A Week in the Life of Julia

This ended up being a week where I didn’t actually work on plans as much – next week, there is a lot of working on plans. This week was…. A lot of the other stuff I do…

Monday, August 13

5:00am
My alarm goes off and I snooze it a lot. A lot. I was at the Jack White concert last night and didn’t get to bed until midnight. I’m usually in bed at 9:00 pm. You can see how this may have been an issue.

6:30am
Roll out of bed, hydrate, make tea. Root through emails on my phone so I know what may be a disaster and what may not be. No disasters, everything looks ship-shape. Read so many articles that a few online providers attempt to entice me to pay them money. They don’t know how cheap… I mean frugal …I am. No money for you! Post some news and article links to Slack for Admin Slayer and Spring, so our social media managers can find them and share them. Send one to my double-business-partner Krysten on climate change, which probably won’t make her morning, but it was a very interesting piece.

7:30am
On Mondays, I always write an all-team message on the Admin Slayer slack, with the intention of getting us all on the same page, and motivated towards what we all want to achieve that week. This week, I write about the book I’m reading, Designing Your Life, and what we can learn from it. I’ve also shared this with our Financial Planning Forum, and a number of us are talking about how we can use it for ourselves and our clients. I also use this as a reminder for both groups to check in with our group-based Positive Focus, a weekly spreadsheet where we share the pats on the back we think we deserve and the lessons we learned from the previous week, as well as our top priorities for the week ahead, what our personal workload looks like, and where we might need some help. I complete three of these each Monday, for Spring, the Forum, and Admin Slayer. I also have a more detailed one, with 10 points of Positive Focus from the previous week, and some more detailed client-level and company-level achievements and plans that I share just with the team at Spring.

8:00am
I usually have a check-in call with Shannon, Chief Slayer at Admin Slayer, but today she is on holidays so I leave her alone. Instead, I update my outgoing voicemail message and add more notes on my positive focus. Oh, and read a few more articles.

8:30am
The Spring team assembles on a conference call to walk through our Positive Focus, share our plans for the week ahead and exchange some where are wes and how are we doings. We find this quick check in really helps us align ourselves as a team, and support each other. Then our admin team hangs up and the planners and paraplanners start talking through cases we are working on, discussing key concepts, tasks, and ensuring we’re exchanging information and cases appropriately. It helps us learn about what the rest of the team is working on, and ensures that we’re learning from each other, as well as maintaining smooth operations. Our paraplanners want more opportunities to learn – and help out – so we’re talking today about how we’ll include them in some of our telephone and videoconference meetings so they can take notes for our planners, and contribute more to the process. We finish earlier than usual.

9:00am
Refill my tea. Check our CRM system for my to-do list and send a few client emails, and update some tasks for our admin team to complete. Reply to more emails that have arrived. Have an online “check in” meeting with the Admin Slayer exec team about what’s on our plates for the day – our virtual water cooler – so we can stay in touch with and support each other.

9:15am
Stop for breakfast. I’ve been doing this intermittent fasting thing that you probably don’t want to hear about but you’re reading my week in the life, so now you know. I usually don’t have breakfast until 10 but I’m hangry and tired so I get breakfast earlier. I had three fried eggs, some steak, and sliced fried bell peppers. It’s not so much that I’m trying to eat keto, as that’s what was kicking around. Checked some emails.

9:50am
Check in at the Financial Planners Forum. Contribute an activity from the Designing Your Life book, as this is something we’ve decided to do together and I’m the one who started this nonsense so I go first. Email notification comes in – a Foundation report I’m presenting tomorrow has been proofread by two members of my team. I look through it quickly, then send it on to Lindsay so she can send it out to the client ahead of our meeting.

10:00am
Review financials, compare against goal tracker. Share some updates with members of both teams to let them know where we are in relation to where we’d planned to be (in good shape), and what we need to focus on in the weeks ahead. Review some information that has come in from a financial planner who would like to join our team, provide them with some thoughts and information, and ask Lindsay to book a call.

10:50am
Review spreadsheet received from a client working through a divorce, with the former couple’s initial thoughts on division. Make some pre-tax and post-tax comparisons, send an email to an accountant I’d like this client to work with regarding tax consequences, email the client with a comparison and my thoughts on next steps.

