Hello! I am Ann-Katrin Leyva, a consultant at Tyto, and this is my location-agnostic life. In this ‘My location-agnostic PR agency life’ series, we want to highlight the freedom our model enables and how we navigate any challenges it presents.
What’s your morning routine?
My alarm usually goes off around 7 AM, but I often snooze once or twice. I usually check my Slack and emails briefly right after my alarm, so I know what’s coming up for the day. When I finally get up, I get ready, prepare my breakfast, and then head to the living room for a 15-minute yoga session.
Actually, I’ve never been very interested in that kind of sport, but for some time now I’ve been noticing how it sets me up in the morning: I really wake up, completely “stretch” my body and mind and feel completely balanced after just 15 minutes of doing yoga. Nevertheless, coffee is not to be missed. For me, there’s nothing better than opening my laptop with two cups – one with tea, one with coffee – and my muesli and getting going.
How do you organise your day?
To organize myself, I’ve really tried a lot of tools: Whether it’s a desk full of post-its, a notepad or something similar – it didn’t work for me. My secret recipe to forget as little as possible is Outlook. For everything that’s relevant, even if it’s just an important mail I still have to write, I create an appointment in my calendar. It then pops up 15 minutes before as a reminder and gives me the pressure to work on the task. Of course, it doesn’t always work out, but this method gives me the feeling that nothing important goes by the board.
When are you the most productive?
Definitely in the morning. Since all German (and European) colleagues like me start one hour before the ones in the UK due to the time difference, I usually use this time to work on important to-dos for which I need 100 percent of attention. My late mornings and afternoons are often used for phone calls or other tasks.
What is your favorite workplace?
I really love working from home, because: My workplace gives me the peace and silence I need. I can ventilate or heat whenever I want, work with bare feet in the summer and with a wool blanket in the winter. Before I’ve started working at Tyto, I had a “normal” job in a “normal” office and was often distracted by my colleagues at the time. That doesn’t happen to me anymore. The only thing that sometimes causes me to lose focus is the mail truck, which I can watch through my window. That’s handy for the postman, because I’m often already waiting at the door without him having to ring the bell.
What’s your favorite thing about working remotely?
Looking out the window, watching the pouring rain and sitting at my desk in the apartment with wool socks and a hot tea.
What do you miss about working in an office?
Tyto really does everything it can to foster our team spirit – and with success. But of course, a video call is no substitute for a face-to-face conversation with a colleague. I miss the kitchen gossip, the office grapevine. I think that’s important for interpersonal relationships, because these situations are the best way to really get to know people. I compensate for this by having 1:1 virtual coffees with my colleagues on a regular basis.
What’s your secret weapon?
My husband! He also works remotely and initially we thought that it would certainly be exhausting if both of us were “only” at home. But on the contrary, we admittedly see quite little of each other during the day. Still, it’s a nice feeling to just pop over to say hello or have a quick coffee together.