Have you ever wanted to walk a working week in someone else's shoes? Welcome to our new series, offering a no-holds-barred look at the Monday-Friday diary of successful women.

Dominique Antiglio, 43, is a Sophrologist, author and founder of BeSophro. Sophrology is an eastern/western self-help method which uses a combination of breathing exercises, gentle body movements, visualisation and meditation alongside other techniques to help people live more mindfully, de-stress and sleep better.

Monday

After waking at 7.15 am to my four-year-old Eliott - who’d decided to finish the night in our bed - thrashing around in his sleep, we head down for breakfast. I never start work without breakfast otherwise I tend to have cravings all day. Today, I go for a veggie frittata. We work out everyone’s plan for the day - I couldn’t do any of it without our brilliant nanny; I call her my co-pilot. Today, she batch-cooks soup and veggies so I don’t have to spend too much time cooking from scratch.

I spend most of today in internal meetings strategising how to expand BeSophro and how best to work with corporate firms and employees to manage re-entry anxiety and an eventual return to offices. It’s a chance to catch up with a small but fantastically efficient team of women, and it always includes a few good laughs to kick off the week. Since I am working from home a lot these days, I usually practice Sophrology for 10 to 25 minutes a day in the early afternoon. But today, this was replaced by a last-minute meeting. It happens - self-care is not a linear journey!

How I felt today in one word… energised

Tuesday

I wake up at 7.15am to Eliott’s voice, have a quick blueberry and almond smoothie breakfast with a sip of Earl Grey, then go for a 45-minute power walk with my husband, Fred. From 9am to 12pm, I respond to emails and plan future online wellness events I’ll be taking part in. I also work on creating content for my next online Sophrology Challenge where I’ll be taking people through a series of guided practices to help them reach their work and life goals.

When creating content, I need time without disruption, so I often tell my team not to expect any email responses for a few hours. After midday, I have lunch with Eliott and my nanny, listening to his latest discoveries about buses. Early afternoon, I do a short 15-minute Sophrology practice, which involves sitting in my favourite comfy chair and using a mix of relaxation, breathing and visualisation techniques. Today, I focus on some inner work to relax my neck and shoulders as well as some positive visualisation to help me prepare for my next online event, where I’ll be speaking to some very influential industry people. It’s a great way of helping me feel ready for the day. Then I spend a bit of time on social media promoting my Sophrology Challenge. After more internal meetings about future projects, I meet my neighbour for a post-work Apéro, before getting back into family mode for the evening and finally winding down for bed at 11pm.

My biggest challenge at work this week is… not letting essential daily business admin get in the way of allowing time for creativity.

Wednesday

I spent most of today hosting an online Sophrology workshop for an investment company as part of their “out of office wellness day” – it was wonderful to see so many people engaging in the practice and asking questions about how to implement techniques. I took time out for a lunch break around 12.30pm before fitting in my daily Sophrology practice. I find it hard to sit still at a computer for long periods of time – I’m used to moving a lot thanks to my background in osteopathy, so thank goodness for Sophrology having an element of movement in it.

I do my session standing next to my office desk today, including gentle arm rotations for movement and breathwork to bring me into a fully relaxed state. I focus on ‘letting go’. I spend early evening prepping for an interview I’m hosting with a newly published author, talking all things happiness at work on my Instagram Live channel.

The interview is a fun and insightful way to end the evening - I really love supporting people in the industry and hearing new voices and opinions. It means my working day doesn’t finish until 9pm but that’s fine.

If I ever get a midweek slump, this one thing always really helps… I acknowledge it, then whip out an energy-boosting Sophrology practice for 15 minutes for motivation and energy.

Thursday

We all wake up around 8am and I’m looking forward to spending the morning with Eliott. Like a lot of mums, I often question how much time I spend working, so love having the flexibility to spend time like this together. I’ll never look back and regret it.

I work again in the afternoon, creating content and doing a couple of Zoom chats to explore a few potential work partnerships. My day finishes with my weekly online guided yoga session. I reflect on my day and I feel extremely lucky to be able to have special time with my son - to me, this is key in maintaining my motivation.

The one part of my job I find the most satisfying is… having finally found a better balance between my business and family life.

Friday

My working day kicks off with an appearance on a podcast, which is then followed by a bit of business admin and some social media time. I spend some of the afternoon preparing exercises and scripts for a new online Sophrology course about sleep that I’m planning on launching in a few months.

I always use my Fridays to look ahead to next week. I have a few important workshops lined up, so I focus on designating some time to concentrate on the. Doing this today means that this weekend can truly be about chilling out with family and friends. As a stress-management expert, I value this balance, and feel it’s a lot to do with being clear on priorities - what is important and what isn’t, and organising your time with this in mind.

Each week is so different – this was definitely one of my smoother ones! This year has really transformed the way we operate, so I spend a lot more time at home than before, running workshops live from where I am, and focusing on building more online opportunities. It’s made it possible for me to adapt my work to suit my family life.

Looking back, I’d say this week was… super productive.