Parker Ehret

5am: Walk/Workout

6am: Shower/Get Ready

6:30am: Breakfast with my wife and kids

7-7:30am: Drive to Coffee

7:30-9am: Beacon

9-11:30am : Meta

11:30am-12pm - Lunch

12-4:30pm : Meta

4:30-6pm: Beacon

6-7pm: Dinner/Bath/Books/Bedtime

7-9pm: Beacon/Other Side Projects

9-10pm: Time with my wife

10pm: I’d be shocked if I was still awake at 10

I recently added the Work Louder x Figma Creator Micro to my desk. I don’t utilize it as much as I’d like to, but I have mapped design and dev shortcuts to different modes based on what I’m doing. Mode 1 is basically just for Figma. Mode 2 is for Cursor and Xcode. Yes, designers should code. But, engineers should also probably take the time to develop an eye for design.

I've found that my best ideas come in the quiet of the morning. I orate a lot of notes during morning walks and while driving to get coffee. My best ideas usually hit me in the shower. I try to use my mornings for problem solving so by the time I get in front of my computer I know what I want to execute on and can spend less time doing explorations.

Whether I was working at a startup, doing side projects, or parenting, I’ve gotten pretty used to context switching over the years. When I decide to focus on something, I don’t allow myself to think about anything other than the thing I’m currently focused on. Additionally, I’ve found it super useful to use small physical changes to help switch context. For example, I don’t wear shoes in the house but I always wear shoes in my home office, so not wearing shoes has now created a Pavlovian response to switch back into family/dad mode. Another fun hack I use is that for some projects I only use my standing desk, while other projects I will only sit. If I have a ton on my mind, I’ll walk around the block, put everything into Notes, and settle my thoughts before I go in the house.