“God mooooorgen” (Danish: Good morning) – it is 05:45 AM. We don’t need alarm clocks anymore, our circadian rhythm and our responsibilities towards our children and animals does the job! Three minutes of bliss while enjoying the view of nature and then my day starts.

The kids are still asleep so I quickly throw on clothes and go outside where six colorful running ducks immediately run towards me, expecting a large bowl of food. Afterwards I take care of our horses, feeding them with a good portion of hay. This is where I usually take a moment and listen. Hearing the crunching noises of their breakfast calms me down and cheers me up at the same time. But the clock is ticking so, quickly back inside, get the dogs and go for a quick walk. By now the kids are awake and get ready for their day. We have breakfast together, talk about our plans and then I walk them to the school bus. Before opening my laptop I sometimes manage to exercise before going to the bathroom and getting ready. This way, each day of my week starts fresh and with joy.

After opening my laptop, the first step is to check our project list and prioritize the tasks of the day as well as my own To-Do list. Usually the mornings are quiet so I have time to finish organizational things before it starts to get a bit more wild with E-Mails and Calls. Sometimes I decide to focus on accounting, my responsibility next to project management at vast Forward.

As I’m an early bird, lunch tends to start early as well – If the circumstances allow it, of course! If it’s busier than usual, a snack is enough to walk the dog and check on the horses. If there’s more time, I like to use my break and go for a ride along the coast or on the fields. An incredible source of energy and joy.

Having been refilled by energy, work is calling again and if the sun is shining I take my laptop to the terrace or garden.

Since it’s Tuesday, we don’t have a team call scheduled (and because we’re working remotely, these calls usually replace our communal coffee break). So, I’m calling two of our developers to discuss the client’s feedback and a new brief that came in. This is followed by another round of checking the status of our projects, responding to more EMails, and communicating the progress with our developers.

School is almost over and our eldest one has to go to soccer training and it’s my turn to drive – so I quickly pack my laptop and pick up the four young danish soccer players to drop them off at the field on the coast. The kids immediately start running and I open my laptop to continue work – in the sun! Once training is finished I drop all of them at their homes and pick up my youngest from daycare. Once home, the kids start to play which gives me more time to answer any questions that come up or work on projects.

I’m a fully fledged morning person so around this time, my energy is leaving me slowly but surely. My workday mostly finishes around 6/6:30 PM which means feeding the animals and ourselves. If the projects are really buzzing, I open the laptop once more to check the status for the next day.

There is a reason I’ve been enjoying my time at Vast Forward for this long. With the flexibility and self-sufficient task delegation I manage to be present for my family and animals as well, while living where others go on vacation.

Let’s see what the day is going to bring tomorrow, if the weather stays this way I will pick up the kids and go to the beach because I can simply work from there with the kids building sand castles in the background or going for a swim.

Hej Hej fra Simone.