My Daily & Weekly Routine as a Freelancer

Work-life balance might be a myth, but we're going to talk about how I theoretically achieve it daily through the various routines I’ve set in place in my life. The thing is, being a freelancer means I spend most of my time working from home, but working from home can be… complicated. For those of you that don't know, I am a new stepmom as of this past November 2022. I have two girls who are currently six and eight, and my husband and I have them half the week, every week. That means I kind of have to adjust my rhythm every single week, throughout the week, getting work done, taking care of myself, and also figuring out how to be present with the kids.

On top of that, my schedule really varies throughout the year due to my being a photographer. I could have times of the year where most of my work happens between nine and five, and then I have times of the year where I'm gone on the weekends or I'm gone on the evenings at photo shoots. Because many aspects of my life are almost always in flux, I too have to be flexible. With that in mind, I’m going to walk you through my routines and workflows, knowing that not everything happens the same way everyday. As some endearing pirates once said, they’re really more like guidelines than rules.

My Morning Routine

First, let me walk you through what I do every single morning. I normally get up about 6 or 6:30. I then have a quiet time, during which I’ll make coffee, take care of the dogs, read, and journal… and mostly try not to talk to anyone. I am a huge introvert, so carving out time during the day when I’m alone and unbothered is tremendously helpful. Most mornings, I hide away in my office, light a candle, and ease into the day in a thoughtful, intentional kind of way.

When we have the kids, I might squeeze a bit of my morning routine in while I’m still in bed, as it seems getting up and walking around the house will wake up the children. Even if they do wake up, I try to help them by meeting their immediately needs, but we mostly attempt to keep things pretty mellow until about 7:00 AM when they have breakfast and start getting ready for school. The needs of children vary day-to-day, so believe me I say—my routine is fluid. However, I almost always try to squeeze things in once any potential craziness settles.

My Work Routine

Being a freelancer, I've found that having good boundaries on stop/start time are super effective. This means that when work is slow, I’m always finding myself at my computer to tend to things and create content. When work is busy, I have strict cut-off times so I don’t over work and maintain healthy boundaries. Every day at 9:00 AM, I sit down to my computer. At that time I’ll take care of admin, and assess what I need to accomplish for the day.

Around lunch, I’ll break for a healthy lunch and watch a little Netflix. Normally this is a nice non-office period of screen time that gives me a break to look forward to mid-day. After lunch, I assess what I need to accomplish, and wrap up work when my either my main tasks are done, or it’s around 5:00 PM.

During the warmer months, I often work evenings and weekends for photo shoots. On these days, I might spend a little less time in the office, knowing that I’m going to be working more in the evening. Because I still want to protect my evening hours for family and downtime, I will often times wait to look through images until later when I have more energy and focus. I began to find that rushing to send previews to clients meant that I was sending photos with edits I wasn’t entirely happy with, because I edited them when I was rushed and tired. While it means my client has to wait a little longer, ultimately, I believe I can deliver a better product and be a more rested, fulfilled business owner overall.

My Evening Routine

When I’m not working evening and weekends, my focus is relationships and restoring myself. That looks like spending time with loved ones and doing a decent amount of self care. Personally, I love using said time for reading, rest, and few commitments. Evenings for me aren’t complicated. They’re low key, and low stress, so that they can make space for whatever the next day has to offer.

While I’m not sure if you can ever truly have work life balance, or what that even means, I am relatively certain that having healthy boundaries on all sides of the equation makes a big difference in terms of productivity, relationships, and living a wholehearted life.

Watch my YouTube video (below!), where I unpack more thoughts on the topic.