My Working Day – Lydia Hoye – Founder of Bound to Prosper PR

As the leader of a company, you are there to set an example and to lead and inspire a team of individuals to achieve a series of business goals. But how do these business leaders go about their daily routine? We spoke to Lydia Hoye, Founder of Bound to Prosper PR, about their working day.

What time do you wake up?

I don’t set an alarm as I’m usually woken up by my 7-year-old daughter or the birds singing as I always sleep with the window open. It’s usually between 6:30 or 7am.

What do you typically have for breakfast?

I hate breakfast but I know it’s the most important meal of the day. I’m plant-based so I get in a vegan protein smoothie mixed with coconut yoghurt, fruit, and nut butter early on to ensure I’m feeling set up for the day.

Then it’s a strong black Americano from my coffee machine which literally makes the BEST coffee going.

What is the rest of your morning routine?

Depending on whether I’m in London or WFH, I’m either up and out of the door by 7am if commuting or I do a 25-minute HIIT cardio class, meditation and then I get my daughter ready for school before I start work.

What is the first thing you do at the start of your working day?

I have to set the scene and prepare my mind for work, so I put on background music, I light a lemongrass candle that is stimulating and look at the tasks for the day ahead.

I usually check my news feed and LinkedIn and if I’m WFH I’ll call members of my team – the agency’s organisational structure is inspired by Laloux’s TEAL model which places emphasis on self-awareness. It’s good to check in..

How do you prioritise your day’s work?

I create a list the night before so I’m ready the next morning taking into account the meetings I have that day. Generally, I don’t believe in having a set way to create priorities as I believe you need to have flexibility and adapt to your mindset on a given day and how it suits for certain tasks.

Of course, there are always pressing things to do which get attention first. I’m not one for putting off things I don’t like doing – I’d rather tackle these first too.

Do you plan meetings or are they a waste of time?

I like a planned meeting that has objective and clear actions afterwards. I also like people who come to that meeting to be prepared. A pet peeve is when someone arrives at a meeting and the first part of it is explaining why you are having the meeting as they haven’t read an agenda or prepared.

Those meetings end up being a waste of time. With our weekly client meetings we like to add in the AOB what can we do more of/ what can be done differently to stretch our thinking.

Do you have a working lunch or do you take a break?

A working lunch as I’m in the zone!

When does your working day finish?

Being a founder means the day doesn’t really ‘finish’ but there are sometimes a few stops in the late afternoon when I need to take care of family stuff and then I can decide whether I work late or put it into the next day.

How do you prepare for the next day’s work?

Positively.

What’s your favourite piece of technology?

I’d have to say LinkedIn. It’s my preferred social platform because I’m not that interested in seeing what other people are doing per se but more about other people’s insights, knowledge sharing and category innovations – I have really cultivated my community on there around the agency’s expertise in women’s wellness, plant-based, FMCG, retail and sustainable interiors – I find it a wealth of good content from people with great intent which helps spur ideas in me.

How do you switch off?

This one’s a biggy for me as when I first started my agency switching off wasn’t easy and the balance in my life was totally out. Then I started looking at my own self-discipline and when I needed to apply it at certain times in my working day.

It was a game changer in shifting my mindset especially when it comes to knowing when to stop working and take some time for my family. I also recently started kickboxing again, which I haven’t done since my twenties – it’s a bit of fun and an opportunity to focus on something totally different for an hour a week.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Making a decision to not do something is still making a decision.