A Day In The Life
On YouTube, videos showing what someone’s day looks like seem to be very popular and get many views. However, I will not be making such video for the following reasons:
There is no such thing as a perfect day and anything to the contrary should be taken with a pinch of salt.
I do not have a big enough ego to make a whole video where I try to make my day seem somewhat interesting and expect others to find it entertaining.
Each day is different. Some days I am productive, other days I am useless.
There is no way I will pretend to get out of bed, make a hipster coffee and then get 20 different angles of me answering emails for B-Roll.
So instead, I will write this blog for the 0.05% of you who might have a slight interest (for whatever reason) of my day to day life. That way I will answer this for those who are interested without the embarrassment of pretending to wake up on YouTube.
In short no one day is ever the same. I have no schedule or routine as such. Instead I have a simple checklist of what each day has to include. As long as I have made some progress in around half of these items, I consider it a good day. They are:
Health & Fitness
Photography (for me)
Work (YouTube / working on products / writing blogs)
Relationships (Family / Partner / Friends)
Learning (Reading books / magazines / podcasts / learning a new skill)
Rest (Going for a walk / watching YouTube / reading)
I also try to combine some of these aspects. For example going on a long (20 miles+) photo walk ticks the photography box and the fitness box. Going on a photo walk with my mate, partner or mum ticks the photography and relationship box. Working out whilst listening to a podcast ticks the health and learning box. Chilling out with a magazine ticks the relaxation and sometimes learning box. I think you get the idea.
However over the last 18 months of having this online creator nomadic lifestyle, I have found a pattern. This pattern varies between when I am home and when I am travelling. Also travel is split into long term and short term. I will now breakdown a typical day and week for each scenario.
Long Term Travel
Long term travel is when I am in a city for minimum 3-4 weeks and have a base. Currently this is what most of my travel looks like. Typically I will dedicate 3 days per week for exploring and shooting, 3 days per week for work and 1 day for rest. This will also be adjusted depending if family, partner or friends are with me. Solo trips are usually the most productive but not the most relaxing / fun… and vice versa.
Each day will usually consist of a workout (strength, cardio or stretching) followed by some admin and then the main goal of the day. If it’s a work day then I will either work on a video, a product or a blog. Typically this lasts for around 6 hours before I switch off. After that I will either go for a walk or chill.
I don’t have specific times for when I will do stuff. Just wake up whenever and get going. Typically I would always do exercise first followed by the main goal for the day. I like to have these two done by no later than 14:00. The rest of the day is spent working on smaller tasks, relaxing, catching up on relationships or going for a walk to shoot.
On the days where I am out exploring, I will usually not workout on that morning as I will typically spend the whole day outside and walk at least 10-15 miles. I will do some quick admin first thing in the morning and then head out for the day. No other task or objective.
Short Term Travel
Short term travel is usually when I am somewhere for 2 weeks or less. This is very much a total mess and I try to get things done where I can. On these trips I do not work on any business related stuff and ideally try to have some pre-recorded videos to go live whilst I am away. Due to the limited time, I want to maximise it outside exploring and shooting. Trips of a week or less I can sacrifice working out. However 2 week trips I would need to throw some workouts in.
At Home
I talked about this in a previous blog but I have ditched the notion of living full time out of two bags just under a year into this lifestyle. Instead I am renting a small room in London which is my base for when I am at home for a month or two. I find this to be a better balance and it means I can be selective with what I bring on each trip thus travelling lighter. This also means that every 3 months or so, I can come back and spend a month or two back in London. This has many positives however the two main ones are nurturing relationships and getting work done without the fear of missing out.
Whenever I am at home, I am much more regimented and actually do have some form of routine. 4 days a week I am working, 1 day a week I am out all day shooting and 2 days a week I am with family & friends.
This should come as no surprise but my work days are similar to when I am away however I would typically work for longer. So I still get my workout done first thing and then can happily work for 8-12 hours. This is the time when I really make strides with YouTube, products and business in general.
Rest Month
Finally around once or twice a year I take an extended rest period. This is usually a month where I work at around 25% capacity compared to normal. I find if I don’t do this, I will mentally burn out. I still do enough to keep things ticking over but I just don’t push or force anything.
Alright that is all. I hope you were not disappointed by the very dumbed down version of my day. It might seem overly simple but that’s how I like to live my life. I love simplicity and minimalism. There is no need to overcomplicate things and usually the more simple a routine is, the more likely you are to stick to it. Thanks for reading!