Day in the life of an autistic CEO
Alright, simmer down, I know I’m not really a “CEO” because I don’t have a board of directors or a c-suite or anything like that, but “day in the life of an autistic freelance web developer turned LTD company managing director” as a title was just ridiculous. Work with me here guys.
I’m writing this post because a) in my opinion, there’s not enough public representation of autistic folk just doing normal stuff in business, and b) the number one question that people ask me is “how do you do it all?” and I want to show that I do it all by absolutely not doing it all. No, that doesn’t make sense, I know. Nonetheless, there’s so much I don’t manage to do in a day and I hope that this overview reflects that.
This post is a pretty accurate representation of every single day, with a few minor variances for specific activities. I think I like routine or something.
06:15 – my alarm goes off. Smash the off button and snuggle back in. This is prime spooning time with my partner and no amount of “hustle” in the world will pry me from that.
06:20 – alright, willing to get up now. I roll out of bed, get the coffee on the go and make Shane’s lunch for work. Don’t mistake this as me being a good little housewife because I’m anything but; this is a deeply personal thing that I enjoy doing. Yes, I’m a feeder.
06:40 – attempt to start the porridge for me and Izzy (eldest), pour my first cup of coffee, unload the dishwasher from the night before, tell the dog to stop bloody whining
06:50 – feed the dog, feed the cats, wake my youngest, dish up porridge, track my macros, drink my coffee etc
07:15 – shower, if I can get to it… apparently my children are now of the age where 30 minute showers are compulsory. Get dressed, fold some laundry if there’s any waiting (or, usually get sucked into mindless social media scrolling, I can’t lie)
08:15 – shove the kids out the door for their school bus, walk the dog. I try and do a minimum of 45 minutes, usually about 3.5-4km, which sets me up nicely to get 10k steps a day. (An arbitrary goal on my 40 before forty list.)
09:00 – back home, reheat the leftover coffee, fire up the PC, contemplate vacuuming but put it off til later, start the working day by checking my inbox, checking ClickUp for my tasks and team feedback/blockers, checking my calendar for meetings and greeting the team via Slack
09:15 – actually get stuck into some tasks. If it’s a good brain day, I’ll generally get sucked into ‘hyperfocus’ mode and smash out some solid coding work early on. If it’s not a good day, I’ll do some admin, check LinkedIn and wish I hadn’t, check in on my team (i.e. pester Matt), consider posting on the company socials but stare blankly into the abyss instead.
Today is not a good brain day, which is why I’m writing a blog post when I should be writing a proposal. I will panic write this later, 5 minutes before I finish for the day.
10:00 – phone alarm goes off to remind me to have a protein shake, and I’ve recently started having a cup of tea too. Without alarms I generally forget to eat & drink, and I need to keep my protein on the higher side for lifting so I try not to ignore this alarm. While I’m up & about I look forlornly at the carpets covered in cat hair and contemplate vacuuming again; I put it off til later.
10:15 – normally back into my work by this point, giving me a solid couple of hours at least before I’m likely to be disturbed again. Peak problem solving time, but also generally when I’m most likely to be dragged into a meeting. I don’t necessarily mind having meetings but if I have a meeting at 11:00 (for example) I find it impossible to do anything beforehand and will end up stuck in a limbo state. For this reason, I try to keep meetings to one or two days a week and cluster meetings together so I can deal with all the people-ing and overwhelm in one go.
12:00 – if it’s a Wednesday, this is team meeting time. Don’t have the limbo problem with this one. We’re generally all at our desks on a Wednesday so it’s a great time to have a quick catch up, talk about wins, losses, make sure everyone is on track / nobody has any blockers, make sure everyone is having a good week etc.
The first one of these calls with all of us on actually made me cry. It turns out autistic folk can run a successful, growing business.
13:00 – alarm goes off for lunch. Working towards my workout “reset” goals, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I fit as much of my workout in within 45 minutes as possible, leaving me 15 minutes for actual lunch. Lunch will either be something I’ve prepped between sets, or leftovers from the night before. If I’ve pre-prepped lunch I’ll do micro chores between sets instead: watering my plants, putting clutter away, popping bits into the dishwasher etc. Track my lunch macros. Still not tempted to tackle the vacuuming.
14:00 – back at my desk. Re-review ClickUp/Slack. Attempt to do some work but inevitably lose half an hour to Reddit. It is what it is.
14:30 – normally any afternoon meetings would be about now, otherwise crack on with the task list. If it’s a good brain day, this will keep me going til 16:00 easily.
16:00 – kids get home, get pulled out of work mode and into mum mode. Chat with them, walk the dog again (he’s afraid of peeing in the garden so gets walked minimum 3x a day), inevitably answer questions about what’s for tea (dinner) despite having not looked at the fridge nor thought about anything but work all day. Another alarm goes off to remind me to have a protein snack but because of everything going on, I usually forget as soon I’ve turned it off. Probably should drink some water here. Forget.
16:30 – kids noise and distractions mean I bring my day to a close about here unless we have something super pressing on, in which case I shout at everyone to shut the f… up and let me work. If I stop for the day, this is where I pick up any remaining workout, finish any kitchen chores ready for food prep and figure out WTF I’m cooking for tea.
17:00 – if I didn’t finish at 16:30, I try to finish here, otherwise I get sucked back in and everyone starts pestering me with hungry bellies at 19:00.
17:15 – on Tuesdays I normally run about now (once Shane is home from work) and then grab a quick snack before taekwon-do (19:30-20:30). On Thursdays, I run at 18:30 so try to snack by 17:15 at the latest. If I miss my snacking opportunities between 16:00-17:00 on these two days I generally feel it during my cardio activities. Otherwise I start cooking about now. I try to cook proper food every day – curries, pies, spag bol, chilli, chicken and rice, that sort of stuff.
18:00-18:30 – if all’s gone well with snacking and cooking and all that jazz, on most days we’ll be sitting down to eat as a family around this time. After food, Shane and I tag team between chores like loading the dishwasher, getting the school uniform on to wash, wiping down the kitchen etc. Track my evening macros.
19:00 – feed the pets
19:30 – finally get chance to sit down (unless it’s Thursday, in which case I’m just back from running and start cooking now instead). If I have the mental headspace I might watch 20-30 minutes of whatever film I’m re-watching for the umpteenth time but rarely have what it takes to start something new.
20:00 – start winding down for the day – this might mean a hot bath, or reading my book, or just making sure everything is ready to go for the morning. Hang the clean uniforms to dry. Realise I still haven’t vacuumed. Oh well, too late now, guess I’ll tackle it tomorrow.
21:00 – Shane walks the dog while I’m in bed by 9pm at the latest. Sleep is important and I’m monstrous without a minimum of 8hrs. Do Wordle and Connections then spoon to sleep. Sweet dreams!
Fairly ordinary day to day life? I think so. I might have some challenges that other neurotypical folk don’t have issues with, or have but to a lesser degree, like limbo waiting mode, triggering hyperfocus at the right time, forgetting to eat etc.. but these are all manageable with calendars and alarms and routine. I definitely have issues keeping on top of the chores: the vacuuming does indeed regularly get abandoned for days at a time, the dusting never gets done, and I am pretty sure I’ve had the same sheets on the bed for 3 weeks but everyone is fed, walked, watered and looked after.
I’d be genuinely interested to hear from freelancers and other business owners as to how their day looks and how they juggle, especially other parents. Maybe the day in the life of an autistic freelance web developer turned LTD company managing director is not so different to the day in the life of anyone else…