone who thrives to have a piece of the pie. So with that in mind, making choices that are true to yourself bring you to the right path.

Here is where the interesting part comes in…  once you get there no one tells you how wack scheduling becomes. We hear time and time again that is hard to be an entrepreneur, self employed, run a brand, work towards what you want, but no one really tells you what makes that easier. After I left I took time to refocus, recuperate, get back to health and rebrand which I often talk about. I relaunched my website in July and left to Europe for a month. After I returned it felt like everything was all over the place. I was doing two classes a day, trying to keep up with content, images, and keeps brand relationships strong all while looking like it was easy via social media .... 

This year in 2018 I decided to build a rough structure of what my days look like. And no it will never stick to that but it’s a great base to build off of for my everyday. One thing thats non-negotiable in that structure is comfort such as the seamless Climawear collection I'm wearing in these shots. Now looking back on the changes that has taken place over the past year, I am happy to have some kind of norm and routine that grounds me.

Here is what my weekly structure looks like today;

Two days a week I have my assistant with me at my office (my house :P) for the day. Those days I don’t book any call or meetings. Usually we work on strategy, content calendars, new campaign ideas, and we’ll schedule bigger meetings towards the end of the day if we have to get to someone’s office. Something I realized in all of this is that a phone is a beautiful thing. Meetings are necessary to get to know the people you’re working with when you’re investing in a long term partnership, but a brand who just wants to discuss possibilities, a phone call goes a long way.

One day a week I schedule a shoot. It tends to either be Friday or Saturday. Saturday is my relaxed gym day, either just a 45 minute circuit or a pilates class, so shooting in the morning before hand tends work out for everyone on my team. Especially if I'm shooting in activewear I can wear straight to my class (which is exactly what happened right after this shoot in Climawear since it's perfect for pilates). I know my assistant is available, my makeup artist can come because her husband is home to watch her baby (this is real life coordination people!) and my photographer is always available Saturdays. 

That leaves me with three other work days in my 6 day work week that look something like this…. And yes I do try and have one day to myself for family and friends, shopping, brunch, or a travel buffer.

Wake up between 6-8 am. I know thats relatively vague but it will vary deepening on how much work I need to get done, how late I was up the night before at an event... having an actual social life (god forbid). I also find it a lot harder to wake up early in the winter. It’s a reality. That being said, I have this theory that great entrepreneurs wake up between 4-6am. So I try and wake up as early as possible to get as much done before the rest of the world starts emailing, calling and checking their Instagram. If I can finish my emails before everyone’s up I feel like I’m having a successful day. 

I recently implemented time blocking. It’s been a life saviour. 

I wake up, feed moka, make my coffee, write down three things I want to accomplish that day, three things I am thankful for, and one daily affirmation. It's from the 5 minute journal and its helped me kick start my day in the best ways and with a positive mindset. I make my coffee or tea and get to my emails. I try and finish them by 9am, sometimes it’s 10. But the second I start getting all the companies coming back to me via email I get distracted. I used to spend all day on my emails. THAT WAS NOT PRODUCTIVE! 

Depending on the day by 10 I am out of the house to my spin class or I am on to deliveries. Usually it’s a spin class. On average I’ll do two classes so I am done by roughly 1pm with a small break in between (usually a quick meeting or phone call). Then I hit deliverables from 1-3pm. That can be anything from writing posts, preparing Instagram captions, editing photos, answering interviews etc anything anyone is waiting for from me. And thats the fun stuff to be honest! 

I schedule all my phone calls from 3-5pm in the afternoon on those three days. I'll go back to either deliverables or emails before bed, but the most important thing for me is being mindful that if I plan to wake up at 6am the next morning I can’t be doing emails at 10 or 11pm because I won’t get to bed. My mind will be spinning and I won't fall asleep. I'm not the best sleeper which makes my entrepreneurial theory a little bit harder to stick to. Right before bed I write down three great things that happened to me that day and 1 thing I wish I would have done better. 

In my schedule I get to choose to work out in the middle of the day. It’s a luxury I have that many do not and I am very aware of that. I often miss out on other things, like events or drinks with friends when I need to spend the night working because I took that break in the day… Debatable if it’s a break or not but it's what I enjoy. It's part of my career and working out, showing my outfits and being at the gym (teaching or attending) is a reality in what I do. You have to pick what your priorities are to make sure you satisfy them in that order 80% of the time. For me, that's the gym and eating well and it does get in the way or my social time, but I wouldn’t change that.

Staying comfortable is also a priority and wearing things I feel confident in is a big part of that. It is another luxury I know I am blessed to have, but I am so thankful everyday I can work in comfortable seamless activewear like Climawear should I choose. However you structure your day make sure you feel it helps rid stress and increases productivity. I hope this helps anyone look to build their own structure into their work routine.  

In partnership with Climawear

Climawear is one of my favourite seamless activewear lines. The Spring 2018 collection is so comfortable. My favourite work outs in Climawear are barre and pilates because of the way they weave the seamless it makes each item so wearable to move with you.

Wearing: Green Aura Bra and Black Stride Legging + Medieval and Amparo Blue Formation Bra and Stamina Capri

Photos by Sandro Noel Photography, Make up By Staz Art, Tan by Bio Bronze