Lucie: Hey everyone, welcome back to my YouTube channel. If you're new here, click on the
red "subscribe" box down below and the little bell icon next to it so you're
alerted whenever new videos go live. I've been getting a lot of requests for a
day-in-the-life type video so thank you so much to Microsoft Outlook for
sponsoring today's video. A day in my life can look totally different on
different days. Some days I have a lot of stuff to shoot, and other days I have
nothing new to shoot. Some days I'm plowing through with work and other days
I'm more focused on my personal life. Since I work for myself and I run my
own media company, I do have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to
planning my schedule... and this is very important for me since I have just as
many personal goals as I do business goals. So I find that I'm always working
towards having that healthy work-life balance. These days, like many of you... I've
been adjusting to my new normal. I'm currently working from home outside of
New York City with family, so in this video I'm going to give you a closer
look into an average day working from home, and I'm gonna share how I'm always
finding ways to balance my personal life in there so that it's not all work and
no play... So, let's start in the morning. I've been waking up around 8 or 8:30
a.m. and the first thing I do is remind myself not to look at my phone but
instead to dive right into my morning routine. In the interest of not being
super repetitive here on YouTube you can check out my full morning routine video
up here... but just to give you a general sense of it, there's some reading,
meditation, affirmations, journaling... stuff like that. I like taking my mornings nice
and slow. Morning time is my absolute favorite part of the day, so I try not to
rush through it.
After I'm dressed for the day I'll head downstairs for coffee and breakfast, and
this is where I typically start planning out the rest of my day.
Microsoft Cortana: I've got four new emails for you right now, including a change to your day and
one other update. This will take a few minutes.
Lucie: To get some time back in my day, I start listening to my emails while I make breakfast.
Cortana: A few minutes ago
Laura Shapiro sent an email about new ideas just to you. Here's the message: "I
came up with a list of ways that we can streamline this for the future. Let me
know if you want to connect later today to discuss. Laura"
Lucie: Hey, Cortana. Save this email.
Cortana: I'll archive that one. Just now Michael sent an invitation to review project tracker.
Just so you know, you also have "call with agent" at the same time... Would
you like to accept this?
Lucie: I love taking time outside in the mornings, and to be completely honest with you... I definitely don't
do this every single morning... although it is a personal goal of mine to...
which is why I'm putting it in this video. Sometimes if it's cold
outside or if it's rainy, I don't feel that excited about going outside... but I
know that even just a few moments of fresh air in the morning will make me
feel really great and refreshed, so I've really been trying my best and pushing
myself to get outdoors as often as possible first thing in the morning. It
helps me set my focus and intentions for the day when I can unplug for just a
moment and enjoy my morning. The next part of my morning is where I'll start
organizing my tasks for the day. I have a physical planner that I use to write
down my general to do's for the day... but this is really just a brain dump of
anything that pops into my head either overnight or in the mornings as I'm
getting ready. The items are not listed in any particular order... They're not
scheduled for a specific time slot yet... It's really just a comprehensive list of
everything I need to do that day, jotted down on paper. Something else that's a
major part of every day for me, is keeping note of the habits that I'm
tracking. If you've followed me for a few years now, you've probably seen some of
my bullet journaling videos, and you've maybe seen some of the useful habit
trackers that I've built in the past. You can check out some of those videos
either on my channel or refinery29's... but in this video I'm showing you how I make
sure to incorporate these habits into my day by actually scheduling them into my
calendar, and showing you the reminders that I use to make sure that I'm staying
on track. Some weeks in my planner wind up looking a lot neater or more
colorful than other weeks... but I try not to get so nit-picky about it,
because the main function is for it to help me get organized, not for it to look
beautiful. After I've successfully dumped out my
task list, and anything that was on my mind from the night before and I've got
it down on paper, I'll try to get in a morning stretching session. If I have a
ton of work to do in a given day, I'll probably skip this step but I do try to
keep it in if I can, just because, as you might know from a previous video of mine,
it's been a major 2020 goal of mine to do a split and I am getting so close
because I've been practicing a lot.
Next, I open my calendar for the day, and I first start by looking at what's
already been added to my schedule either from the day before or the week before...
and the first thing I do is add in the personal and non-work-related
appointments, activities, and reminders that I want to do that day. So, I have a
business email address and a personal email address, but I can view both inboxes
together within one app, and I can also view my calendars for these two
accounts together in the app. So really there are three categories of activities
here... There are the business-related activities, my personal life activities,
like scheduling doctor's appointments or paying bills... and then there are the
personal habits that I want to create, like staying hydrated, stretching, going
for walks, and more. I try to add in all of my personal life activities and those
personal habits on to my calendar first before I go through and add in my work
projects... And this is a major way that I maintain that work/life balance. I
understand that not everyone has the ability to do this, especially if you
work for a boss or a company that's making your schedule for you... but if you
do have any flexibility, I would recommend scheduling in personal tasks
just like work tasks to make sure you're also achieving your personal life goals.
