Last week I had the absolute pleasure to spend the day with Donna Ida at her flagship boutique in Chelsea, working with my lovely client TUSTING on the launch of their (brilliant) new Spring/Summer collection.
I’ve long been an admirer of Donna, who is arguably number one in the business of denim. And so I was totally delighted to have the chance to interview her on all things British business for the TUSTING blog.
I couldn’t resist asking her the one question I’ve always pondered: with a retail empire and such a busy lifestyle, how does she do it all? I expected an answer along the lines of boatloads of assistants or insane working hours, but no.
The one thing Donna puts her mega productivity down to is: getting up at 4.45am every day.
I was kind of amazed, but it totally makes sense: if I got up at 4.45 and squeezed in admin and my own faffing (shower, make-up, dressing) before the kids got up at 6.30, I would get SO much more work done in a day, leaving my evenings free for ‘me time’ instead of ‘catching up time’.
She told me it took time, but it wasn’t too tricky to train her body to get up early; and of course, as an early riser her bedtime switched to somewhere around 9.30pm.
Me in the Donna Ida Pimp My Margo (which of course, had to come home with me) as well as TUSTING’s Donna bag (v appropriate)
I’m considering trying a less brutal form of Donna Ida’s 4.45am get-up rule to see how it affects my productivity: what do you think? Could you give it a go?
I’m going to go with no, I couldn’t get up then, but I totally love a late night hour or so to myself sorting out admin, housework, pottering around etc when the kids are asleep…
I am very jealous of your day out – love the bags and the jeans! You look hot :)
That would not work for me. I go to bed at 10, read and stuff until 11, lights out at 11 and alarm set for 6:30. I have tried to go to be earlier but I just don’t fall asleep. Plus, my oldest child goes to bed at 9:10 so a 9:30 bedtime for me would mean absolutely no child-free time in the evenings.
I got up at 5 for about six months, when Tibbs was teething really badly. It worked for me, I got a lot done.
Ha! No it would not Alice!! I would be a really horrible & grumpy person if I got up that early. However… when I first graduated from uni I worked at a stockbrokers on the dealing floor & so I had to be at my desk by 7:30 – since then I’ve never been able to lie in really. Sad but true story ???? Xxxx
Ha! No it would not Alice!! I would be a really horrible & grumpy person if I got up that early. However… when I first graduated from uni I worked at a stockbrokers on the dealing floor & so I had to be at my desk by 7:30 – since then I’ve never been able to lie in really. Sad but true story ???? Xxxx
hmm i defo couldn’t get up that early but i would like to be able to get up at 6.30 …only thing is i go to bed at midnight so eek sometimes 1.30am. hmm maybe i could retrain myself x
nope! I’m a horrible morning person. I definitely think some people are good in the mornings whereas some are better as night owls. I’m awful any time before 10, but fantastic around 6pm! I’d love to be able to get up early and be productive though, I’d do loads and maybe even go to the gym more often.. (maybe)
Getting up early is something I aspire to. When I lived with my d*ckhead ex, he used to go ballistic if we weren’t in bed by 9.30, which I hated. But after 4 months of doing this I was no longer constantly knackered and on weekend I would wake naturally about 7 am and so get up and get loads of things done long before lunchtime. However, life is so hectic I currently fail to get into bed before midnight and as for getting up in a morning – I am definitely getting worse!
Getting up at 4.45am is something akin to torture. Not a chance!
I love the idea of this as I’m quite a ‘morning’ person, but 4.45am is too early, even for me! 5am in the summer I find doable, but to be honest I’m usually joined not long after by a small person anyway so how much I get done varies
I like the idea of a less brutal version – maybe 5.30am? However I’m fairly confident that if I did mangage to get showered, dressed and made up before my little boy was up then I’d probably only end up smeared in his breakfast or snot!
It makes so much sense! I remember reading a Victoria Beckham article and I’m pretty sure she does something similar- is woken up ridiculously early by her trainer, gets glammed up then plans her day/emails etc so that she can spend time with the kids before school. Although I won’t be able to even consider this until my first born decides to actually let me get some kip in the hours between 9pm-6am haha! x
I get up at 5:30 anyway for work, so I don’t think I could get very much done with an extra 45 minutes, especially as I go to lots of evening events which kind of restrict how early I can make my bedtime!