Working 9-5 – besides being Dolly Parton’s famous song lyrics, this is also the daily weekday schedule of most corporate employees. The best thing about this set up? According to my colleague, it is being able to come home after work and do whatever you want.
For students, unfortunately, this does not always apply. On most days, it feels like my day only really begins once I have come home. Besides the commute and the new job, I’ve been balancing my University assignment, household chores and gym workouts, while trying my best not to skip out on my friends.
This may be easier said than done. After many months of trial and error, I have finally been able to settle in a relatively consistent routine. Here is what a typical Monday currently looks like for me:
6:30 am – my alarm goes off. Despite the daily occurrence, this part is always the hardest. I get dressed and make myself ready for work.
7:15 am – I make my way to the train station by bike. The roads are busy and full of well-dressed cyclists heading to their place of work.
7:30 am – I arrive at the station and board my usual metro and train. Early on in my internship, I made the mistake of dwindling this time by listening to music or simply staring out at the extraordinarily flat landscape. With an approximate two hours of commuting each day, I quickly realised the importance of using this time to catch up on work.
8:30 am – After a brisk walk, I finally arrive at the Hunkemöller HQ in Hilversum. I greet my colleagues and take a seat at my desk. As it is a Monday, I first check all of our inboxes for messages that may have come in over the weekend.
9:00 am – Each Monday morning, my team schedules a meeting to go over our weekly to do list. This includes going over any information that must be communicated to stores in our weekly operational news. In addition, new content must be scheduled in our content calendar, canva edits need to be made and emails must be drafted.
12:00 pm – It is lunch time and I head to the canteen to see what’s on the day’s menu. I sit with my team and we catch up on what we got up to on the weekend.
5:30 pm – Work ends and I head home.
6:30 pm – Dinner time. I heat up the food I prepared the day before. Meal preps have been one of the best habits I’ve picked up and the only reason I am able to make time to work on assignments in the evening.
7:30 pm – I catch up on work for University until it is time to go to bed.
Overall, the experience has sharpened my time management skills and my ability to prioritise tasks. That being said, I am looking forward to the coming moments when I can leave my work at the door.