A day in the life of a full time blogger
A 'Day in the life of a full time yummy mummy blogger' article usually goes one of two ways.
There are those who make it look like the best thing since sliced bread with lots of cool meetings in London or weekly press trips to new exotic lands.
Then...
There are those who love to brag about how much of a fat lazy slob they are and that they're just "not capable of adulting good". Blogger Twitter is infested with these weirdos, but that's another story.
I'd say I fall somewhere between the two camps.
My days as a blogger aren't filled with dazzling press freebies, nor are they filled with 15 hour Netflix binges sat in a bean stained vest...anymore.
I work a bit, do a bit of admin to keep everything spick and span, go the gym, then have some leisure time.
That's literally all I do, so if you want to click away now then I won't hold it against you. If you fancy a somewhat more in depth look at my day then stay tuned and I'll go in to more details about the hows and whys of my routines.
If you want an infographic on the whole shabang, check this little fella out:
05:00 - 07:00 - Wake up/Morning Routine
I absolutely love getting up at 5am - it is fantastic for mental clarity and getting your day off to a flyer. Sometimes though, I just can't be bothered and fancy a little bit of a lie-in, so opt for a more respectable 7am start.
Then I'll get right up so I'm not tempted to go back asleep, make the bed all nice and pretty then go through a quick morning routine.
I've got a massive morning routine, a minimal morning routine and an even minimal-er morning routine that I am currently using.
For now, my morning routine is as follows;
Wake up
Have a quick stretch
Make the bed
Down a load of water
Brush my teeth
Do some more stretches and dislocations
05:15 - 07:15 - Work
I use my Mac book primarily for writing and nothing else - except maybe the odd email later in the day. After I've finished work I don't go on it 'til the next day, opting instead to use an iPad in the night to do anything social, distracting, etc.
This ensures that my mind is cued to get straight into work mode when the laptop is opened à la Pavlov's dogs.
This little 3-5 hour period is when the bulk of my work gets done. Writing is more about your surroundings than anything else, which is why I love this time of day.
For most of it, people are still asleep, so everywhere is nice and quiet which gives me time to think deeply without people interrupting me.
10:00 - Meal #1
I'll split my two work blocks up with a light meal. If it's too heavy, the body will expend too much energy trying to metabolise and digest it instead of using that energy to power le brain.
If however, it is light and not full of quick release carbs, it will give me a nice energy boost to attack the second part of my working day.
That's why I like to go protein/fat heavy with some veg thrown in.
The easiest meal to go with here is;
3 whole eggs
25ml oat milk
30g spinach
50g salsa (the less ingredients in it the better)
Whizz the eggs and oat milk in the microwave for 2 minutes, scramble it up. Once that's done, throw in the spinach and salsa.
Made in less than 5 minutes and eaten even quicker than that.
It'll give you sustained energy to get back to work and won't spike your blood sugar when you break the fast. Perfect.
10:30 - Work
Then back to work for 90 minutes.This is somewhat more of a laid back working period as my head ins't quite as laser-focused now but I'll still get done what needs to get done.
A lot of this time is actually spent doing admin such as clearing dead links, doing emails, preparing an Instagram post and other medial minutiae. It may be frustrating but this stuff needs to be done and to think that my working day will be over by the noon is a motivating thought.
12:00 - Secondary Routine
This routine is how I keep my morning routine so basic - most of it has been cut and pasted here instead.
The secondary routine acts as somewhat of a transitionary period between the work day and the rest of the day. It's like starting a completely new day and it gets me ready for the gym later on.
The routine goes as follows;
Meditation
Dead hangs (as long as possible - 5 minutes total)
Deep squat hold (as long as possible - 5 minutes total)
Wim Hof Method
Put on gym clothes
The great thing about my secondary routine is that again, it conditions me (Pavlov's dogs...) to get in a different state of mind.
Once I start this sequence, I know that I am no longer a working man and that I can rest my brain and conserve some energy for later.
13:00 - Meal #2
This will be my pre-workout meal, so something like a smoothie is usually ideal. You could opt for an apple with some peanut butter or a protein shake with a banana - basically a nice mix of protein, carbs and some fat.
My go-to smoothie at the moment is as follows;
200g frozen blueberries
50g vegan blend protein powder
25g peanut butter
25g peanut butter powder
7.5g maca powder
7.5g ashwagandha powder
It tastes great, gives a load of nutrients and gives me the energy to smash a workout at the gym - can't ask for more than that can you?
14:00 - Workout, Steam Room, Sauna, Plunge Pool
What sort of wellbeing blogger would I be if I didn't dedicate a couple of hours of my day to it?
My workout usually takes about 45-60 minutes and I'm absolutely knackered by the end of it (shout out to The Bulking Blueprint) then I'll hit the sauna and steam room for about 15-20 minutes each, making sure to jump into the plunge pool and grab a sip or two of water every 5 minutes.
This is an almost euphoric feeling - I can't even describe how good you'll feel after this. After a day of working, the workout and the post-workout relaxation are absolute key components for releasing tension.
They allow me to de-stress and take my mind off anything work-related so that I can come back home, chill out and recharge my batteries for tomorrow.
16:00 - Free time
Once I'm back from the gym I can do anything I want with the next 6-8 hours.
It could literally be anything: I enjoy a spot of online 8-ball pool (my one true vice), going out with the #squad, doing something with the missus, taking an online course, watching a movie, drawing - it doesn't matter. All that matters is I don't have to work and I actually get this entire time to do what I want.
Going back to the two types of 'day in the life of a blogger' article examples above - I'd say I am definitely bang in the middle of the two.
It is extremely hard work, but it's also extremely fun - and I still get to binge watch mind numbing movies in my bean stained vest if I wish.
Win win really.
* As you can see, I don't actually do that much work on the blog during the day in terms of actual time spent on projects. However, when I do go to do work, I go deep. This basically means that I have no distractions whatsoever, so 1 hour of my working time is probably equivalent to about 90 minutes - 2 hours of work done within a busy, distracting office environment. *Being a blogger doesn't have to mean you spend 15 hours a day writing, promoting and smashing social media. If you condense your day down into small blocks then you can achieve big results in about half the time.
Since starting the blog about 2 years ago (at the time of writing), I have;
Been nominated for a 'best male blogger' award.
Published a book.
Made it my full time job.
Travelled to 3 different countries on press trips.
Worked with brands I love such as Canali, Bvlgari and Son of a Tailor.
Been part of an art exhibition.
Met a load of sound folks.
Yes, that's an absolute massive brag on my part, but I am making a valid point. Whilst I do work extremely hard to make this blog a success, I'd wager that I 'work' a lot less hours than most people out there.
If an illiterate buffoon like ya boi can make a decent go of this blogging malarkey then you definitely can too. All you need to do is set some time aside to go deep each day - even if it's just half an hour. Any alone time where you can get distraction-free work done will stand you in good stead for making this your full time gig.
And that's basically what I do in a day as a full time blogger.
I won't pretend it's exciting all the time and that it isn't a fat slog most days but that's as realistic as you're going to get.
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