I'm working late, cause I'm a writer (among other things)

How I manage my time and energy across multiple projects without getting burnt out.

It was 8:40pm on a cold Thursday night back in 2023 when I realised that something needed to change. I was scrambling to finish an unreasonable last minute client request, and even though I was technically living the self employed dream it felt more like a nightmare; drowning in my inability to set boundaries around my time.

I was in the early days of building my solo consulting and writing business after many years as a founder, and somehow, despite my newfound freedom, I found myself in a constant state of burnout. Without realising I’d slipped into beliefs, patterns and ways of working that didn’t serve me:

• I believed I needed to work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday

• I believed I needed to dedicate specific hours and specific days to specific clients

• I believed I had to say yes to every single meeting, call and request immediately and without question

• I believed I had to over-perform and over-deliver so my value was clear and my rates were warranted

Even though I was my own boss, I’d set my business up such that I was at beck and call of others. Even though I could say no, I never did. Even though I had the power to craft my schedule, I never exercised it.

It was on that cold Thursday night that I made a decision to change. I wanted to be driven, not dragged. Inspired, not exhausted. Alive, not drowning. In that moment I decided to approach my schedule differently and run a series of experiments to see what work structure suited me best. I set out to learn:

• What time of the day I was most motivated to do certain tasks, like admin (responding to emails and DMs, invoicing) vs. client work (meetings, deliverables) vs. product development (cooking up new revenue streams) vs. personal brand building (writing, content creation)

• What day of the week I felt motivated to do said tasks

• How to best structure my engagements (eg. long term retainers vs. project work vs. advisory) and set parameters around client expectations

• How much time I needed to dedicate to the important stuff (writing, generating income, resting) so I could reach my goals without getting run down

• How to build efficiencies into my operating rhythm to save time and energy

• My patterns for saying yes when I meant no

The Experiment

For the last 18 months I’ve been testing and trying and iterating and learning in an attempt to escape the trap of my own exhaustion. I’ve tried being an early bird and I’ve tried working until late at night. I’ve dedicated specific days to specific clients, and experimented with no set days at all. I’ve given both 4 day and 6 day work weeks a go. I’ve bashed out a month’s worth of writing in one sitting, and I’ve broken it down into a little bit each day.

Through testing various schedules I’ve learnt a few things about myself…

Firstly, I hate doing deep work first thing. I thought I enjoyed it but turns out I was lying to myself and trying to conform to society’s version of what a healthy morning routine looks like. Instead, I like to roll out of bed, make a steaming coffee and immediately respond to all Substack comments, DMs, messages and emails that came through overnight. By clearing the backlog I clear my mind meaning I can focus later on. Productivity bros, sue me!

Without fail, at 3pm I lose steam. Every. Single. Day. So now, instead of trying to push through to 5pm just because I should, I go to the gym or give myself permission to go for a swim, read or relax guilt-free. Corporate overlords, sue me!

I love working late at night because it’s when I do my best creative thinking and deep work. Health and wellness gurus, sue me!!

The Results

Three caveats before I share what my ideal schedule looks like:

1. I’m sharing this because a lot of people have asked how I structure my days and manage my time given I do so many things. My hope is that it’s useful or sparks some new ideas

2. This is my ideal, not actual. Not all weeks are like this but I’m clear on what good looks like and what I’m shooting for

3. I don’t have kids yet

My Ideal Week

• Mondays are for filming Tiktok videos (yep, I’m committed guys) and writing my social media content for the week. I think of this as my personal brand building day and consider my time as a marketing cost. Strictly no meetings

• Tuesdays are for client work and meetings. While I never commit to working specific times or days for specific clients, I try to do it all in blocks

• Wednesdays are booked out with 1:1 portfolio career mentoring sessions

• Thursdays are for client work and meetings

• Friday mornings are for finishing client deliverables and afternoons are for admin and next week’s content planning. More often than not, I’ll have a cheeky wine in hand while I smash out invoices and attempt to get to inbox zero

• Sunday is my favourite day of the week. I wonder why!

It’s empowering to now know how I work best and it’s liberating to show up this way without guilt. But I’ve only arrived here because I gave myself permission to challenge my beliefs about what a productive, high performance, successful schedule looks like.

So what about you? When was the last time you sat back and objectively looked at how you’re spending your time? When did you last challenge your beliefs about what a ‘productive’ schedule is for you? Or if ‘productive’ is even the right measure?

I’m working late, because I want to

After asking myself these questions and experimenting to find the answers, I now construct my days and weeks so that they feel good. I say no. I choose excitement over exhaustion, and allow myself to work, play and rest whenever I damn well please.

Take right now, for instance. It’s 10:40pm on Wednesday and I’m putting the finishing touches on this piece while nestled between cushions on the couch. Sabrina Carpenter is blasting in my ear, the vibes are high, and the sentences spill promiscuously through my fingers onto the page.

Tonight I feel inspired, not run down. Tonight I feel driven, not dragged. Tonight I’m working late not because I have to, but because I want to. And I’ll continue tapping and bopping until the words dry up and the tunes fade to white noise.

It looks like I’m in for a long night. I think I need an espresso.

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I’ve been working round the clock while I build this newsletter and wonderful community of writers, readers, portfolio careerists, solopreneurs, founders and those who want to make a difference in this world. Here’s a BTS look at my reality (I wouldn’t have it any other way).

annaclmack

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🎙️ How to create experiments and design your ideal schedule:

• The funny backstory to this week’s newsletter [1:00]

• Why I was sTrEsSed about sharing my ideal schedule with you all [2:46]

• How I designed my monthly ‘ways of working’ tests [4:35]

• How my ideal week framework helps me make decisions about which types of clients to take on [8:42]

• My 2025 mission to discover what my ideal month and year looks like [10:22]

• Next’s week’s post is answering the portfolio career question ‘where do I start?’ [11:55]

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