What Are Your Workday Routines?

It's been a while since we talked about general routines, and I thought it might be a fun open thread — what are your general routines during your workday? For example, what time do you arrive (whether that's to the office or virtually clocking in), what time do you actually start work, and when do you eat lunch? Do you try to schedule meetings for a certain time of day? What time do you leave work in general? (When you leave work, do you have routine times you check emails or otherwise do a status check?)

Of course, there's all the other fun weekday stuff as well: Do you have exercise classes or meetups that you consider part of your weekday routine? If you go out for lunch or dinner with friends, do you try to schedule a certain number of outings a week, go the same day every week, or anything like that?

In terms of personal care during the workday, if you have step goals, do you try to fit those in during the workday through routines or benchmarks (e.g., X steps by noon)? Hydration goals? Do you have a set time in your schedule for a snack or coffee break?

My General Workday Routine

My workday routine has been pretty similar regardless of my career or job. I'm one of those people who tries to get “me time” before work (whether it's exercise, meal prep, or whatever), so I tend to show up at the latest acceptable time to arrive at the office, ideally (for me) in the 9:00-10:00 range.

(That said, on days when I had a lot of work I would often get up at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m., work for a bit at home, then shower and exercise, and still roll in at my regular time…)

I'm never terribly productive in the late morning, though, so I don't usually get started with big thoughts until 11:00 a.m. or so at the earliest. I spend the time before that doing administrative tasks like reading and responding to emails, getting other things scheduled, or catching up on news (industry news if I'm being good).

I tend to prefer to eat lunch around 1:00 p.m., and in general I've always been one of those people who eats at my desk unless I'm meeting a friend, running an errand, or trying to get in more steps/movement.

It isn't in my head as a set routine, but I almost always get up around 3:45 or 4:00 to walk around a bit, get tea or a snack, and look at my remaining goals for the day.

Before I had kids, my sweet spot was to work pretty late — at one point I made the rule that I had to leave the office by 10:00 p.m. if there weren't any fires to put out. I would leave earlier sometimes for gym classes or dates or dinners with friends, of course, and sometimes just because I wanted to enjoy the weather or whatever.

(In fact, thinking back, I've always been that way — at my first unpaid internship at a magazine in New York City I was working late at the office, and slowly realized it was just me and a few of the guys from the business side who were playing pool. It was a loft-style office, so everything was pretty open. An older man walked over and asked me who I was and what I was doing there (gulp). He turned out to be the owner and publisher of the (very small) magazine, and was so impressed I was staying late he started paying me a small weekly amount. Score!)

In terms of checking in, I tend to do it as often as I think about it, but at this point in my life I also have alarms that go off on my phone to remind me to check and approve comments at regular intervals in case I get busy with other things.

Readers, how about you?

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / Syda Productions.