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I wake up at 9:30 a.m. and homeschool the kids.
I stay up until 1 a.m., sometimes later. I’m a mom, and the only alone time I get is if I stay up two hours after the kids go to bed. Moms don’t stay up because we hate sleep; we stay up because we want peace.
I work with my neurodivergent and Type B cycles, not against them. For me, that’s staying up late and sleeping in. I found my most creative hours are between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m.
I sleep until about 9:30 a.m., then I get up, take a shower, wash the hair if it’s a hair-washing day, get ready, and then I go downstairs with my kids and I’ll do some homeschooling.
I either read a book, work on handwriting, or do whatever is on their curriculum for the day with my two littles.
I head into the office around 11 a.m. or noon.
I spend about two hours at home in the morning with my kids, and I come into the office around 11 a.m. or noon, depending on the day. I don’t book any calls until noon or later.
I write my to-do lists — they’re good for my ADHD brain. I have my personal to-do list, which I put first because I am a mom who is managing three humans’ schedules. My daughter is in club volleyball, so she’s always traveling and has practice two to three nights a week. My son is a budding musician and has piano, and my youngest daughter wants to do dance class.
On the other side, I have my business checklist. In order of importance, I have three things that need to get done and then two things that would be nice to get done. Then I read about five to 10 minutes of a self-help book. And then I’ll have tea or coffee, I work for a couple of hours, and then I go home.
When I am in a hyperfocused state, I will allow myself to stay in that hyperfocused state, and I will tell my husband, “Hey, I’m in a really good creative space right now. I need to go away for 24 hours.”
I’ll go get an Airbnb or a hotel room for a night and knock out work that normal people would take five days to do; I’ll do it in one. To other people it doesn’t look like success, or it doesn’t look like something that they can model, because I don’t teach people what’s going to work for them.
Most days I leave the office around 4 p.m.
I usually leave the office around 4 p.m. I have one late night per week, on Tuesdays, where I’ll leave around 5:30 p.m. or maybe 6 p.m.
Fridays I don’t go into the office — that’s my homeschool day with my kids. We do field-trip Fridays, and we usually work on some fun creative project or go to a museum.
I usually work about three days a week in the office. But we’re in the middle of a big launch, so I’m in the office probably four days a week right now.
After work, we take the kids to their activities and spend time together as a family.
Usually after work we are running to volleyball practice, piano practice, or dance practice. My mom helps out a lot with some of the driving responsibilities.
After volleyball or piano we go home, and my husband cooks. I taught my husband how to cook years ago because I used to be a stay-at-home wife — we switched gender roles. While he cooks, I usually sit down and do some type of fun game or play video games with the kids. My kids love to play “Mario Kart,” and we’ll go paddleboard in the summer.
We have a movie theater in our basement, so we’ll watch a movie and then we’ll read books before bed. One night a week we go out to eat — that’s why I work so hard, so I don’t have to have a dining budget, because I love to go out to eat.
The kids go to bed around 9:30 or 10 p.m.
We have a nontraditional family model and a nontraditional way of living. Our kids don’t go to a traditional school, so they don’t have to get up at any specific time. We have an outline for each day, not a timeline. I don’t like to put time-bound pressures on anyone.
When you’re a neurodivergent, there can be a pressure of timelines and the shame of being late or behind. I don’t want to create that environment in my household. We teach the children how to abide by timelines when you’re on other people’s schedules, but in our house we don’t have a strict, rigid timeline.
Around 10:30 p.m. my husband and I do our skincare routines and wind down.
My husband and I have a skincare routine that I helped implement. We will have tea or a glass of wine and then either read a book or watch some trash TV, like “The Bachelorette.” That’s my fun detox. We’ve been reading a book together as a couple on secure attachment styles called “Attached.”
He’ll go to bed around midnight, and I’ll stay up watching my own TV show for about an hour or doing work on my phone. Then I’ll go to bed at 1 or 1:30 a.m.
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