I'm having a bit of an identity crisis with this newsletter. I recognize this was originally set up as your antidote to doomscrolling. But the last few issues have been, I realize, less than optimistic. It’s been a weird, terrifying, heartbreaking time. Sometimes I just can’t find optimism. But this place will always be reflective of the conversations I’m having and I'll always try to share trends I'm seeing with my coaching and marketing clients, insights into trends and actionable, useful information for you to bring into your life.

Also, sometimes we're going to just have some fun. In my three years of doing this, I’ve noticed the topics you all like best are the little windows into my life. You respond more when I share snippets of my day.

So today, I'm sharing more than just a snippet.

P.S. If you’re new here, I’m Amy, a corporate speaker, marketing consultant, journalist and USA TODAY bestselling author of The Setback Cycle. Want to work with me? Reach out here.

I've always loved reading through people's daily routines. I find it so interesting how people spend their days, even in the mundanity of it.

So here's my own “day in the life” routine. I hope it's helpful in terms of how I approach time management while juggling four different revenue streams, a husband, a child, a social life, a community board position and a daily habit of reading, exercising and free writing. It is possible! Kind of! But moreso, I hope it's fun and entertaining and gives you a little levity in your evening.

So, submitted for approval of the midnight society (IYKYK), here it is - my day in the life:

6:40am: My alarm goes off. I hit snooze because it is too damn early. My husband is already up and exercising because he is out of his mind.

7:05 am: I lurch myself out of bed after the third snooze (attempting that annoying 5,4,3,2,1, curse Mel Robbins and go!), pour a cup of coffee and get dressed before it’s time to wake the child up for school.

7:15 am: I get into bed with my daughter and we snuggle for five minutes before forcing ourselves out of bed. This is around the time my husband finishes his workout, comes upstairs and helps her get ready for school before he showers and heads off to work. I make her breakfast and pack her bag while they pick out outfits together and chat.

7:50 am: The time I attempt to leave the house

8:05 am: The time we actually leave the house.

We usually run into friends along the walk to school. We are frequently walking through the neighborhood as a giant herd of adults with work bags and children with tiny backpacks. We stay at the front entrance and watch the little ones walk in together until they disappear behind the school doors and we all go off on our separate ways - some parents heading to the subway, others back to their cars and others walk back to their homes. Today I’m walking back home since I don’t have any in person meetings until the afternoon.

8:30am: Lay out my day, journal, respond to any urgent emails.

9:00 am: Exercise. If I don’t do this before 10 am it doesn’t happen. Even if I’m crunched for time I try to squeeze in a 15-20 minute workout. It counts! Today I'm doing a 30 minute upper body strength class in the garage.

9:30 am: Time for the three S’s: Stretch, shower and smoothie. I mix up some oat milk, vega protein powder, kale, blueberries, banana and yogurt. I go past the “max” line every time because I like living on the edge.

10:15 am: I’m running out the door and hopping on the subway to head to a client meeting that starts at 11.

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10:45 am: I meet up with my client in the lobby where she settles me into the conference room I’ll be working from for the day.

11:00 am: Host a speaker training session for an upcoming event.

11:30 am: Review the brand strategy we’ve been working on, it’s almost ready to be rolled out to the entire leadership team but needs a few tweaks.

12pm: Text my neighbor to coordinate who will be driving our kids to dance class later. I’m in Manhattan today but I’ll be back in time to grab my car and get them. We confirm that he’ll be able drive them there and I’ll pick them up.

12:30pm: Head from the client’s office in midtown to Luminary in the Flatiron district, where I frequently work. There, I’m meeting with a client whose thought leadership strategy we’ve been working on for a few weeks. She’s starting her own venture fund and I’m helping her figure out how to position her as a thought leader in her new industry, folding her prior experience into the background of her story.

2:30pm: Meet up with a coaching client in another Luminary conference room. She’s on the path to become the CMO of a major organization (and she gave me permission to write this without revealing her identity.) Today, we’re going through her last performance review and preparing for a meeting she has with her CEO next week. She's going to crush it. She's so ready.

3:30pm: Hop on a quick video call with my point of contact for an upcoming speaking engagement at a major tech company, she takes me through questions her team has submitted prior to our workshop and we talk about how to structure the session.

4:00pm: Email triage, write down ideas for a future newsletter which will become what you’re reading right now

4:30pm: Leave Luminary and head home, treat myself to reading other people’s newsletters that have been collecting in my inbox on the subway ride

5:15pm: Arrive home, swap my boots for sneakers, throw my hair in a ponytail and wipe off my lipstick as I do an emotional and physical transition from work mode into mom mode.

5:30pm: Drive to the local dance studio to pick up the girls. Sit in the golf lounge across the hall while responding to emails with the other dance parents scrambling to get work done.

6:15pm: Drop off our neighbor at her house, then head half a block to my home and heat up dinner. Tonight is leftovers from last night when I threw some things in the air fryer and called it cooking.

6:30pm: Husband returns home, he joins for dinner, followed by a family Wordle game.

7:30pm: Help child shower, brush teeth, get ready for bed.

8:00pm: Read two chapters of Heidi Heckelbeck, followed by a story about my childhood which always begins with, “Once upon a time there were two little girls, and one had curls,” because my sister had wild, unruly curls in the days before Keratin treatments were available to the masses.

8:30pm: Collapse onto the couch with my husband, talk about the parts of our days we couldn’t share in front of the child, alternate between scrolling, picking up my kindle or a physical book, and chatting, discuss the possibility of watching a show while he reads the Times and I keep reading my book and ignoring the news.

10-10:30pm: Peel ourselves off the couch and into bed where my nightstand has magnesium, melatonin and l-thianine supplements ready for me depending on what time of night I wake up and what magic potion will help me fall back to sleep.

If you haven't done this, I highly recommend doing an outline of your day in this style. It was cathartic and actually showed me how much I do in a small window of time. You don't sit down to appreciate it when you're running around like a maniac trying to cobble together the pieces of your day and make it all run smoothly. So take ten minutes and write it all out. Then look back. Look at you! Look how much you accomplished today! Now go get some rest (Do as I say, not as I do.)

In the meantime, here’s what I’m:

​This profile on Parker Posey, the most underestimated and maybe most intriguing character on this season of The White Lotus.

​Zoe Kravitz, who is not afraid to fail. I also just love this article. Big celebrity profile day today. Probably because I'm currently working on one of my own to be published this June!

How are we feeling about Cuomo for NYC Mayor? I'm honestly not sure.

Am I too obsessed with Parker Posey? Are you also? But seriously, this Gap ad is everything. I can still sing and perform the choreography to many of the musical ads from the 90’s. They really know their target audience.

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