A routine might just be one of my favorite things. As a human who balances STEM Ph.D. classwork, my own research project, and {trying to have} a life, it is really important to me that I prioritize building a practical and reliable schedule. But, my days never look the same. A few of you have asked me to go into more detail about what it means to be a graduate student. I think you’ll be surprised that it’s not much different from working a 9-5 job. If you switch out some of your business meetings that could have been handled over email with graduate-level classes, you pretty much have an average day in my life. Let me explain.
An Average Day In My Life
6:00-6:30 am – WAKE UP (& WORK OUT)
I filmed a winter morning routine about a year ago and it’s still pretty accurate. But, I’ve been really pushing myself to get in some of my workouts in the morning. I love doing spin classes at my gym on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s honestly the greatest way to start the day.
7:45 AM – SHOWER & COFFEE
By the time I get home from the gym, It’s about a quarter ’til eight. I shower and complete my 10 step skincare routine [basically just features a lot of hydration and mositure]. I’ll also get my Keurig machine going and make a cup of the Donut Shop Sweet & Creamy coffee.
8:15 AM – BREKKIE TIME
Yes, I did just write brekkie. It’s not important. I start off most days, especially after a workout, with avocado toast & two eggs. But, on days I don’t find myself in the gym, I like oatmeal with bananas, almond butter, and chia seeds. I’ve got both of these nailed down to under 10 minutes each. So, breakfast is simple each morning and I take a little bit of extra time to watch the news or Love Island while I eat.
8:45 AM – HAIR, MAKEUP, OUTFIT
I don’t put out my outfit at night because that might just make my morning routine too powerful. I also think picking out my outfit in the morning requires me to use my brain earlier in the morning so that I’m not too much of a robot. In the winter, it’s really easy because I truly just pick a pair of comfy Madewell, Express, or American Eagle Jeans and pair with one of my go-to H&M sweaters. It is the best formula I’ve ever come across if we’re being honest. I do the same simple hair and makeup every day and it takes no time at all.
9:15 AM – HEAD TO THE LAB
I have a really short commute so it takes me around 15-20 minutes to get to work every day. I don’t have an enforced work start time, but I try to keep it reasonable. And it’s really nice that I don’t have any early morning classes this semester.
9:45 AM – CHECK MY LAB SCHEDULE
I was advised pretty early on after joining my lab to set up a digital daily schedule for the experiments I wanted to complete each week. It has helped immensely. I rarely ever forget to complete tasks now. This saves my time, energy, and lab resources. Every day starts with checking my email inbox, prepping any reagents I’ll need for experiments, and my daily schedule.
10:00 AM – morning meetings
I have weekly meetings with my boss on Fridays. I like to schedule other meetings with collaborators in the morning too. I’m fresh and alert and find that I have better ideas in the morning. Most things can be handled in email, but if I need help interpreting/analyzing data then I like to meet in person.
10:30 AM – EXPERIMENT BATCH 1
I like to work in batches throughout the day. It makes my days the most productive. I’ll complete all the tasks in tissue culture or wet-lab experiments at my bench. I’ve been doing a lot of cloning and western blots to modulate and verify, respectively, changes in protein levels.
12:30 PM – LUNCH
You 100% should take a lunch break and give yourself a break. I find my afternoon productivity is contingent on the fact that I take at least a 30-minute lunch break. The 4:00 pm slump is almost always eliminated because I’m not tired and hangry.
1:00 PM – PROTEIN MODIFICATIONS
The one class that I’m taking this semester is right after lunch. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend eating before class, but it’s really the only option I have. My classes are very heavily on participation and discussion-based. My homework mostly consists of reading a scientific paper that can take up to 4 hours to digest. Wednesday’s discussions are always pretty hands-on and revolve around an hour and a half discussion on everything we loved and hated about the paper.
2:45 PM – EXPERIMENT BATCH 2
My second experiment batch is whatever I decided I didn’t want to do in the morning. I usually process tissues for protein digests or histology. I also like doing my more involved assays in the afternoon too. On Western days, I’ll do whatever steps are remaining at this point too.
4:00 PM – STEM JOURNAL CLUB
Every couple of weeks, a couple of labs who study metabolism meet together for journal club. One person will choose a paper and we’ll discuss as a group the important takeaways. Someone will also usually present data from their individual projects and ask for feedback.
5:30 PM – EXPERIMENT BATCH 3
I finish up the day prepping things that need to run overnight. If I have time-sensitive things, I’ll stay later and finish those up. But, most days I finish up around 6 pm.
6:15 PM – CHEFIN’ TIME
On days I need to cook, I start as soon as I get home from work. The days that I’m not cooking, I usually schedule a fitness class after work. I’ll finish off any leftovers I have in the fridge. My current go-to’s are salmon and a roasted veggie medley or pasta with assorted veggies in a cream sauce.
7:30 PM – CREATIVE AND “WIND DOWN” TIME
I wind down pretty early because I am a grandma. I’ll shower, light a candle, play Maggie Rogers, and watch a little bit of TV. This is time for me to block out anything work-focused. If it’s a content posting day then I’ll sometimes do last minute edits/design things. I am making it more of a thing to work on content on the weekends though.
9:00 PM – TECH OFF
I started implementing the technology off after 9:00 pm so that I could improve my sleep quality. Coupling this with wearing blue light glasses has really improved the amount of sleep I can get and how fast I fall asleep. From 9:00-10:00 pm, I journal and read as much of my book of the moment as I can. This has been helping me absolutely crush my book reading goal. I’ve already read more books for fun in the past month and a half than I did all last year.
10:00 PM – LIGHTS OUT, GOOD NIGHT
Good night. It’s been a good day.
That’s my full average day in my life and I hope you enjoyed it! I’m trying to find more creative and fun ways to incorporate more work/graduate school focused content because I know a lot of you want to know more about it. What does your daily schedule look like?
Keep on keepin’ on.
