Full Episode Transcript

Hey friend, Erin Kelly here. So, today I thought I would share my daily schedule. So I know there's kind of like that knee jerk, like, why would anyone care. But I know, I actually like hearing other people's schedules. It's just interesting to see how other people's other people shape their days and like, what they juggle. And, you know, I think, at the end of the day, we all just want to feel more connected to each other.

So here is my daily schedule. And before I go into it, you know, a few notes. One is I feel incredibly privileged that I am able to work from home, I don't have to go anywhere, unless I choose to, obviously, I can't go to a coffee shop anymore, but like, at the at this current moment. But you know, I have the flexibility to to work from home, and that I work from home with my business partner and my husband. And so I have help with the kids.

I can't imagine trying to juggle a full time business with with kids with no childcare like I time aside and energy aside, I think I think mentally, I would have a very hard time with it. Like I love spending time with my kids, I spend a lot of time with them. And yet, if I didn't get little incremental breaks, and a little, you know, like two hour work sprint every day, or sometimes it's only one hour, to be completely honest. But if I didn't have those, I don't think that I would be able to be as balanced as I am with them the rest of the time. So that's the first note.

And then the second thing is one also, you know, I know a lot of people don't have, so maybe they maybe right now your partner is working from home with you. But one or both of you have to be online Zoom calls all day, like, I'm very lucky that neither myself or Mike, who is the CTO and co founder and also my husband of MemberVault. Like neither of us, we have we have definitely evolved our roles this way. Over time, but like neither of us have to be on a bunch of calls.

So that was intentional. But also privilege because we don't have to write like we we have both the way that we built our business, the type of business that we built, and then the fact that we have a team to help us, you know, all gives us the luxury of of not having to be on a bunch of calls, because I know that adds like so much more tension with kids around because I swear, they they have radar for when you are on a call or when you're recording something.

And so it's one thing when I'm doing a quick podcast episode, it's another thing if I had to be doing it multiple times a day for a long stretches. So I feel very lucky, and fortunate in that my daily schedule is pretty flexible. And there's not a lot of like outside constraints. So that's definitely the first big note.

And then the second one is that it's always evolving, like we have gone through so many different daily schedules since we had kids. You know, since we had our first kid, and then, you know, as your kid gets older, like things change, everything's always changing, nap schedules change, adding another kid to the mix, definitely changed things. And so it's just it's always evolving. But this so this is our current daily schedule.

So I kind of was laughing to myself this morning, because I do start my day at 5am. But I start my day at 5am with a two and a half year old tornado and next to me in bed. Because she, she has never been the best sleeper. And so she usually ends up in our bed at some point in the night and sleeps with us until the morning. And she and her brother share a room. And so he sleeps in a little bit longer. But like she's in bed with us and by five, she's like rolling around and kick engine very active. So I am awake at 5am. And but it's not quite time to get up. Yeah. And so I spend that time, I kind of actually feel like it's similar to nap time, you know, where you have to be quiet. And it's not like you really want to be on your phone, or anything like that.

And so it's actually really good protected brainspace even though I'm getting nudged and kicked, to be thinking about like more strategic, philosophical, even questions about decisions that we're making with the business, how we want to show up, you know, kind of the more tension-y decisions or things or puzzles that I'm working through with MemberVault and so that usually happens around like 5 am so I just lay there, and I and I brainstorm and I think and then by like 5:35,45 our other kid is awake and ready to play.

We pretty much have a rule that we don't get up until 6:10 when the coffee is ready, because we have a coffee pot that schedule is scheduled and that was like the biggest life gift that we gave ourselves probably like almost a year ago because it as long as we I remember to do it the day before, like, we have coffee ready for us when we go downstairs.

So yeah, by like 6:10, one of us will go down, one of the adults will go down and get coffee and snacks for everyone. And we have family time, upstairs and sort of just, you know, get to snuggle and have coffee. And this morning, a puppet came out. And the kids really wanted Mike to do puppet voice. So that was, that's how we we started our morning. And then the kids go downstairs. And so they're just for reference. Right now they're four and a half and two and a half. And so they go downstairs and they get to watch a what we call an educational show. So like Dora, or Diego, or one of the many other shows where they're actually like learning something that's not just like crack for their brains.

