Day in the Life: Kate Jones

Morning

‘I really enjoy the morning. I consider myself a bit of a grandma because I get up so early — I’m usually up at about five-thirty. The first thing I do is put the kettle on and make coffee. Then I jump back into my bed, and I journal or I meditate, which I do for about forty minutes to an hour. I always have my phone set on downtime mode until seven, so there’s no temptation to check my messages or emails. I live on Lamma Island, so I’ll then walk to the ferry pier to take the boat over to Aberdeen. I usually drink my second coffee on the boat, and reply to emails or do exercises on Duolingo, a language learning app. Then I’ll arrive in the office, have a briefing meeting with the team and set ourselves targets for the day. I’ll then get stuck into working from my desk for a few hours. I know I’m more productive in the morning, so I organise my day to get to the most important things first.’

Lunch

“For lunch, either I’ll go out somewhere close by or I’ll cook something here in the office, when there’s time for the whole team. There’s pretty much only one thing I make — frittata and salad! Since I’m up so early, I feel like I start to wind down after lunch. So to give my brain a bit more energy, I’ll go for a run. It’ll either be alone, with a colleague or with a training group, which is a weekly meet-up of friends that work around the Wong Chuk Hang area. I usually run to Repulse Bay, and in the summer I often go for a swim afterwards. When I feel myself starting to slow down, putting exercise into my day gives me another few really productive hours in the afternoon.’

Afternoon

‘I know that if I tried to be at my desk for an entire day, I’d get up and start procrastinating — I’d probably start rearranging the entire showroom and not achieve anything I’m meant to! So I try to plan my meetings and site visits in the afternoon. At a site visit, we meet clients and the production house that we’ll be working with at the site of the event or project. We’ll walk around together, take measurements, figure out what we can fit in the elevator, how things should work, the floor plan, things like that. I like to have everyone involved in the project present, so we can visualise as a group how everything is going to run. That means we can bring up any potential issues then and there, and solve them ahead of time.’

Evening

‘If I don’t have a client event, I’m not usually very social in the evenings. I’ll head back to Lamma and get my groceries on the way home — I like getting my vegetables fresh every day. I make sure I leave my flat neat and tidy so when I walk through the door, I’m always relaxed and happy to be there. I then make dinner, which I really enjoy, even if it’s just a simple stir-fry. I also have my phone set to automatically turn onto downtime mode at eight, which helps me decompress. If it’s urgent, people can always call — but I find most things can usually wait until the morning. After dinner, I either read my book, watch Netflix — I love the trashiest reality TV shows — or do a little more journaling. Before lights-out at around ten, I like to do a little organising for the next day, such as prepping for my morning coffee and deciding what to wear, so every morning is always really pleasurable, and I’m not feeling stressed.’