A Day in the Life: Audible Employee Colin Weir

Follow along in the "Day in the Life" of Colin Weir to get a glimpse inside Audible.

Colin Weir, Audible's Senior Program Manager, APAC Region, thrives on jam-packed days. As the father of two, he balances diaper duty with projects that span the Australia, U.S., India and Japan offices, a daily CrossFit workout and listening to uplifting audiobooks.

A London native, Colin is located in the Sydney office where he oversees the solution of major customer issues and key program initiatives for the Australia and Asia Pacific teams. When he's not in the office, you can find Colin cooking or spending time with his family. He's also an avid rock climber and long distance trail runner—he's climbed sea cliffs and mountain crags across the world.

6:00am

My day usually begins with logging on from home. Working closely with my U.S. colleagues means I'm on an early morning call most days. When I used to work at Audible in the UK, early morning calls in the winter would be the worst, as the sun doesn't rise in London (ever). However, even in the depths of a Sydney winter I get a view like this from my home office window, so I can't complain too much.

Even so, it used to take me three alarms to get out of bed. Now I have Lochlan, who is 12-weeks-old.

9:00am

Usually around this time I head into the office. Depending on whether I need to keep an eye on a particular work issue, or how much sleep Loch allowed me from the night before, I'll either bus or run to work. Running is actually quicker at 45 minutes (though there are a lot of hills where I live), if I can motivate myself to do it! If I'm running, I listen to something inspiring; if it's the bus, it's usually light fiction. I'll also skim the news and sort emails on my phone.

Current listens: I'm on my second go of Aubrey Marcus' amazing Own the Day, Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit and I've got Tommy Caldwell's The Push ready for the right moment (it's a rock climbing biography, so I'm saving that for when it's a little warmer).

10:00am

I hit the office. Between 10 and noon, I get in some face-to-face time with the Australia team or video conference with the Japan office. We recently migrated and re-launched Japan from all-you-can-listen to the credit model, so a lot of my time has been on video calls or in the Tokyo office. But with that project off the ground, I can spend a little more time with the Australia team, proactively managing key program initiatives here.

12:30pm

Gym time. I (militantly) book out my 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. for exercise, usually CrossFit. Chucking around heavy weights and the occasional awkward British high five gives me a nice endorphin hit to set me up for the rest of the day.

2:00-5:00pm

Hopefully this time allows for some really focused work. On a good day this can be diving deep on proactive product planning, such as preparing for the India launch with a similar framework as Japan's credit model, or helping our marketplaces here get on top of the PI planning process.

5:30pm

I try to get out of the office at a good time so I can pitch in at home. Those days of regular after-work beers seem like a lifetime ago! During my journey home, which takes me an hour on the bus in the evenings, I usually listen to a light fiction book again, or often something short, compelling and easy to listen to as I'm pretty low energy at this point. West Cork was AMAZING. Since Lochie was born my wife Jodie literally has her hands full, so Daddy rules the roost when it comes to evening logistics and chores.

8:00pm

...and breathe out. All being well, both kids will be asleep. Invariably so will Jodie. The house will be tidy(ish) and my brekkie and lunch for the next day are prepped. I take about an hour at this time to eat, watch TV or go online for non-work related stuff. (My current obsession is researching a roof box to carry cargo on top of our car—we're preparing for a road trip to Tasmania!)

9:00pm

The U.S. will be online soon and I take some time now to check that all projects there are progressing well. On quieter days, it's a great time to get through the email backlog and ensure I'm responding to important issues. It's also a good time for writing as there should be no interruptions until at least 11 p.m., when the baby needs his first nappy change.

11:00pm

I hope to be in bed now, and on a good day, I will be.

3:00am

Nappy time! And look who wants to play.

5:45am

Wait, it's morning already?