So, after all these personal items are written in, then I'll go in and add in my
work priorities. As a video producer and the owner of my own media company, my
days are always different. So some days it could be shooting a new video...
I could be editing content that I've already shot... and editing takes up hours
of my days... I could be taking a call with a future client, working on scripting out,
or coming up with new ideas for future videos... I could be replying to my
community by answering some Instagram DMS, YouTube comments, or emails... And then
there's a whole load of editorial things I could be doing, like building my new
website or working with a graphic designer to create some new branding
elements... So, in other words: There's no clear-cut answer of what someone like me
might be doing on a given workday. But somehow I find that I am never finished
with my work... and that's okay. I'll have lunch around midday, and the
timing of my lunch break is always different based on whatever else is
going on that day... but recently, since I've been living in a house with family,
I try to have lunch at the same time as some other people so that we can be
social and talk to one another. Lunchtime!
Michael: Lunchtime!
Lucie: Michael and I have been
working really hard to prioritize time spent together as husband and wife. As a
business school student, he had a lot of free time, and now that he's graduated he
has a little bit of time off before he starts his full-time job... so, thankfully,
we've been able to do a lot of fun activities together. We're currently
taking an online course together all about the science of happiness and
well-being. We do workouts together all the time, and we've also been obsessed
with doing crossword puzzles together.
Lunchtime! Tell us what you got, Mike!
Michael: We've got some quinoa, some chicken... very
spicy chicken, I might add... vegetable medley, which I'm very excited about... some seeds
on top... and that's pretty much it.
Lucie: Looks good.
Michael: Yeah, I'm excited. Cheers.
Lucie: Cheers!
After lunch, I get right back to work once again, doing any number of things
that might be happening in a typical day... On this day, I happened to be focusing on
a lot of work with my graphic designer. So, I've been working on building an
entire new website... but before doing that, I wanted to create some new Lucie Fink
branding elements and graphics... And, actually, if you look at my new YouTube
banner and my Instagram stories highlights, you'll see some of my new
branding elements are there already. And also, if you're part of the Fink Fam
mailing list, you've likely been seeing the branding elements there, too... But I'm
working with my graphic designer to finalize all of these new branding
elements and to organize them onto a brand new website. I try to remember to
get some fresh air whenever I can, and I definitely like to take advantage of
this when it's a nice day outside. While there are times in my life when I like
to focus solely on the personal side of things, I do love that I have the option
to check in on work-related projects at any moment on my phone. It's not always
necessary to do this, but it helps to keep projects running, which is very
important when you're running your own business. One thing that's been on my
mind a lot lately when it comes to work projects is making sure that I don't set
these unrealistic, arbitrary deadlines for myself, unless I'm working on a
specific project that has a tight turnaround for an external client... When
it comes to my own personal projects... things like building my website or
creating something editorially for my brand... there really don't have to be
deadlines. My work is about creating inspiring and uplifting entertainment
content, and I am NOT a heart surgeon, and I know that. So I try to remember that
and not stress myself out unnecessarily. After I've gotten through my work
priorities, it's time to check in with my twin sister, Allie.
I've thankfully been able to see my family a bit, but when I'm not with them in person it's really
important for me to stay connected to them and to have one-on-one time with
them, even from a distance. So my sister and I have been setting aside time every
single week for video calls when we're not together.
And, at the end of the day
I'll just wrap up any projects that need completing
before I close my computer for the night... which typically happens around 6:00 or
6:30 p.m. These days my days have been ending with
a family dinner, a shower, and then washing up for night time before
watching a TV show or movie.
Michael and I have been watching a lot of Arrested Development on Netflix, and
we recently finished the documentary Cheer... and we try to go to bed by 11 or
11:30 ish. So, once again, every day for me is completely unique and very different...
But even on days when I don't have too much going on work-wise, I can make sure
to achieve personal goals and to get things accomplished for myself. It really
is a major win for me when I can fit stretching, a call with my sister, and
some relaxation time with Michael into a typical workday... and that's only because
I scheduled those activities in and I prioritize them just like anything else.
I hope you've enjoyed this video. Please give it a thumbs up if you did, and let
me know if any aspects of my day resemble yours, or if your job looks just
completely different from mine... And don't forget to click on the link in my
description box to download Outlook Mobile, which helps me achieve a balance
between my work and personal life. Thanks for coming back to my channel, and I'll
see you next time!