I'm sure you know the difference if you are a parent, like their shows that your kids learn things from and then their shows that turn your kids into zombies. So they get to have a little bit of educational show watching in the morning. And Mike and I both do our check ins and we do our self care which some days I totally bypass that and I never have a good day. So we really and same thing with Mike. So it's like, okay, it's really important that we do a little bit of like body movement, whether it's a bike ride, or yoga or whatever, some journaling.

We do our morning meeting, just to talk about what we're working on for the day, making sure that we're on target for our goals for the week in terms of like feature pushes and other things that are happening with my role. And that's usually like a 15 or 20 minute meeting. And then. And then we go down. Actually, this is a recent change, like Mike will go down and make breakfast, which is what's happening right now. And I will stand in our closet and record a quick podcast episode. And then I go down, we have breakfast together. And then it's Mike's work sprint. So this was a big changes. We used to do like blocks of two hours. And we would just kind of like go back and forth. And I felt like it was just too chaotic for us and for the kids.

And so what we have changed it to is that I do morning, kid time. Mike does morning work time, and then it flips in the afternoon. And that has been working really well for a while now. So I do after breakfast, I have kid time. So we read books. And then we have like a very set, and then this is a huge recommendation, if you aren't doing this. Yeah, like the kids really, really like it where they know what to expect no matter who is taking care of them. And so it's like, after breakfast, we always read books. And then we have free playtime. And so sometimes that's like they wear costumes, and they come up with all kinds of like games, if they throw a tea party for themselves, it's really fun to watch their creativity.

And usually what I do while they're doing that is I'm in the same room. But I'm either journaling or kind of like sketching something out doing some deep thinking time punctuated by meaning to put a cape on someone or, like, wipe a bite or something because somebody went to the bathroom, like, you know, it's not it's not completely protected time. But it is definitely an opportunity for me to sit and think and not be like in constant kid engagement mode. And that's, that's something that I definitely a credit to Janet Lansbury.

So if you are a parent, and you haven't heard of Janet Lansbury, like I highly recommend checking her out, because I have learned so much in terms of creating space with my kids, and not having to like constantly be entertaining them and they are happier and I am happier. So I definitely the fact that they can be playing in the same room with me and I can be journaling or doing some work, I definitely accredit that to the things that I've learned from her.

So then we usually go downstairs, sometimes we'll go downstairs and like instead of doing costume time, like they'll do Plato or whatever. It just depends on the day, but it's like free playtime. And I make sure that I don't get caught up in whatever they're doing. Like I definitely have, while I don't have a computer in front of me, because I have found that that actually gets them really activated. I will sometimes check in with the team on my phone, or I will you know, like quick little like telegram updates. Or I will be more often, you know, on my notepad, taking notes, brainstorming that kind of thing, which is really good because it gets me set up for the in the right like brain space for my actual implementation work time.

So then we make lunch, the kids and I and Mike comes down, we all have lunch together. And then we go upstairs and my oldest has a short Zoom class, which he really likes. And then they have a little bit of iPad time, which they love the Marco Polo app and I'm amazed at how much they've learned. So that is more screen time that they get that we are not a screen free household but we do try and like make sure that they're getting benefits out of it because I just hate when they turn into total zombies when they're just watching that, like cotton candy stuff that's like, not good for their brains anyway, so they, they really enjoy their Marco Polo time. And Mike and I are both able to get a little bit of like free-kid, no kid interruption, free work time. And both of us are both were both able to do it.

And so I usually I've been starting to, to work then when I was in my first trimester with our third, I'm in the second trimester now, so a little bit more energy. But like when I was in the first trimester trimester, I basically was just flat out on the bed, like, oh, it was such a long morning. But now I'm a little bit more balanced. So I'm able to do a little bit of work, check in with the team do some executables. And then might take the kids out to do something active, they go to a park, or they walk around the neighbourhood, or, you know, they just do something where there, you know, burning some energy.