11:00am
Listen to three voicemails that came in, review a few emails but don’t reply just yet. Review notes for upcoming discovery call with client that Sandi has worked with in the past. The client has some complex estate and disability planning concerns so I just familiarize myself with these and prep the notes document I’ll need. Also: sign for a courier that dropped by, sort a few calendar items, send some questions to other team members.

11:30am
Update this week in the life article. Send an email to a fellow Family Enterprise Advisor regarding a workshop we are looking at developing together. Confirm deadline for planning with another advisor. Review confidentiality agreement for upcoming family estate planning meeting, make note to update with some specific changes.

12:00pm
Call with client. I don’t usually take calls on Mondays but instead of letting Lindsay manage my time, I jumped into this one and as per usual, kind of messed up her program. I get away with that once in a while. Turns out that this client definitely needs an estate lawyer first – which isn’t often the case – so I promise to gather some detailed information about their areas of concern as well as use my network to find them an estate lawyer that’s geographically convenient. Send emails out to branch officers of STEP to try and locate someone who can help. Update our internal RDSP Fact Sheet, send to admin team for proofreading, gather links for disability trusts and rules around disability income payments/exempt income and assets to send to client once RDSP Fact Sheet is completed.

1:00pm
LUNCH TIME. Oh wait, email from Kathryn regarding some internal cash flow planning… read, reply. Review Spring slacks about working with paraplanners, and Admin Slayer slacks about social media. Nothing needed from me. NOW lunch time. Grabbed some salad leaves from yesterday’s dinner and threw in these lovely tomatoes I got from the Farmer’s Market, along with some almonds. Balancing my basically 100% protein breakfast. While eating, slacked a bit with Lindsay and Jiveney about some client work, and exchanged messages with a client who is finalizing paperwork with an investment advisor.

1:48pm
Called back a client who left a voicemail earlier in the day, gathered some details from him about the family member who is coming to see me. Read a few more articles, replied to emails from two advisors in different spheres who are working on projects and clients with me. Added an agenda item to the Admin Slayer executive meeting for Wednesday regarding a crossover client. Checked in with another client to see if she needs my support gathering some data from her lawyer. Forwarded a bunch of emails to Lindsay to deal with.

2:16pm
All right, time to work on that foundation report. And take my supplements (I’m imagining my doctor reading this: Look! I’m doing it!). Totally distracted myself by checking LinkedIn messages and now have to get myself sorted and actually work on that report.

3:00pm
Stopped for a bit of a break. Reviewed some slacks from the Admin Slayer team about a website update for a client. Provided a small amount of intel, but they know what they’re doing. Read a fascinating article on fertility law and “ownership” of embryos. slacked a bit with Lindsay. Looks like the foundation report I was working on wasn’t actually ready for me so she’s moved that along in my calendar, and I’m actually going to get to spend the afternoon in catch up/prep mode, which is kind of exciting when you’re me. Reviewed notes for tomorrow, made some minor changes that should improve the meetings, printed a document, and organized my file bag for tomorrow’s meetings. Scanned some notes from last week into a file folder for the admin team to sort through and assign.

3:30pm
Left a message for an accountant regarding a client I think would be a good fit for him. Got my RDSP Fact sheet back from the team, proofread and improved. Reviewed for accuracy, made a few small updates, turned into a PDF, sent it off to a client with additional information and contact details for a lawyer who may be able to assist. Did some banking; communicated with Tiffany, our bookkeeper, about what I did so she’s not confused later. Called an investment counselor at a firm I haven’t had a relationship with yet to get to know what they do and see if they’re a fit for a client; got some general overviews and receiving more information via email soon. More data is always better. Reviewed more messages from Admin Slayer team; added my two cents where appropriate.

4:00pm
Reviewed a group benefits insurance plan held by a business owner I work with, and the upcoming renewal. Gave my thoughts and comments via email. Took a final review of a reference letter for a departing slayer; the executive team is happy with it, so I’m happy.

4:30pm
Updated reports in a client’s plan, sent her a summary of how her new dream would impact her long term retirement, and what her next steps should be.

