My Typical Week as an LXD Consultant

Everyone manages their time a little differently, this is my basic pattern for a typical week as an LXD consultant.

Everyone manages their time a little differently, but I’ve been asked several times what a typical week looks like in my work. I’m an independent consultant, so my schedule is different from people who work full time for a single company. I work from home and have a pretty flexible schedule. It’s hard to say what a single day is, but here’s my basic weekly pattern.

My Typical Week as an LXD Consultant

Background image of Google Calendar

I originally wrote this in 2018. Surprisingly, while I have shifted a few things, I’m still using a lot of the same overall patterns as I did 6 years ago. I’m updating this post with my current patterns in 2024.

Every day

After I drop my daughter off at school, I usually start my day with email and checking in with projects on Slack and Trello. I also spent about 15 minutes moderating my LinkedIn group (eLearning Global Network) and accepting LinkedIn invites.

At lunch, I always step away from my computer. I find that I need to be in a different room rather than my home office (even if I do sometimes reply to Slack messages on my tablet during lunch). I know plenty of people who are content eating at their desks, but I need both the mental and physical break from being in that same space all day.

Throughout the day during transitions between projects, I do other social media (Slack, reddit, LinkedIn). That gives me a little mental break between tasks. I often do some social media and email right after lunch as well.

Most afternoons, I take a 20-minute nap. I have found I’m more productive when I get a quick power nap, so it’s worth taking the break.

Monday morning

First thing Monday morning, I catch up on email and work on my business. That means following up with prospects, writing proposals, long-term business planning, catching up on my blog if needed, networking, etc. Sometimes I use this for professional development time like reading or taking online courses.

It’s so easy to put off working on my business that I decided I need to do it right at the beginning of the week. I always have something I could be doing for a client, but I try to “pay myself first” and put at least a few hours into working on my business every week. I literally have a calendar appointment for “Work on my business” on Monday mornings to protect that time.

Monday afternoon

Monday afternoons are spent on client work and other projects. I try to have two or three projects in progress at all times, ideally staggered so they’re in different phases. Sometimes I end up with more than that, especially if I have some presentations or writing to do. When I have smaller projects, I can juggle more than two or three of them at a time.

I prefer having some variety in my work. I love writing and storyboarding, but I can only write for so many hours in a day before my productivity drops significantly. If I have one project that requires writing and one that requires development, I can switch between the two and keep my productivity higher.

As a snapshot in time, here’s my current projects. Obviously, I more than 2 in progress right now!

  • Project management for a client (This is light right now, just a few hours a week)
  • Planning a short animated story-based video for a different client
  • Preparing materials for a Twine workshop
  • Drafting a presentation for a conference
  • Job task analysis for an association

Sometimes I have project management calls on Monday afternoons. I find that’s a good time to plan for the week.

Tuesday

I usually focus on client work on Tuesdays, sometimes including phone calls with SMEs or clients.

I know I’m most productive in the mornings, so I try to tackle my hardest or highest priority task before lunch.

Currently, I also have time blocked on Tuesdays to work on my book. That’s a very rough draft at the moment, filled with notes like “Need an example,” “Update this,” and “What am I doing here?” I shift my “Work on my book” appointment to other days and times depending on what’s happening with other projects.

When I need to make appointments, I usually aim for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Wednesday

Wednesdays are usually more client work: storyboarding, development, or project management work. I also work on presentations, workshops, and courses.

I try to work in 90-minute blocks on major projects. That gives me a solid amount of time to be productive and focused, but it still gives me breaks to get up, stretch, and make some tea.

With my current projects, I don’t have a lot of meetings. That means more of my time can be spent doing focus work like writing and development.

When I’m teaching a course, I generally schedule the live sessions at 11:00 or 12:00 ET on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. That’s a good time for giving webinars as well, as a compromise between what works best for people on the West Coast of the US and in Europe (and comparable time zones elsewhere).

Thursday morning

I spend at least 90 minutes on my blog on Thursday so I can publish a new post every Tuesday. I block that time on my calendar because that helps me be consistent about prioritizing that work. Like working on my business, it’s too easy to put aside my blog in favor or client or project work if I don’t protect my time.

Every first Thursday of the month, I join the meeting for the Online Network of Independent Learning Professionals (ONILP). That’s a virtual community for freelancers and consultants that I have found extremely helpful to me for professional development and connecting with others in the field.

Thursday afternoon

I spend Thursday afternoons either on my various writing and development projects or on phone calls. Ideally, I like to batch calls together rather than having them break up my focused writing and development time.

Friday morning

On Friday mornings, I wrap up my client work for the week. (At least I try to. In reality, that client work often bleeds into Friday afternoons too.)

Friday afternoon

Friday afternoons are spent closing out the week. I send status updates to clients, update project plans, and set goals for the next week. Every other Friday, I review and categorize transactions and upload receipts in my accounting software. Tax time is easier if I keep up with that as I go rather than leaving it all to do once per year.

If I have time, I do some client work or reading for professional development. The third Friday of every month is another ONILP call, so that’s my professional development on those weeks.

Looking for more?

Liked this post? You might also be interested in my tips for staying productive while working remotely or all of my posts about consulting and freelancing on my ID Careers page.

Originally published 6/12/2018. Updated 2/29/2024.

4 thoughts on “My Typical Week as an LXD Consultant

  1. Hey Christy. I’m a consultant and this very closely mimics a typical week for me. I especially agree with you on trying to line up writing and development projects for variety and to prevent writing overload. I do the same thing. Glad to see I’m ‘typical’. Thanks for sharing. I enjoy reading your blog.

    1. Glad this resonated with you, Nicole! I still follow this overall pattern, even 4 years after originally publishing it (although now I spend about 90 minutes on my blog on Thursdays since I publish every week). My calls are more spread out in the week and less consistent now, plus I have more time teaching or doing office hours now. But, having a basic structure to the week is helpful.

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