[A Day in the Life of Consultant Akemi Ueda] Stacking Up Days That Drive Toward Her Goal

Akemi Ueda
Mirai Works Inc., Mirai Digital Division
After graduating from university, she joined a comprehensive IT-solutions company, where she handled system integration and proposed in-house products to new customers. She also drafted proposals and quotations for existing customers and prepared contracts in English. She later took charge of new-graduate and mid-career hiring interviews. After about five years at that company, she joined Mirai Works, where she works today.

8:00
After getting up, she starts her daily study routine. Her habits include preparing for the Certified SME Consultant (Chusho Kigyo Shindanshi) qualification and studying English. Knowing she will not act without setting goals, she makes sure to secure study time no matter how busy things get.

9:15
Although the workday officially starts at 9:30, she begins a bit earlier. She checks today’s schedule and goes through email and chat. Rather than postponing responses, she tries to handle them right after reading.

10:00
1-on-1 meeting with a contact on the current project. She checks progress and works to understand any issues or concerns. She holds frequent 1-on-1s with several contacts so she can get a fine-grained picture of overall progress and challenges. Based on their input, she organizes what should be reported to the client.

10:30
Meeting with the sales rep. They share progress on ongoing projects and upcoming plans and schedules. Drawing on the sales rep’s input, she refines what to propose to the client.

11:00
Creates materials for the current client. She makes a point of carving out even a short slot for document creation in the morning. This time, she is preparing a deck to propose a new solution to the client.

12:00
During lunch she resets and refreshes. Above all, she just relaxes.

13:00
Document creation. She secures a long, uninterrupted block whenever possible so she can focus. Switching to other tasks breaks her concentration, so it is not unusual for her to spend three hours straight on a document. She typically sketches the idea by hand first and then builds the document with the tools.

15:30
Prep for the upcoming client visit. She reviews the materials for any issues and reconfirms what should be reported to the client.

16:00
Heads to the client’s office by train. During the commute, she uses her smartphone to reply to emails and chats.

16:30
Client meeting. She works through each agenda item, confirming the client’s intent and views one by one. When trust is still being built, she tries to meet face-to-face whenever possible — mainly because catching subtle changes in the contact’s expression helps her notice misalignments early.

18:00
Heads home through the evening rush. On the train, she checks email and other items on her smartphone whenever possible. When it’s too crowded, she switches to “ear time,” using a read-aloud service for books to take in information through audio. Every spare minute counts.

19:00
Her daily routine — a look back at the day. She reflects on what went well and what didn’t, conscious of using it to improve tomorrow’s work.

19:30
She reviews tomorrow’s schedule and, if all is in order, wraps up. Remote work tends to leave her short on exercise, so on days she didn’t go outside, she heads to the gym for at least 30 minutes of movement. Some days she also takes a walk while running errands.

23:00
Before bed, English vocabulary study. Her habit is to spend about 30 minutes on memorization-heavy study and check the next morning whether the items stuck.