5:11pm
Shut down work at a reasonable time! What a great Monday. So chill. Take out the recycling on my way out, grab my STEP July 2018 Journal (ooh, the latest EU moves on financial transparency…), my Designing Your Life book and head down to cook some dinner from FreshPrep, one of those companies that sends you all the ingredients you need for the recipe they’ve included. This is my second similar company (the other one was Hello Fresh), so far they’ve both been a delight, plus we don’t waste food or have to think about what to make for dinner.

My partner Glenn ends up making the dinner – chicken tikka masala! – so I talk to the cats (that’s not a typo), read about international tax law changes, and do some yoga. We chat about all these things I think are interesting that probably bore Glenn to tears but he kindly puts up with me telling him that the EU is not a big fan of the US’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and that more and more US persons are renouncing citizenship.

7:00pm
Since I’ve only walked about 1,800 steps so far today, we take a walk through the park next door, stopping to pet dogs and visit the local Little Free Library. Nothing there for us today so we walk to the store and pick up some “non dairy iced treat”, which is lovely. Then we lounge on the patio. I didn’t get 10,000 steps but I’ll live with it.

8:00pm
Drive out to the Greyhound station to pick up my son, Marek who has been camping with his aunt in Vernon (he’s 22, he can definitely ride the Greyhound for hours on his own). He left his car at home because he figured out that taking one of the last few Greyhounds on the west coast would be less expensive overall. Atta boy. Listen to stories of small cousins and the fires raging in the Okanagan.

9:00pm
Read fiction (the life of Lucrezia Borgia!) before dropping off to sleep.

Tuesday August 14

5:00am
Alarm goes off and I snooze until 5:30. Then, I’m up and moving about. I read a funny and insightful blog post on adulting from Holy Potato and tweet it. Get dressed, feed the cats, and out the door for a walk. I delete a bunch of newsletter emails since I’m not up for that today. The sky is dark and the sun is orange – thanks, forest fires – so it’s just creepy out. I greet other early morning walkers and commuters as I go, at the same time sifting through emails and replying to slack messages that built up while I was sleeping. Having team members in different time zones means someone is probably awake all the time. I’m also planning a trip to California at the end of September so I’m flipping through AirBNB listings to figure out where I want to stay.

7:00am
Back at home, I reply to a slack from Lindsay, put the kettle on for tea, and update this article. I am seeing people in person and by video conference today so I have to actually put on makeup and wear real clothes, so this takes some time.

8:00am
Review latest market commentary from two advisory teams. Review an article provided by Pawel at Snap Projections where he mentions our team – which is nice, sometimes people don’t tell you until after publishing – and reply to him with comments, share to team. Reply to email from client who is considering moving her retirement date by a few months – run a quick scenario (imagine her husband doesn’t exist, adjust her estimated CPP income, double check the rates of return, date of values that I have on hand, make sure the expenses continue to make sense, run reports….) – and reply to her to advise that the change looks feasible based on a laundry list of assumptions. Reply to email from Lindsay regarding business card ordering. Reply to an email from another client, detailing exactly how estate gifts are calculated in our planning software, and what impact this has on his overall financial plan, and how this might change depending on other data in the plan. Refill tea…

9:00am
Call with investment advisor from Vancouver Island about her firm; really interesting discussion about the different things she wants to do with her business. Made a few recommendations – and received some – and plan to reconnect in the future (by adding a task in our CRM system because it’s not like I have a memory).

9:30am Review a contractor invoice, send summary email to Tiffany with details, set up payment and ask Tracey to make sure I did it right. I pack my meetings case, and drive to the dentist.

10:00am
Got my teeth cleaned. Sent a slack to all the teams about how stress management factors into dental care, and how dental care factors into heart health (I can’t help it). Grabbed a soup and half sandwich at the mall, and pop over to our White Rock office to set up shop for a few hours. The lovely Susan, our receptionist, has my space all prepared with a chilled bottle of water and several glasses.

11:30am
Conference call with a family regarding some long-term business planning. A few wires crossed regarding the number to call but we managed to salvage some time and move ahead with next steps. Finished my notes, shared to the team to set up tasks and time.