And that works for him because he needs to get out too. And he's an extrovert. And so it's like an opportunity to potentially run into people masked in every social distance and everything, but like, still get to be a human. So that works really well for him. And as an introvert works well for me, because then I get a quiet house for a little bit, until I do a little bit more work and then trying to be staying pretty active since I'm in my pregnancy, although I will hopefully keep this up after I have the third until I go for a walk.

And so I either catch up on Telegram audios, then, or Voxers with my coach, or I listened to a podcast or maybe I just listened to some EDM music. But regardless, I get out of the house, I get a little bit more exercise and walking. which sometimes is hard, because it's like, okay, I could get a little bit more done, or I could go for a walk. But I've really been trying to because I always feel better if I do the walk. So go for a walk. And then by then everyone's back inside. And they do craft time. And Mike and I can kind of check in with each other. Because at this point we haven't really, like obviously, we've seen each other at mealtimes. But if you have kids, you know that's a little bit chaotic.

And so we're able to sort of check in with like, how each other's days have gone like what have we accomplished has there is there stuff that's come up that we need to discuss between the two of us for MemberVaults, and then we start making dinner. So we have a really like we they get up really early and we go to bed really early schedule. I know some people are the flip with kids like they stay up really late, and then they sleep late. But this actually works really well for us because it was not by choice.

My second is like a super early riser. And always has been so like we've just sort of learned to adapt to it. But it actually works really well because we're in the pacific time, timezone. And so we were able to connect with our team, East Coast and in other time zones on our users and other time zones. Without like having, you know, having a huge gap of time, just because we're up really early. But that means that we generally early, we eat, we eat by like 4, 4:15, which is kind of bonkers. And then, you know, Mike stays downstairs, he cleans the kitchen, I come upstairs, do bath time maybe or just you know, more, more playtime with the kids laundry, you know all of that fun stuff. And then we go through our bedtime routine, do one last check in with work.

And then yeah, and then we're done. And then Mike and I usually try and have we don't keep our phones in the bedroom. We have been doing that for a while now. And it's really nice. And so he'll actually after the kids are asleep, he'll come get my phone, put it in the office. And then we have we have time to just connect with people. And you know, maybe maybe a little bit of work talk, if there's something that we need to talk about. Or it's just, you know, being people and talking about things, or maybe watching a show and then going to bed.

So we're usually everyone's asleep by like 7:30 around here. So that is our current schedule. It was definitely wouldn't be in bed by like, nine before I got pregnant. But these days like because I don't take a nap like I'm done by 7:30. So that is the current daily schedule around here for MemberVault headquarters. Hope you enjoyed a peek into that reality. And again, I would be so curious to hear about your reality, if there was a good feedback loop. But if you want to send me an audio message, I'd love to hear what your day looks like.

Because I just think it's fascinating to hear how we we all structure our days and you never know like you might get an idea from someone. I will say if you have kids that are under 10 and probably older than us too but I don't know for sure. Like sensory bins. Huge fan of sensory bins, we do a lot of sensory bin, and like Wicky said we do a lot of like tactile stuff around here. And I truly believe that's one of the reasons why the kids are like more balanced and able to do self directed play because it's not like flashing like toys that are like telling them what to do. It's like they can create things and they can get their hands dirty and they can play.

And I don't know, that was like a big, that was a big discovery for me. When I like look at my transition from feeling like a mom, that was like panicked when I had to spend, you know, huge chunks of time with my kids, because I'm like, yeah, it's like so much engagement, versus now where it's like, okay, like, we can do big stretches. And they're just puttering around, like playing with their dinosaurs inside of a sensory ban, or like they're playing with play dough or they're building things with Wicky sticks, and it's just, it's really cool.

So something if you are struggling with like, feeling like you always have to be engaging with your kids. That is something that has worked for me so and I think it's really great for their, their mental space too, because I think we all just need like time to decompress and kind of process so those are that's currently my daily reality and it's working well for right now. No doubt that it will change at any point and definitely will change once number three arrives on the scene.

And so yeah, just staying flexible and resilient and open to looking looking for where there's opportunities to both scale with team members, opportunities to just say no to something, and looking at places where I can have higher impact like doing a podcast where it can be turned into a blog post etc. So I yeah, that's it for today but I will check in tomorrow.

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• [Transcript] What my daily schedule looks like