Hello! I am Ghita Sebbar, Consultant at Tyto, and this is my location-agnostic life. In this series, we want to highlight the freedom our model enables and how we navigate any challenges it presents.
What’s your morning routine?
I don’t really have a morning routine, I don’t even have a specific wake-up time, it depends on when I went to bed the night before. But I like to start my day early: I start with a cup of coffee, while listening to the morning radio show.
I sit down in front of the computer around 8:30 am to do my news review quietly, go through my emails and prepare my to-do list for the day.
How do you organise your day?
I’m a bit old school, I like to write everything down by hand: every Monday morning, I prepare my weekly to-do list. So, every morning I review it according to priorities, then follow my news monitoring which is very important. It allows me to be aware of what’s going on in the sector and the world in general, but it’s also a major success tool for my work as a media consultant: I try to identify news-hijacking opportunities for my clients but also to follow who is writing what in each publication.
And then I’m ready to take the day by storm.
In general, I work by slots. For example, I have a reserved slot in the morning and afternoon to contact journalists. In the early morning, I work on content production or strategy, because that’s when I’m most productive. The afternoons are more dedicated to follow-ups on ongoing subjects.
But this is on an ideal day, of course, this program can be and is changed by client emergencies.
When are you the most productive?
Undoubtedly very early in the morning, before being “disturbed” by meetings, messages, requests, emails…
What is your favourite workplace?
My desk. I have my set-up, I find myself there. It is very minimalistic, not too cluttered so I can stay focused for long. It’s also very bright. The light has a huge impact on productivity.
But I also like to meet my colleagues from time to time in a coworking space. Or work with a friend.
What’s your favourite thing about working remotely?
The freedom it brings. I can work from wherever I want – whether it’s my home office, the living room, the terrace, from a café in Paris or from another country. The possibility to choose your work location is a luxury.
But also, the flexibility that it offers, I organize my day as I wish, I am not forced to adapt to opening hours or whatever.
What do you miss about working in an office?
Rather, what I do not miss about working from an office. The list would be long. More seriously, I would say the short informal moments that we share with colleagues, the short coffee breaks, the jokes in the tray, the moments of conviviality that we could have around the lunch breaks, etc. But all this is recreated with Tyto, we regularly have drinks, lunches, and coffee breaks. We also have these little moments, virtually yes, but just as sincere.
What’s your secret weapon?
My notebook, it’s always with me.