12:00pm
Our new paraplanner, Nick, has provided details for his website biography, which I update and flip back to him for approval, then send out to the rest of the team for commenting, posting. You’ll like him, I know it. The latest Michael Kitces newsletter comes in and I give it a read. It’s about mentorship and training inside a financial planning practice, so of course, I’m interested. I share it to the Forum slack and to Sandi, Kathryn, and Krysten, noting that I probably like it because it confirms my own beliefs but also: there’s stuff here we can copy internally and I’m a huge fan of not reinventing the wheel. I know once they dig into the article they’ll come back with ideas. I make a note to add this to the agenda for our Friday operations meeting. I’d add it directly but the internet – yes, the whole internet – seems to be acting up – ARGH.

12:30pm
Touch up makeup. Applying makeup before going to the dentist is an exercise in futility. Afterwards, I pull out a selection of pens for my next meeting – they all have other people’s names on them. I’m like a subtle marketing machine that’s based solely on my pen-specific kleptomania. Review and provide suggestions on an article a Forum member has written for a financial planning website, on which Krysten has already provided some edits. Send a quick email to a lawyer I met with last week, thanking him for his time, and providing a reading suggestion I think he might enjoy.

1:00pm
Reviewed a Foundation Report with a couple I’m meeting in person for the first time. That happens a lot. Many clients I never meet in person, and others I only meet when they receive their full plan. I learn a lot more about their philosophies and intentions, gathered some additional data, and took copious notes that I’ll be able to use in their plan. We went over time a little but it was totally worth it.

2:15pm
Drive back to the home office. I grab a quick snack in the kitchen, check a few more emails and slacks, get out of my warm suit and aaaah…. That just feels better. Chatted with Marek for a bit. Sent a few emails, responded to two Linkedin messages, retweeted an article that RazrPlan put out, which quoted an article that we wrote.

3:30pm
I hop on Skype for a video call with a US citizen who is looking at moving to Canada. I give her some tips about records she should be gathering, and note that she’s not really in a good position to start comprehensive planning with us just yet. We spend some time going over the basics of what she might need to know about moving here, and about living here. Afterwards, I send her an email with a list of stuff to do before she moves to Canada and invite her to reach out to me in the future. I review some more emails and exchange some Twitter direct messages with a reporter I know regarding a concept she’s working on. I stop to grab a handful of almonds and a chicken sausage roll from the kitchen.

4:45pm
I connect to Zoom for a video call with a family, to walk through their Foundation Report, ask some questions, and provide some answers. This call ends up being much shorter than usual, which balances out my earlier meeting. I finish my notes, and send them off to our admin team to make changes and assign tasks. I review a white paper on a social impact lab that a fellow Family Enterprise Advisor is putting together, send it on to a few families I know would be interested, as well as a few advisors who may want to participate. Quick slack with Jiveney about sourcing a photo for this article you’re reading… my goodness, I have no idea… will ponder… and give some direction to Aspen, who is training under Jiveney and Lindsay, regarding my messy notes. I scan my notes from my earlier in-person meeting today to the team for sorting and assigning. I open a bunch of articles in my browser for reading tomorrow, add my notes to the weekly operations meeting agenda, and send a reminder to team members who have some to-do’s from last week’s list.

5:43pm
AND I’m done. Glenn has made beef kebabs with vermicelli and greens, which is outstanding. After cleaning up (well, he cleaned up, I read some more things), we head over to the grocery store to pick up some stuff. It is very cold and very large in there. I don’t grocery shop a lot – see aforementioned Fresh Prep – and we spend a lot of time just trying to figure out where they keep things in this cavernous tribute to consumerism.

We head back and watch Deadpool 2. I’m a huge Marvel Comics fan and I really should have seen this already. Good for laughs if you have entirely sick sense of humour. Marek comes home from visiting his former workspace – with TimBits and coffee, because honestly, he’s so nice. His entire shift was laid off recently, with a really great severance package, and the timing works out as he’s starting school at BCIT in the fall. It probably didn’t work out as well for others on that shift.

I’m in bed by about 9:30 and read about Catherine de Medici, and drop off to sleep.

