It goes without saying that for many years now I have gone to bed on Sundays happy in the thought that the next day I will return to work at Telefónica in Valencia. I start the week without the stress that I hear some people complain about: “What a nightmare! There are still five days left until Saturday”. And when Friday arrives, I happily go off to enjoy the weekend.
This is how my weeks have been going in a fairly predictable way for years now. I know that some people will think that what I am saying is silly and that it is impossible to have that attitude. I haven’t felt the need to express what I don’t think or care what others say for a long time, as long as what I do, say or think doesn’t harm anyone, which is the case.
As I mentioned, every day at Telefónica is unique, so I will detail my day-to-day life using 26 March 2024 as an example, and incorporating some tools and activities that are part of my day-to-day life.
My routines
I start the morning with a set routine: get up, do my morning things and enjoy a nice cortadito outside my house while catching up on news and social media, and then officially start my work day at 9:00 a.m. However, before diving into the day’s activities, I dedicate (force myself) every day some time to organise my daily planning.
For me, this starting point is crucial. I am someone who needs to have everything under control, both personally and professionally: what tasks I need to carry out, what answers to give to emails, what activities are pending, how the milestones of the projects I am involved in are going, when my medical appointments are, pending issues with the bank, among other things. You know, there was a time when this control overwhelmed me so much that I barely enjoyed life, I was always remembering the things I had to do and it was really a real drag. It was then that I discovered a method to keep everything organised, which allowed me to free my mind, dedicate it to other things and live without stress.
My method
The method I use is pretty basic and analogue. I know there are many digital options available, but for me, where there’s a good Word, I’ll be damned. Yes, I use a Word document that I update daily, changing the date, and in which I structure my day by blocks, writing down all the little things I have to do both personally and professionally. I also use this document to place messages underneath the date that I want to be engraved in my mind. At the moment, the message I have included is the following:
“Today you are missing out on a lot of good things by not exercising, eating badly and smoking like a cartwright, tomorrow you may lose them forever“.
In this document, I write down absolutely everything in blocks and in an orderly way to make sure I don’t overlook anything. The first block is called “Marta”, my boss, where I differentiate between to-dos (things I have to discuss with her) and answers (what I expect from her). Then, I have the “Management Meeting” block, where I write down the topics to be discussed in our weekly meeting. Then, there is the “Responses” block, divided into receiving (things that others owe me) and sending (things that I owe them). Next, I open a section called “CGR World”, subdivided according to daily activities. And I continue with more and more sections, including also all the little things in my personal life.
In the Word document I use three colours: red for tasks I must necessarily complete that day, purple for those that could wait, but with special attention, and bold for ordinary tasks, and I do this without cheating myself, well sometimes I do.
This colour coding allows me to prioritise and highlight the most important tasks over the routine ones. And I have been doing this every day since 1999, that’s a lot of years! In addition, I keep each day because sometimes I enjoy looking back and seeing what my day-to-day life was like. It is fascinating and curious to observe how things have been and how they have evolved.
As I said, I do this action first thing in the morning and I update the Word as things come to fruition and/or change. So let’s move on to 26 March 2024 once I have my head sorted and prioritised. My working day focused on reviewing the key performance indicators of the claims first thing in the morning, followed by a first meeting with a new coordinator of my team, where we discussed organisational, strategic and, above all, people issues.
The meetings
Regarding group meetings, I really don’t like to organise unnecessary meetings. And when I convene them, I try to make them very efficient, i.e. the participants know what we are going to discuss and therefore they are short meetings of about half an hour. The longer working sessions are different, where we roll up our sleeves to think together, reflect and propose solutions.
After that first meeting, which ended around 11:15, I took the opportunity to walk around the office and reflect on what had been discussed. At 11:30, I had another meeting with my control reporting team. It was a quick review and approval meeting, a bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam meeting, as we had previously had a working session to define our objectives, evaluate and confirm their feasibility.
We finished around 12:00 and until 13:00, when I had another meeting scheduled, I spent some time calling some members of my team and having informal conversations. Yes, I set aside time to make these personal calls with each of our team members, who number 159 people in total. I try to talk to each one at least once or twice a year. Also, if there are people on leave or going through difficult times, I like to send them a message to see how they are doing. My coordinators keep me informed about these cases. I also use this time to do some of my own work. This would be the most satisfying and enjoyable time for me as it allows me to connect with the people in my team and their concerns.
At 13:00, I had another meeting with people from different areas to discuss the Isla project, review the milestones and plan the next steps. At about 13:30, I continued with my tasks and at 14:00 I took a break for lunch and a walk for about 45 minutes. Afterwards, I had a short break and checked my social media, and returned to work at around 15:30.
My afternoons
Afternoons are more relaxed, allowing me to think and reflect on pending issues, plan and concentrate on my specific tasks. They are also times when Marta, the bosses and I take the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to the business.
Around 19:30, I finish my working day, update my “second brain” (Word) and head home to be with my family. Before arriving, I usually take a short break to enjoy another cortadito and check my social networks.
