Here’s what my schedule looks like while in Spain. Please keep in mind most of my clients are in the eastern part of Canada and the US. The time zone difference is 6 hours.
Sometime between 8:00 and 10:00 Wake up. This is what happens when you don’t need to set an alarm. Your body naturally determines when it’s had sufficient rest.
10:30 Breakfast. I usually eat the same thing every weekday. This is because I want to save thinking for later in the day, and the food is tasty enough that I don’t get bored.
11:00 Missions with my partner. I use the word “missions” because it sounds like I’m a spy or something. Usually this means grocery shopping, or checking out local shops, or walking hand-in-hand down the boardwalk next to the sea. Major quality time in which I don’t think about work.
1:30 Lunch which usually involves local mangoes and avocados, followed by a “café con leche”, a coffee with milk.
2:30 Prepare for work by reading up on emails and reviewing the calendar. Since most Spanish businesses have siesta around 2:00, most places are closed anyway.
3:00 Regular working day involving meetings, design sessions, workshops, road-mapping exercises, etc. Maybe I’ll do a “Day in the life of a Salesforce Solution Architect” one day.
11:00 Dinner time. Spaniards normally eat at this hour, so if I wanted to go to a restaurant, places are packed with locals and expats. Local ingredients make everything taste better. Some of the best Indian and Italian food can be found here.
12:30 Tuck into bed with a smile from ear-to-ear.
The takeaway
If you’re not a morning person like me, life in Spain is spectacular. Since everything and everyone is shifted later, you don’t feel out of place working.