Wednesday August 15

5:45am
I wake up to the sound of cats fighting under my bed, which is delightful. Each morning, I test my HRV (heart rate variability) and this morning I get 7/10, which means I’m in good shape to handle more stress than some other days with lower numbers. I clean the bathroom because it needs doing and I haven’t hired a cleaner since moving, transition some boxes around the house, and then head downstairs to put the kettle on. While it’s boiling, I unload the dishwasher, and while the tea steeps, I clean the kitchen floors and counters. Multi-tasking! Then I drink tea and read this morning’s emails and social media messages, forwarding some to Lindsay for management. A mortgage broker has quoted our article on Managing Uncertainty, so I forward that and a link to Snap Projection’s article to Jiveney so she can do social media things with it. I also send Jiveney some pictures to choose from for this article.

8:00am
Once a month, I get to have a call with a good friend and valued mentor. He’s an amazing resource, having run businesses for longer than I’ve been alive, and a kindred spirit. We have a great chat about life, the universe, and everything, which helps inform some of the stuff I’m working on next week.

9:00am
More emails and slacks with the team. I refill my tea and grab a bite to eat with Marek. I download an ebook from a leadership educator and share it with my leadership teams. I haven’t read it but maybe it’ll give us some tidbits. I check in with my Admin Slayer executive team to give them a rundown of my day ahead and read about theirs.

10:00am
I have a call with a client’s accounting team regarding next steps around the client’s year end, bookkeeping, cash management, and an “all hands” meeting in October. Afterwards, I shoot off an email to the bookkeeping and cash management people, as well as the investment manager, to let them all know where we stand and what next steps are. I read an article from Scientific American about hypocognition and share it with the Forum as it provides some pretty strong scientific research for the concept that humans beings are inherently biased towards what they know, and what they get paid to do. I have a long slack discussion with Krysten about next week, as I am going to be spending Saturday to Thursday at her house in Kamloops, followed by a retreat for the Admin Slayer shareholder team. Lots of planning to do and things to consider, so of course we create plans around our planning… because…. planning…

11:00am
More reading, more emails, and more sharing. Then I drive down to White Rock beach for lunch.

12:00pm
I have lunch with an investment counselor from the Okanagan I haven’t met before, and we learn lots about each other’s businesses. We talk a lot and continue into the parking lot but then we finally make it into our cars and back to work.

2:00pm
I set up tasks in our CRM system following today’s calls and meetings so far, then slack the team to let them know how lunch went and what next steps are. I return the call of an accountant who was returning my call, but he’s not available so I set up a time to call him Friday. I return the calls of two clients who I also missed, send emails and set up tasks in our CRM system. I reply to Jiveney regarding who will be covering her social media responsibilities while she’s on holidays (summer…. I swear) and then to Tracey regarding some bookkeeping software connectivity issues we’re experiencing.

3:00pm
I have a discussion with a business owner client about finding resources for a workplace wellness program, and how that might impact the triple bottom line (people, profit, planet). I send contact info for a website designer to another business owner who has a minor website crisis, then have a quick slack discussion with Tracey about bill and expense report payments, systems and processes going forward. I receive an update from a family business owner regarding a recent report, and reply that I will look at altering a specific payment from 10 years to 20 years to see what the result would be. I run the numbers, popped a question over to their tax and estate lawyer.

4:00pm
I come up with an idea – really just a question that needs answering – about workplace wellness programs, based on my earlier discussion, and float it to Krysten, then send a message to my friend Heidi at Project House who is an HR specialist. Hmmm. There’s something there. I make some tea and eat a handful of almonds.

4:30pm
I review some cash flow data provided by a client, update her spreadsheet and forward the link to her for her review. Then, I send a summary email to her investment manager with an update, a few questions, and next steps. I review our list of clients actively engaged in planning in order to answer the team’s question about whether we want to offer them Onist as a tool, added my answers, and slack the team to let them know the answers are available. I review the agenda for tonight’s Admin Slayer executive meeting, as well as some reports, meeting notes and templates, add commentary, and set a preliminary budget for fiscal 2019 marketing.

