Below lists my daily weekday routine for the past few months (June to Sep 2024) - when I was actively hunting for a full-time job. This routine was true for most week days. I highly highly recommend blocking time off for undistracted productive work (arguably even more so when one is actively hunting for jobs).

6.30am: Official wake-up time. But on most days, my 4 year old son, Julian, would already have woken me up before 6.30am. (I sleep with him in the same room) I then set up breakfast for him and get him ready for school.

7.10am: Bring Julian downstairs for his school bus.

7.15am: Feed breakfast and play with my younger 1 year old son Jude.

8.30am: I go for a walk around my neighbourhood while Jude takes his morning nap. I usually spend 30-45mins walking 2.3-2.8km with some push-ups, squats, breathing exercises in between. I would ensure I get time in the sun during this walk - a tip from Andrew Huberman. I use breathing exercises as a form of ‘mediation’ - essentially sitting up straight, closing my eyes and (attempting) to focus entirely on breathing in and out.

9.30am - 11.30am: I block this timeslot for work - i.e. looking through the job listings, applying, customising my CV for each job application, preparing for interviews, having interviews, etc. I tend to allocate the more important tasks for this morning time block.

11.30am: Head out to buy lunch

1 - 4pm: Time blocked for work - similar to the earlier timeslot. I may engage in some more ‘causal’ stuff like ‘lurking’ around on LinkedIn - catch up with industry news, career movements of work acquaintances etc; doing research on companies/industries of the roles i’m looking to apply, etc.

4pm: Get out of ‘work’ mode and engage the children (by now Julian is already home from school). I’d shower and read to Jude as prep for his bedtime. Then read to Julian and put him to sleep.

5.30pm: Get on calls and get some work done if any. As much as I’d like to get more work done in the evening after the 2 children are asleep, I end up bingeing on YouTube/Netflix on most days.

10.30pm: Head to bed

P.S. Image above: Bringing Jude downstairs to fetch Julian from his school bus