Average Day

Average: can be defined as:

approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value; lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered; lacking exceptional quality or ability; around the middle of a scale of evaluation

Average: As my friend, Huddtoo, asks - define an average day.

Hmmmm…..Average? You mean, as in, “typical”.

There is a lot about me that is sort of “typical” and many things about me and my life that are very “atypical”. I can’t tell you how many times growing up I would hear someone say, “well, that’s just typical of her”. Like, keeping my maiden name – “well, that’s just typical, she’s always been so independent”. It’s hard for me to define an average day. I run a consulting business from my home so some days I am working at home in my comfy clothes. Other days I am on a plane traveling to a client and working in a suit and out of a hotel room. I crave structure but I also get bored easily with “average” and like to mix it up. See, I’m not “typical”.

So, how do I define my average “not traveling” day? Well, I started to try to write it all down. My day seems boring. The task was so tedious. So, I decided to write down only my average morning. I typically manage the morning whether the kids are in school or during the summer. My sitter arrives at 10:30 am each day and stays till 5:30pm. She takes care of the pickups and dropoffs and general kid care between those hours so that I can focus on work. Here goes:

4:50am Day starts with alarm from blackberry on my side table; Hit alarm for one 5 min snooze
4:55 – 5:05: Get up in dark, feel around for workout clothes that I laid out the night before. Quick am routine, splash water on face, brush teeth, put in contacts and sort of comb hair.
5:05am – Mix up scoop of protein powder, soy milk and OJ into smoothie and slurp down. Set coffee maker to start coffee at 6:30am.
5:15am Fill water bottle, grab iPod, keys and meet neighbor outside – one of us drives each week to gym.
5:30am -6:30am – Workout. 30 minutes of cardio typically on elliptical followed by 25 minutes of weights and 5 minutes of stretching at end. Just started this week with a trainer for a few sessions to “mix it up”. Got bored with my average workout. Now I’m in pain!
6:45am – Arrive home, sit down with coffee (black) and try to mentally prepare for my day (or I start the list) or start writing notes to the nanny about playdates and pickup times and after school (or camp, now that its summer) and reminders for sunscreen, appropriate healthy snacks and other various rules and regulations. Usually fold a load of laundry while drinking next cup of coffee and then turn on computer, scan through emails.
7:15am – Call kids to come for breakfast, start making lunches, preparing snacks and thinking about what we might have for dinner (does something need to come out of freezer?). Throw in another load of laundry.
7:30 am – Start reminding kids to get dressed, make beds, brush teeth
7:35am – See that kids have ignored or “forgotten” routine and remind them again to get dressed, make beds and brush teeth.
7:40 am – Get myself in shower, blow dry hair – and yell to kids to get dressed, make beds and brush teeth. Apply sunscreen to 3 kids, check backpacks for lunch, snack, bathing suits and sunscreen. Ask if beds are made and teeth are brushed?
8:15am -8:45– Leave house to drop 4 year old at her camp first and then drop boys at their camp 8:55am – Arrive back home to start my “work day”. Seems pretty AVERAGE to me!

My workday is a mish mash of structured and unstructured client calls and project report writing and continuous emails – or it might involve onsite client trainings and presentations and steering committee meetings. Either way, much of what I end up doing is “reactive” rather than proactive and I often end up frustrated that I am not getting my actual work done. I left the corporate world after the birth of my third child – so that I could keep working but would have some “control” over my schedule. What I have noticed lately is that I do control my schedule but that there are just too many things to do and I am not “in control” when I don’t set limits or boundaries. So, if I am shifting from work emails at 7am to kid chauffeur at 8:30 and then back to worker at 9am – while mixing in grocery ordering, loads of laundry, bill paying, social planning etc. – well, it’s no wonder I'm not able to get anything done!

I just found this “free web conference” that I am planning on joining tomorrow. I hope I learn something as I will once again be filling my time with something other than my “work”. Oh well, maybe it’s just the summer and I will back in organizational and time management mode by September.

Thanks Fran for giving me something to do today (wink)! Care to join in and tell us about your "average day".