5:22pm
Time to make some dinner. Glenn is out with some friends, so I guess I’ll make my own dinner [sigh] . Today it’s pork chop in apple cider jus with butternut squash – and it’s pretty awesome. I finish up cooking, eating, and cleaning and then it’s…

6:30pm
The Admin Slayer Executive Conference Call. Our executive team has a weekly meeting by conference call and once a month by videoconference. This week, Shannon is still on holidays, so it’s just me, Krysten, and Tracey. We’d originally set this meeting on Wednesday evenings because we all worked other jobs during the day and now… well it’s comfortable. We whip through our agenda items pretty quickly, as we have for the last month. We used to have 90 minute to 2 hour meetings and this one is only about 45 minutes. We’re not sure if it’s just that we’re having fewer issues or summertime is just easier. We finalize that marketing budget decision, discuss a few new and returning clients, slayer training, new slayers, and add some more to the agenda for next week’s retreat.

7:15pm
A few more housekeeping items and then I head downstairs to hang out with Marek while he carefully glues a lamp back together. Then I go back upstairs, lounge with the cats and get some reading in before bed.

Thursday August 16

5:30am
Up with the birds and doing morning things. There’s lots of reading, emails, and slacks, caring and feeding of house panthers, and getting ready for the day – another one where I’ll be seeing humans in real life so I spend my time looking appropriate.

7:45am
Much more reading and emails. I pop over to tomorrow’s to do list and write the introduction to this month’s newsletter instead of doing the things that were scheduled for this morning, which is the sort of thing that likely drives my admin team insane. I let them know I’ve done this, finish the article, and pop it into the “marketing” channel in slack to ask the team to review and add information/comments. I pay some invoices, reply to some more emails that have popped up and manage a few other pieces of banking.

9:00am
I have a quick call with a client about some updated reports; she has questions and I let her know that I’ll come back in the next few days with all the answers. My internet decides to lose its mind and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get work done, to no avail. I let Lindsay know what’s up and she changes things in my schedule so the items still get done but later. I make an omelet and sit down with Marek, who ends up on the phone with our internet provider, because I don’t have the patience for it. I do as much as I can using my phone data, which is not a ton.

10:30am
A client calls in that brief window when the internet is back up – the office phone is internet based – and we talk for less than 5 minutes before it cuts out again. I call her back on my cell phone and we finish strategizing about her divorce, and next steps with her lawyer.

11:00am
Glenn has kindly taken my car to the dealership to get some recall part replaced (free parts!) so I drive his SUV into Vancouver, which takes some getting used to. I listen to two Freakonomics podcasts along the way, one of which is about the UN’s World Happiness Report and how Denmark seems to have it right.

12:30pm
I meet up with a client at Meet in Yaletown, a cool vegetarian restaurant that makes macaroni and “cheese”… with cashews instead of milk products and it makes me very happy. As does, of course, meeting with my client! We talk about her upcoming retirement and the unexpected stressors around it, really digging into cash flow and defining a sense of purpose.

2:30pm
I meet with a new prospective client to learn about what she might want from financial planning, and on the way learn a lot about her business, which is fascinating. I get an opportunity to share with her how financial services firms work from a financial perspective, and we talk about a couple different models that exist, which I think she finds really interesting. I suspect she may be really well served by Sandi and let her know that I’ll send her a few worksheets to get her thoughts together and if she’s interested in proceeding with some planning, I’ll set her up with Sandi.

3:30 pm
Lots of slacks with Krysten and Lindsay, some emails, and a walk through Coal Harbour, which is just beautiful today – especially since there is a lot less forest fire smoke. There are cruise ship vacationers everywhere in the streets and I dodge amateur photographers as well as cyclists on the way to Lift, a restaurant in the harbour with outstanding views of Stanley Park and the Burrard Inlet.

4:30pm
I meet up with a colleague and friend who is in town from Toronto. Lots of idea exchanging about her business and mine, and we make tentative plans for me to visit her in Toronto in October, as there’s a meeting of some minds she’d like me to participate in – which is hugely flattering and flattery gets you everywhere with me. We walk back along Coal Harbour, talking about art and politics and then I head onto the highway out to White Rock, which ends up taking well over an hour, so I listen to a few more podcasts.

