What does your daily routine look like throughout the week? Do you watch Netflix or have hobbies? How do you balance work and personal time?
I don’t watch Netflix; I prefer high‑quality entertainment like the anime Monster (I’ve read the manga). I occasionally do 3D design in Blender—about an hour a week—but my computer wasn’t strong enough when I started, and now I only do it sporadically. I used to play pickleball with friends, but nerve damage in my shoulder means I can’t do racket sports anymore. I meet friends for coffee or walks a few times a week and recently did a meditation retreat with a friend. I believe in balance: you don’t need to take massive breaks, but you do need to give your body and mind the rest they need to succeed long term, especially when work is mentally demanding.
My routine shifts a lot, but the number‑one priority is daily actionables focused on lead generation and marketing. I front‑load growth‑related tasks first. I usually wake up between 4:30 am and 5:30 am, then spend time on community management because it’s high ROI and feeds lead gen. After that I handle client management and fulfillment in dedicated windows. I record content for my channels, work on automation builds, and then hit the gym, trying to front‑load that as well. The rest of the day is a mix of more content creation, client calls, and assorted tasks. I do try to get sleep, because I’ve had virtually no churn and I prioritize rest to avoid hustle‑culture burnout.
My typical day starts with waking up—sometimes around 5 or 6 a.m., though today I woke up at 7:45 and felt rushed. On days with seminars, workshops, or community group calls (like last week’s cold‑email workshop at 8 a.m.), I wake up, deliver the session, and finish early. Otherwise, I immediately do my daily actionables: I wipe sleep from my eyes, open my communities, and engage with 50–70 % of posts because I believe the community owner’s presence adds value—most owners just hire a manager and ghost, hurting engagement. Since communities drive most of my income, I invest heavily in them. After community management, I create content (like recording this daily update), then handle client management from 12 to 2 p.m. PT, which is my retainer time for working on client stuff. That block lasts about 2 hours 37 minutes before I’m obligated to do anything else; I then tackle client demands and push any calls to the afternoon so I can do knowledge work in the morning when I’m freshest. I could improve on health—I’ve planned to jog daily for the last four days but keep skipping it because work feels more important. In the evenings, I handle personal obligations: sometimes I spend time with my girlfriend, go on dates, or watch movies (recently we saw Mickey 17 and threw popcorn at each other).
time managementdaily routinecontent creationcommunity management
I think the problem you describe is common. The key for me is not seeing work and breaks as opposites. The most important thing is momentum—making sure I always put in some small daily effort toward an actionable goal, regardless of what I’m doing. Starting small and gradually increasing effort works like progressive overload at the gym: your ability and resiliency grow over time. Most people view work as always on or always off, but I fluctuate—some days I work many hours, other days just a few, while avoiding extreme swings from top to bottom. I always do some amount of work toward my goals because momentum matters; when you get a ball rolling, lead generation, outreach, or content production will eventually yield results if you don’t stop. I avoid all‑or‑nothing thinking—I might work at 40% one day, 100% another, then drop to 30%, 80%, 60%, etc.—and that’s my typical workday. This approach helps reframe work so it doesn’t have to be all on or all off. Books like Atomic Habits and The Compound Effect reinforce this: start with a tiny habit (e.g., run for one minute) and build up gradually; by the end of a month you’ll have a solid habit. This method is far more effective and economically sensible than the all‑or‑nothing approach.
I wake up extremely early—usually around 3:00 a.m. I spend a few minutes in bed deciding how to use those valuable hours, then I roll over, grab my laptop, and start with community management. My community generates a disproportionate amount of revenue (around $110 k per day), so I prioritize responding to relevant posts and doing “roasts” for Maker School and my own site, where I record short videos critiquing Upwork profiles or offering quick fixes. This not only provides value but also reduces churn and makes me more sticky with the audience. After community work, I do a daily balance check: I review my bank accounts to see how much money I’ve made in the last 24 hours and keep my focus on money as the core metric. Finally, I run an inbox‑zero session, going through every email and replying to anything that isn’t obviously junk. This routine keeps me aligned with revenue‑generating activities and ensures I stay grounded in the financial health of my businesses.