Day in the Life of a Remote Worker: Vivek Nair

This spotlight illustrates how each remote worker finds freedom and productivity in their everyday life, in their unique way. Get inspired and see how you can improve your workspace, workflow, and work/life balance.

Name: Vivek Nair

Current Job: Founder of Pragli, a virtual office for remote teams

Current Location: Inner Richmond, San Francisco

Current Computer: MacBook Pro 13", 2.3 GHz, 16 GB Memory

Current mobile devices: iPhone X

What does your typical workday look like?

7 am

Wake up, take a shower, and get dressed for work. I generally avoid wearing house clothes during work times (and especially sweatpants!) to enforce a psychological break between my personal and work times.

7:30 am

Passage meditation using techniques from Eknath Easwaran’s book Conquest of Mind. I find that this form of meditation improves my ability to focus for longer periods of time. Specifically, repeating longer-form stanzas forces me to be more disciplined about reducing distraction.

7:45 am

Meditation through Headspace. I find that Headspace content does wonders for reducing my anxiety and stress levels. Their content catalogue is an excellent complement to my 7:30 passage meditation routine.

8:00 am

Plant treatment for my bonsai tree. I view this as an extension of my meditation.

8:10 am

Brew my first cup of coffee for the day 🎉

8:20 am

Answer customer Intercom messages and then respond to emails.

8:30 am

Launch Pragli - our virtual office product - and quickly sync with my cofounder about priorities for the day. We leave Pragli open for the remainder of the day (excluding lunch breaks) to feel more present as a team.

9:00-11:30 am

I schedule most of my meetings in the morning to dedicate focus time in the afternoon to either software engineering or content creation. I find that meetings later in the day introduce a lingering feeling of anticipation that severely affects my focus.

11:30 am -12:15 pm

Most days, I walk to the nearby Chipotle and grab a burrito bowl. If I have an extra productive morning, I’ll walk a few blocks to Clement Street (San Francisco’s second Chinatown) and do some serious damage to my life expectancy with a healthy amount of Szechuan food.

12:15-4 pm

Develop new features, squash customer bugs, or work on marketing content. I view this time as my “execution time”. Every now and then, I’ll have an unavoidable meeting that will find its way into my calendar.

4-4:30 pm

Break time to catch up on world and technology news on Hacker News.

4:30-6:30 pm

Dedicated time to work on creative or miscellaneous tasks. I often use this time to design new Pragli features in Figma or send outreach emails to remote influencers or bloggers.

6:30-7:30 pm

Dinner from HelloFresh ordered from UberEats or eat with friends at a restaurant.

8:30-10:00 pm (only on Thursdays)

I frequently play in a recreational basketball league, as a way to meet new people to combat the social isolation of remote work.

Describe your workspace setup:

My work desk is located in my bedroom. Here is the hardware that I use daily:

What do you listen to while you work?

I prefer to listen to music without lyrics during my focus session to reduce distractions. Low fidelity (lo-fi) hip hop songs on Spotify work well for that.

Aside from your phone and computer, name a gadget you can’t live without in your workspace:

I suffer from chronic neck pain and I simply cannot function without my RESTECK Neck and Back Massager. The product is only USD $60 but delivers near-professional neck relief. I use it several times a day while I work.

Connect with Vivek:

Twitter: @virtuallyvivek

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vnair611

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