7:00pm
Home! Check in with Glenn and Marek and then I toss together some shrimp tomato basil orzo, and we sit down to a meal. The internet issue is partially resolved, and I’m given some instructions about hardware usage. Someone is showing up tomorrow morning to look at things. There are conversations about tools, cars, and technology, and I do my best to stay focused, but … yeah… I wander upstairs and read on the patio with the cats before rolling into bed pretty early.

Friday August 17

5:30am
Up and at ‘em. Laundry and cat management. I make some tea, and then get into Glenn’s calendar, booking a bunch of reminders for him for next week while I’m away. I also read a few articles, reply to some comments and questions that came in on social media, and take out the garbage.

7:00am
I share some articles with various teams, slack with Nick about a case we are working on, and forward an email from a client to their investment advisor with comments and questions. Sandi and I slack a bit about some cases we are working on and a colleague’s questions. I get into writing in this article, trying to remember what I did yesterday…. And order a couple of books, and share one of the podcasts I listened to yesterday with all teams. Kathryn and I slack a bit about what we’ll be chatting about in our next 1:1 meeting.

8:15am
The internet guy is here and is probably wondering what kind of people are all home on a Friday morning and I internally acknowledge that we probably have a slightly abnormal life design, which makes me pretty happy. Who ever got anywhere by being normal? Lots of people, probably, come to think of it. But not me. Anyway the internet is down now and Glenn and Marek are discussing technology things with the technology guy. I take my phone off wifi and see what I can patch together… and I manage to complete an article for Admin Slayer about managing client expectations and avoiding scope creep, then communicate with the team to let them know that I’m working a bit blind but muscling through it.

9:15am
Article complete – forward to the executive team for review and commentary, as the internet has returned! Leave a message for a client’s accountant, reply to some emails and…. Internet goes down again. MY GAWD. I refill my tea, make breakfast, and am told that this is the last time that will happen.

10:30am
1 on 1 meeting with Sandi, where we talk about all the things that we do and how our team is doing and how each of us is doing. We’ve recently decided to have this while each of us are walking and Sandi sends me a picture of the street she’s walking down, which looks gorgeous with all the trees bowing around it. We discuss concepts and strategies, workload, growing the industry, developing internal leadership, dungeons & dragons (of course!), and my upcoming strategy week with Krysten. We sign off just in time for our weekly operations meeting….

11:30am
During this meeting, Sandi, Kathryn, Krysten, Tracey and I walk through all the various things that popped up during the week operationally, including software issues, process changes, ideas, and projects we are working on, including a couple of educational workshops, ebook offerings, and a really cool thing for the financial planners’ forum. We walk through our cash flow projections for the balance of the year, make some plans for our January retreat, and manage to sign off a bit early, before the whole hour is up. For the first time ever, I complete all three of my group Positive Focus spreadsheets on a Friday. I check some emails, reply to a slack from Jiveney regarding one of our Admin Slayer clients, update this article, and source a bunch of links.

12:30pm
I eat some lunch, and talk about living room decor with Glenn. Then I shower, get dressed and suddenly it’s been an hour. Damn. I’d wanted to get a few more things done… I check over the final draft of the Admin Slayer newsletter, make a few quick fixes and approve. I work on an update to a plan update and found that I’d used the wrong version of the plan to do my last update… which is frankly embarrassing. I update the report and send an apologetic email to the client, explaining what I’ll do to ensure that the error doesn’t recur. Sigh.

2:00pm
I drive into Vancouver for my neurofeedback therapy session. It may not surprise you now that you have read my week in the life that I have ADHD. Neurofeedback therapy is supposed to help so I spend an hour there and come out very relaxed.

5:00pm
Glenn and I meet up with a good friend and hang out for dinner and drinks around the Commercial Drive area of Vancouver. We head home late into the evening (that’s 10:30 for me, folks!).

Saturday August 18

Today, I get up a little later than usual (7:00 am) and putter around the house. Marek, Glenn, and I sit around and discuss the concept of hygge while we drink our morning beverages and make our breakfast. Then we ready ourselves for the day, and I drive out to the T&T Supermarket to pick up some items that I know Krysten can’t get in Kamloops. After we return, I pack my bags (include all the components of my home office) and drive for about three hours in heavy forest fire smoke, finally arriving at Krysten’s, where I shall spend most of the next week.