What's your typical work routine?

Interview with Laurent, an introverted remote worker & engineer

I wake up when the kids wake me up, which is always earlier than I’d hope 😄. I am able to spend time with them before starting to work at around 8:30.

I usually have some meetings at 10 am, so I take the time before that to catch up on messages, production analytics, task updates from my team, and post my daily standup in our messaging app (we use Twist). I take a break to prepare lunch for the whole family at 11:30, so anytime before that will be used for quick individual contributor work.

I resume working after launch at 1 pm. Depending on the day, I will have some 1:1 meetings, but otherwise, I can do individual contributor work pretty much every afternoon. I’ve set aside 4 to 5 pm every day to read books; this is my continuous learning block. I take a break at 5 pm to prepare dinner for the whole family.

I get to spend time with my kids until the younger ones are in bed. Then I do a final one hour of work between 8 to 9 pm. I use this time to either catch up on stuff that happened during my dinner or plan stuff for the next day. If all is fine, I can do individual contributor work instead.

I can spend the rest of the evening with my girlfriend until bedtime, which is at around 11:30 pm.

On Friday we have an unofficial no-meeting policy, which is really great 🎉.

In this interview, this VP of engineering shares his strategies for managing family time and organizing meetings as an introvert.

Read full interview from Interview with Laurent, an introverted remote worker & engineer.

Interview with Mindi, a content manager and social media strategist

I'm based on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, so my day starts early because most of my clients are based in the UK or mainland US (anywhere between three and 12 hours earlier than my time zone.)

I typically get up around 4 AM and kick off my workday around 4:45 AM with a cup of hot coffee, overnight oats, and farm-fresh eggs.

I try to buzz through my emails for the first hour since there's usually a good amount of client communication that needs to be responded to.

It's not unusual for me to do client calls or give presentations at 5 AM, but these typically wrap up around 11 AM because of the time zone differences.

I work on my client check-ins, project management, social media management, and project to-do lists up until 11 AM.

At that point, I typically take a break to do a 20-minute yoga session to reset for the next few hours of deep work tasks, where I focus on my business development, content creation, and strategic projects that require uninterrupted slots of time.

It took me a couple of months to adapt this schedule, but the great part is that I'm off work in the early afternoons to hit the gym, spend time with my family, and relax in the evenings.

A ten-dollar per hour social media gig got Mindi hooked onto remote work—see how she meets her client and business goals and manages time zone differences.

Read full interview from Interview with Mindi, a content manager and social media strategist .

Interview with Grainne, a professional writer and content marketing manager who works remotely

I tend to break my day up into blocks of time, and It all depends on what I have going on that week. I think the real perk of remote work is the flexibility that it offers in that regard.

One thing I do every morning is log into Buckets to check my Notifications and see what I have scheduled on my "to do" list for that day, and each evening when I finish up I'll make sure I have a list ready to go for the next day.

That's what keeps me on track the most, as I don't consider my work day complete until I've finished my list and moved it over to the "done" pile!

There's definitely a lot of self-discipline and time management involved. I'm generally at my best in the afternoons and evenings, but I always work around my own energy levels each day, and I'll often do an early morning to give myself the evening free for other plans.

I've actually been trying to schedule my less creative work for early mornings lately so that I free up time to get my other work finished earlier in the day too. My ability to do any kind of creative work at 8 am is usually zero point zero (much like my ability for conversation! :) ).

That said, I work mainly with peeps over in Seattle, so my preference for working evenings tends to work out pretty well with that timezone.

Grainne's freelance work led to her landing a remote work job—see how she manages distractions and balances her work with Buckets.co and her clients.

Read full interview from Interview with Grainne, a professional writer and content marketing manager who works remotely.

Interview with Josephine, an integrated content producer traveling the world

I started recently, so right now, I am cleaning up Remoter, updating the social media platforms, and coming up with distribution plans for our existing content (that was created prior to my arrival).

I am also gearing up for our Product Hunt launch and distribution of episode one of our Remoter Podcast season one. With the company (Torre) that I'm at, we have daily stand-ups with Remoter as well as our individual sectors.

In Jan 2020, I will also be traveling around the world, creating content (whether that may be video, audio, text, photographs, etc.) by interviewing remote work leaders/advocates and getting their personal stories, experiences, and lessons learned.

