Christina is the author of Wake Up or Die Poor, a comprehensive guide to turning your disposable income into valuable revenue.

What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up, to heading to bed?
5:30: reveille.
6:10: in the kitchen prepping breakfasts and lunches for the day (for me and the 3 kiddies).
6:20: husband blows by me
6:22: I complain that I need a wife, or a clone
6:23: dirty looks… and kisses
6:20: wonder if the babysitter will show up on time… or at all
6:45: door opens… thank goodness
6:55: Mississauga rd. on-ramp shoving 4 egg whites in my head while maneuvering stick shift
7:15: cursing Jameson bridge construction
7:25: cursing Jameson bridge construction
7:35: running from car to office in east Liberty village, already 5 min late for first conference call
7:36: pig truck drives by on route to rendering plant… I contemplate becoming a vegetarian… poor little piggies… can anything that smells so terrible be any good for you? Poor little piggies
7:42: dial into call… apologize profusely
Thursday’s are one of my IT corporate days: current contract has me working for the Ontario Government providing support modeling and training IT managers for a new role.
7:43-8:29: blah blah blah about risk assessment and lack of IT infrastructure to support new applications coming on-line for large ministry, accept deliverable to set up business case for Director
8:30-9:30 check emails and prepare for morning training session.
10am: Thirty-six people dial into conference call, 6 at the table, 12 on live meeting. I begin 40 minute presentation about participant’s new leadership role and accompanying responsibilities
10:12: guy at my right pulls out an orange and starts peeling it… who does this at a meeting?
10:23: orange guy has no napkins and is now covered with sticky juice… grosso
10:36: whole room smells of orange
11:15: back at my desk shoving lunch in my head and updating training manuals with new information culled from morning Q & A session
Noon – 1pm: more emails, start framework for infrastructure business case
1-2: conference call regarding I T change freezes during G20
2pm: afternoon training session begins… this time all participants on the phone so no stinky oranges
3:20: Q & A session running long… Im sweating – gotta pick up young two from school
3:33: tear out of office
3:43: curse Jameson construction… call eldest to pick up the other two
4:20: in my kitchen prepping smoked salmon, potatoes, broccoli… kids perched at the island doing homework
4:23: question decision to put them in French immersion and reach for the dictionary
4:30: sit down between them and update 2 X support models for work
5:15: husband blows in. We eat.
6:30: leave for Chapters, husband drops children to ballet and judo (girl and boys, respectively)
7pm: “Financial Awareness” presentation for Chapter’s customers – I love Starbucks
8:45pm: get young two out of shower for reading and bedtime
9:30pm: downstairs to hunt (that’s my workout)
10pm: husband comes in with eldest from Judo… asks how I can work out at night
10-10:45pm: Update the discussion forum for “Your-CO of the week” (http://www.wakeupordiepoor.com/board/show/0/)
10:45: all kids in bed….husband and I are outside… breathing
Midnight: Shower #2
12:30: The Economist
1am: sleepy time… Friday’s I work from home… no Jameson construction… thank goodness.

What was your first job out of school?
I worked in sales for Leading Edge Software; a tiny UNIX software re-seller startup. Six weeks into the job I arrived at the office to find the doors locked and all the furniture removed. Surprise!

What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well?
Process Management: I drive waste out of every single process I create or am obliged to use. When you have 3 children and a full time business, living on 4 hours sleep most nights is the tax and there’s no room for lally-gagging. You need to squeeze results out of every minute and all tasks must be made efficient.
Time Management: Knowing how to scope a job effectively and execute on deliverables is every industry’s definition of success. If you run long on any one task, you jeopardize your success.
Effective Prioritization: Planning and performing the most important tasks is not easy – they’re usually the hardest ones to do.

What do you love most about your career?
I only work with people I like and on projects I find interesting. It’s like having a fabulous 3 month relationship over and over again with no bad break up to deal with. It guarantees I jump out of bed every single morning and perform miraculous things throughout the day. Now that I’m splitting my focus between Corporate Canada and individual Canadians, I’m super excited about my upcoming projects.

Do you have any warnings?
There are a lot of flakes out there: people who blah blah blah and deliver nothing. They’ll have you second guessing yourself: “did I say something wrong? Did I misinterpret what was said?” They’ll waste your time: “Ill get back to you”, or maybe “you’ll get back to me”, or “let’s meet” and then cancel or bail. They’ll sap your drive and siphon your energy. Always be courteous and polite (you never know, all of us have had bad days) however in the end, figure out who they are and stay away from them.

If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?
Judge, minus all the years of law school, articling and political nonsense.