Hour by Hour Daily Schedule
When Meg and I started following an Hour by Hour daily schedule, our productivity skyrocketed—but even better than that was the sense of ease it brought. We knew we were getting everything done (and more), without feeling scattered or rushed. The schedule also made us realize just how much time we actually have in a day. And honestly? There’s no more of that unsettling “where did the day go?” feeling—okay, sometimes there is, but that’s normal—because every hour has a place.
We also made sure to schedule time for things we enjoy—scrolling, watching TV, crafting, or even doing nothing. When those things are built into the schedule, we get to fully enjoy them without the guilt.
I’ll be real with you—I can’t stand when people try to teach something but only give some vague, unrealistic version of it. So, I’m going to share our actual, hour-by-hour daily schedule and walk you through it step by step. And at the very end, you can download a digital version to print or use on your device. The link to the paper version we use is here.
How We Use This Schedule
This is our base schedule—the framework we follow daily. It gives us a solid structure while still allowing flexibility for specific tasks. The night before we take a few minutes to look at this outline and fill in the details for the next day on our physical schedule sheet. That way, we’re not just checking off vague time blocks but actually mapping out exactly what we need to get done everyday.
One of the most important parts of our schedule is the Rotating Focus Area. This is where we get deep work done on things that need our attention weekly, but not necessarily every day. You might have more or fewer focus areas depending on your priorities, but for us, this time is set aside for:
- Antiques – Managing our antique booth, sourcing new pieces, cleaning and prepping inventory, and handling sales.
- Fiddle Clients – Our graphic design projects, which include client work, branding, and digital design.
- Etsy – Designing new listings, researching SEO, and batching designs for the following week.
By rotating focus areas, we ensure that everything gets dedicated attention without feeling like we’re spreading ourselves too thin. Instead of trying to juggle everything every day, we batch similar tasks, which helps us get into a deep work state and be way more productive.
Why The Hour by Hour Daily Schedule Works
Another thing we love about this structure is that it accounts for the things that often slip through the cracks—like planning, transitioning, and intentionally winding down. We actually schedule time to freshen up before the evening, prep for workouts, and review the next day, which keeps things from feeling rushed.
We also have built-in flexibility. For example, while our evenings are structured, there’s plenty of free time, so if we want to do something spontaneous, it doesn’t throw off the whole day. And, since we schedule activities we enjoy (like TV, crafting, or just scrolling on our phones), we never feel like we’re “wasting time” when we do them, and we don’t do them when we are avoiding doing something else (big slay).
How to Create Your Own Schedule
This exact layout might not work for everyone, but you can create your own version based on what you need to focus on daily and weekly. One of the easiest ways to do this is to list out all the things you need to focus on, both consistently and occasionally. Then, use this schedule as a template and tweak it to fit your life.
If you want an easy way to generate a schedule that works for you, you can even use ChatGPT to help. Just type out everything you want to include in your daily and weekly routine, and ask it to format it into a structured schedule for you. That’s exactly how we built ours—and it’s been a game-changer. You can even use our schedule below as a template for chatGPT.
Daily Schedule
6:30–7:00 AM: Wake up, Brazil Nuts, Kefir, Coffee
7:00–8:00 AM: Chill & get ready for the day
8:00–8:30 AM: Head to the office; have breakfast & a 2nd coffee/drink
8:30–10:00 AM:
– Check-in to discuss the day, fine tune today’s schedule
– Etsy Tasks: Customs, daily uploads, messages
10:00 AM–12:00 PM: Work on the blog
12:00–1:30 PM: Lunch break/Errand time
1:30–3:30 PM: Rotating Focus Area
– Monday: Antiques
– Tuesday: Fiddle Clients
– Wednesday–Friday: Etsy designing, research, and design
3:30–4:30 PM: Prepare for the evening
– Freshen up, change clothes, & pre-prep dinner if time allows
4:30 PM: Depart for exercise
– Monday: Barre class (ends at 6:00 PM)
– Tuesday: Walk
– Wednesday: Pilates (ends at 6:00 PM)
– Thursday: Yoga (starts at 6:00 PM, ends at 7:00 PM; note: on Thursdays, push back getting ready time by 30 minutes and meal prep dinner until leaving at 6:30 PM)
6:30–7:00 PM: Return home; make & eat dinner
7:30–8:00 PM: Plan & review the next day
After 8:00 PM: Get the downstairs ready for the next day, then upstairs time
8:30 PM: Self-care & start bedtime routine
8:30–10:30 PM: Free time in your room (lights out by 10:30 PM)
If you want to try this schedule yourself, you can download our digital version here. And if you’re a paper planner type like us, the link to the exact paper schedule we use is here.