I want to bounce around and meet as many people as possible.

Josephine got a dream gig of traveling while engaging in her passion for digital storytelling. Hear about the work she is doing to bring awareness to remote work.

Read full interview from Interview with Josephine, an integrated content producer traveling the world.

Interview with Wilbert, an ESL teacher that remotely teaches English to kids

Ever since starting remote work, every day is not always the same.

Why? Because this time I have the power to choose what time I wake up, start work or even have a day off.

And even when I am on vacation, I can still do a couple of hours of teaching when I have a lot of free time during the trip or just staying at the hotel.

Wilbert is an ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher that made the jump to remote work to gain more freedom from his office job.

Read full interview from Interview with Wilbert, an ESL teacher that remotely teaches English to kids.

Interview with Drei, a WordPress Developer describes her methods for staying focused

My work routine usually involves a playlist of movies I've already seen playing in the background, a buttload of chips, and a huge glass of water. I work non-stop for three hours, and then I take a 30-minute break before I start another three hours.

For the daily routine:

• wake up
• tweet a remote tip
• eat food
• play guitar for the doggos
• sleep again
• write content for blog
• night time: work
• play counter-strike global
• sleep

*When I have an event scheduled that day, I remove the extra nap. :)

A demanding office job gave Drei the motivation to seek out remote work. See how two surprising entertainment apps & a six-hour workday allow her to live her best remote work life.

Read full interview from Interview with Drei, a WordPress Developer describes her methods for staying focused.

Interview with Hrishikesh, an entrepreneur helping to shape remote work

We stick to the routine office hours in our respective time zones. This, we believe, helps us stay the most productive individually.

I start my day at 10 AM in the morning (when we have our daily standup) and finish off by 7-7:30 PM in the evening.

I usually try to minimize the breaks during the day so that I can wrap up early. However, I make it a point to look away from the screen, break for coffee or sip water at regular intervals.

We have actually documented the principles we follow as a team to maintain discipline and productivity in this video.

Hrishikesh's platforms are helping to shape the world of remote work and the gig economy—see how he mobilizes his remote teams to facilitate this new future of work.

Read full interview from Interview with Hrishikesh, an entrepreneur helping to shape remote work.

Interview with Erin, a videographer who found her freelancing niche

I am truly a morning person, and I like to organize my day around that.

My ideal schedule is to go to a coffee shop first thing in the morning and do the tasks that require the most amount of brainpower or are not that fun.

If I save those types of tasks for my 3 pm slump, they will be so much harder to do. If I can, I like to have a decent amount of things done by lunchtime so that I can go into my afternoon feeling productive and have my only more fun tasks left.

Erin is a videographer who carved out a successful freelancing niche—see how she optimizes her time and plans for the ups and downs of freelance work.

Read full interview from Interview with Erin, a videographer who found her freelancing niche.

Interview with Emma, a founder helping companies shape their remote work policies

I base my work hours around my son’s school hours, where I can. Life doesn’t always work out that way, but it is a good goal to aim for.

I try to eat the frog first up in the morning - which is doing the hardest task(s) first.

My day is built around school hours, and I schedule most meetings and complicated drafting work where possible during those times.

The afternoon (from 3 pm - 6 pm) will be a mix of work and parenting, so small tasks are best at that time, such as scheduling my social media or responding to short emails.

My best advice is if something is critical to get done, it should get scheduled in your calendar to ensure you leave yourself enough time and space to do it.

Emma carved out her own remote work niche—see how she manages her own virtual law firm while maintaining work/life balance.

Read full interview from Interview with Emma, a founder helping companies shape their remote work policies.

Interview with Rose, a co-founder growing the impact of remote work

I'm scheduled in the mornings on my part-time remote role, which keeps me "honest" in getting up at the same time and getting my day started. I'm then done after lunchtime and move over to a mix of client work or Grow Remote.

I block out certain days for specific tasks and projects, which really helps me to know what I should be working on.

I will work late a few days a week (ok maybe more than that), but we're in a high growth phase with Grow Remote, and this won't be forever.

I try to take a day off at the weekend and finish a little earlier a few days during the week.

Rose balances part-time SEO work with leading Grow Remote—see how she optimizes her time to build a community and resource for remote workers.

Read full interview from Interview with Rose, a co-founder growing the impact of remote work.