My name is Ramey Beth Miller and I’m a Personal and Business Coach for my business, rundeep Coaching and also a Government Salesperson for a fortune 500 company in Chicago. I have learned to be very organized and efficient with my time since I’m dividing it between taking care of myself, spending time with my boyfriend, Christopher, family, and friends, while growing as a sales professional, and as a coach. I am intentional about living my beliefs, spending time on conversations, tasks, and thinking space that better equality amongst all people, and better the environment. This doesn’t simply just happen naturally (sometimes it can); it is planned with awareness.
I believe that meaningful changes happen for us by incorporating all aspects of ourselves, and we cannot have one without the other. For example, when a 10-year relationship ended, I started running and got into great shape but my heart and my soul were still in pain so I sought therapy and a life coach and built my skills. If I hadn’t helped the other two parts, I imagine that I would have projected that into various other areas of my life in negative ways. Ensuring that all aspects: mind, body, and soul, are strong, is how we feel fully and deeply alive. I love helping people build these skills through one-on-one coaching, workshops, podcasts and writing articles.
In my government sales role, I help my customers solve their problems with various solutions, and find the products they need to accomplish their mission, create a safe and healthy work environment, and manage taxpayer funds efficiently. I am also growing as sales professional through participating in leadership trainings, networking, as well as coaching sales teams. I also volunteer on a Business Resource Group that collaborates across the company to pave the way for more women to hold leadership positions at all levels within the company.
Workweek at a Glance
This is all accomplished through creating a strategic schedule with great tools, designed for me to accomplish the goals that matter most to me: educating my customers to increase sales, coaching team members to reach their full potential, and improving equality within the company.
As you can imagine, my days are never the same. Each one offers something new and different to keep me engaged.
5:30am – My alarm rings, I get showered, get ready, make to-go coffee to drink at work, feed and walk Cooper, my dog, leave by 6:40am to arrive at work by 7am.
Walking Cooper is time for me to meditate, zone out, or think about my day ahead while spending time with him. If I have an important meeting, this is when I mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepare, making sure I’m my very best at accomplishing the higher-level purpose.
7am-8am – Arrive at work and the first thing I do is review my outlook calendar for the day, and the week. Typically, I spend the first hour checking my sales numbers, responding to emails, and researching accounts.
8am – This particular day I had a meeting with a mentor to review the facilitation I’m leading in October on the topic of men taking credit for women’s work (based upon Women at Work Harvard Business Review podcast) for the Women’s Business Resource Group. My mentor actually asked me if I’d be open to being nominated for the leadership team and I said yes!
8am-11am – Monday/Wednesdays I call my state and local accounts and Tuesday/Thursdays I call my primary education accounts with all notes and information tracked in Salesforce. This call block #1 of the day, learning more about my customers on specific topics (i.e. budget-capital expenditures, small and large projects, or sustainability initiatives).
11:30am – I complete administrative tasks, respond to emails, create quotes, call customers back, etc. using Salesforce.
11:30am-12:30pm – This is lunch time where I typically bring a salad, apple, and cheese to either sit with colleagues, or eat and read for some quiet time.
12:30pm – 1pm – More administrative tasks, emails and calls.
1:30pm-2pm – On this day I participated in a conference call discussion for the Women’s Business Resource Group around how to increase women’s career confidence.
1pm – 3:30pm – Again on Monday/Wednesdays, I call my state and local accounts and Tuesday/Thursdays I call my primary education accounts all information and notes tracked in Salesforce. This call block #2 of the day, learning more about my customers on more specific topics (i.e. contract reviews, or program initiatives, etc.).
3:30pm – 4pm – This part of the day is flexible. Sometimes I keep conversations with customers as a priority or if I have a lot of administrative tasks, I complete them, setting up my inbox to be as clear as possible for the next day. I try to leave each day with my inbox full of emails without the scrollbar appearing, organizing my completed emails in folders, and adding reminders to my calendar for follow-ups.
This schedule works very well for me most of the time. I strategize every six months 1-2 hours on what I want to accomplish and why. From that comes my schedule (see redacted example). Where it doesn’t work is on my reactive days when getting many incoming phone calls, problem solving and handling urgent requests, which is OKAY! Not every day will move as planned.
4:15/30pm – Arrive home and walk Cooper, decompressing from my day with my boyfriend joining the walks on occasion.
When we feel up for it, Christopher and I will go to the gym or go on a run outside. Lately, we’ve had a lot going on (we’re buying a home!) and will eventually get back into our routine of going three times a week because we enjoy working out together.
5pm – I feed Cooper dinner and Christopher starts cooking dinner and we debrief from our day and talk about upcoming day.
5:45pm – We eat dinner and watch TV – we love Diagnosis, The Good Place on Netflix, and Modern Family, and 90Day Fiancé.
9pm – I love to read a few pages before bed of a devotional or self-help book, such as Presence by Amy Cuddy.
9:30pm – I take Cooper out and now it’s time for bed! I sleep with an oil diffuser and box fan to help me get solid REM sleep to feel refreshed.
As I reflect back on this day and the week I realize that sometimes I have to say no to opportunities if they don’t fit within my ultimate goals. I became involved in two formal bidding opportunities with a large county account but then chose not to move forward them since the work involved to possibly win the bid may not produce enough payoff. I had already invested time, but decided to say no.
Another reflection is to spend more time doing things I love simply because I love them, not to accomplish anything. Schedule a hair appointment, get a massage, take a walk alone, go to the gym and do what you feel like doing, etc. Too often I lean on being productive to fill me up, instead of just filling up my heart and soul with love and kindness. In fact, I will put time on my calendar for whatever I feel like doing or not doing this week to make it a priority.
What I do on my non-office days: Whatever I want!
-Schedule only fun plans with family, friends, or solo couple time
-Ensure there is plenty of relaxation time for sleeping in and lounging
-FaceTime my older sister and 4 nieces, and also text/talk to my younger sister
-Walk Cooper on a longer walk and listen to a podcast (Oprah’s Super Soul or The Daily) or my favorite music playlist (Ariana Grande, Post Malone, Coldplay, etc.)
-Shop at the grocery store and do laundry (which can be quite relaxing)
-Write content for workshops, record podcasts, write down creative ideas with actions items
-Google Hangout with my family every Sunday night at 7:30pm to catch up from the week
I’m an ambivert, which is someone who is a combination of introvert and extrovert. I need both alone time and social time to recharge and with social media distractions, needs of others, and a fast pace life. It’s important to have a planned schedule based upon what matters to me most so I can say no to the opportunities that don’t fit within my goals.
Start planning 30 minutes each week, writing down your beliefs, making sure you are doing something each day that reflects those beliefs. Then, start putting actions that support your beliefs into a schedule, acting upon it, and little by little, you will feel more fulfilled and empowered by what matters to you most! You have the decision to take back your time, so let’s do it!
