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Nobody wants their inbox full of shit they don't need. That's why I'd like to offer you a taster of what my newsletters typically look like:
MARCH 15, 2023
[This should only take about 9 mins to read.]
I wish I could tell you that my day has a perfect schedule, and I am knocking out every task on my to-do list, but that's not reality.
However, I do have a format for my day.
Every day I am figuring out when my most productive times of the day are.
Undoubtedly, I accumulate stress throughout my week, but I do my best to offset that with exercise and staying organized.
I am far from perfect, but it's a work in progress that makes a big difference in my day.
So let's get into it...
I live for the morning time. I get up between 5 and 5:30 am to get my day started. The first thing I do is walk my two dogs, they need their exercise, and I need my morning walk, fresh air, and some sunshine.
Some days I listen to a podcast or an audiobook while I'm out walking, and some days I enjoy the silence when no one is out.
When I get back, I enjoy making breakfast, having coffee with my girlfriend, and spending quality time before we start our day.
Work or Daily Activities:
I usually get to my desk around 7:30 am to start journaling. I spend between 30-45 mins just putting pen to paper. I have my noise-canceling headphones with some instrumental music on, and I am in my zone; I let my thoughts flow out of my head.
Journaling helps me start with a clean slate and makes room in my brain for new things to flow in. It sparks different ideas as well.
Once I am done journaling, I spend time engaging with my people on Twitter and LinkedIn for about 30-45 mins.
After that, I pop open a notion document and start writing some content ideas and newsletter topics I want to consider for the next few issues. It's my ideation process; write down anything that comes to mind. It could be stuff that happened the week prior, things I am interested in, or reviewing old ideas I want to get back to.
I spend about an hour or so focusing on writing. By the time I finish, it's close to 10 am.
I take a 20-minute (mental) break and make a second cup of coffee. Well, because coffee is life.
Late Morning / Mid-day:
Around 11 am, I spend time catching up with everything that's going on at my agency: any client work that I need to do and any follow-ups.
Once I do that, I check in with my Project Manager and the rest of my team to see how everyone is doing and if they need anything from me.
I go through checking any new support tickets for any of my apps. 90% of this happens right inside Slack. All of my work-related notifications pop in there:
Client/user support tickets, team communications, task and project management (via Asana), etc.
Once I get through some of my agency work, usually about 1.5-2 hours, depending on the day, I take a break to eat lunch and take a walk with my dogs.
Afternoon Routine:
By 1:45-2 pm, I am back at my desk.
I shift gears and spend time answering emails and anything that needs my attention.
I spend about an hour or so on emails per day. After that, I review new features for any of my products and chat with my developers about any speed bumps they've hit. We communicate either through Slack or Asana, depending on the day.
I disconnect for about an hour or two to have lunch and walk my dogs.
Evening Routine:
I play pickleball (2-3x per week) for an hour and a half, and then I come home to spend time with my girlfriend when she gets home from work.
I love cooking a nice dinner and just catching up on the day.
Quality time is essential.
Nighttime Routine:
Around 8 pm, I usually end up behind my laptop doing some writing and planning for the next day.
What are some things I should be working on?
What tasks didn't get completed today that I need to get done tomorrow?
I read some newsletters and consume any content I've saved over the past few days or weeks that I haven't gotten to.
When do you write and respond to emails? Async work vs. real-time. Async can be tricky when you're running a service business because there are issues that come up unexpectedly that need my attention. But building a process around the "emergency" requests is also crucial.
Over the past 12 months, I've focused on writing online daily. In the beginning, it was a hard adjustment to make time to put out valuable content and come up with new ideas. Schedule content ahead of time. Repurpose content every 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.
When scrolling through social media or any app, it's easy to go down rabbit holes and waste time when you should be doing something else. I've been there many times. I had to figure out a different way to save those resources while reducing distractions.
So I save everything now; I save it with Readwise. If it's not urgent, it goes in there. Every few days or after a week, I will read some of the stuff I saved. I curate my knowledge bank.
I usually set about 3-5 smaller tasks to complete each day. My ADHD requires me to jump in and out of small tasks through out the day, I've gotten used to it and it works for me.
I am still involved in my service agency, but I don't spend every breathing minute doing client work. But I enjoy getting on sales calls, so I made a significant change two years ago. I take sales calls only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Before making this change, my calendar was open five days a week from 9 am-5 pm, and it was a disaster. I didn't get any actual work done and was jumping from call to call. I would start doing some real work, and boom, another call in 15 mins. I didn't know what deep work or focus was.
I prioritize spending time with my parents at least twice a week when they are not working. We usually have lunch together on Thursdays and breakfast on Sundays.
Some weeks I record 2-3 podcasts; some weeks, I don't record any, depending on the week.
At the end of the week, I look at some of the things I worked on to see if there is a way to make that process more efficient, whether it's automating it or delegating.
My average day is a mix of routines and tasks that help me stay organized, productive, and balanced. By prioritizing exercise, self-reflection, and quality time with loved ones, I can maintain a healthy work-life balance and continually improve my processes.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about how I manage my day and amongst everything I have going on.
Tweet 1: I shared some info about approaching DM's on Twitter and LinkedIn in a more genuine way. Build relationships, don't chase transactions.
Tweet 2: I made some mistakes when I started my agency...
I listened to David Perrell talk about his writing process and what writing did for him. His approach to writing and how writing connected him with like-minded people on the internet. It was inspiring, but at the same time it resonated with me.
I've been in that situation where I felt that I can't express myself to people that don't understand my world. By world I mean the online shit I do every day. It sucks the energy out of me. I wanted the complete opposite, I wanted to surround myself with people that GIVE me energy. That's why I started writing online.
That's a wrap for issue #42
Email me at z@zlatkobijelic.com if you are building something. I'd love to know what you're working on and if there is anything I can do to help you.
See you next Wednesday!
Cheers.
-Z