"Here's What Consultants Actually Do All Day"

Hanging out at the airport (flight delays, thanks polar vortex), and just came across this article ""Here's What Consultants Actually Do All Day". As a newish user, I can't post a link so either Execu|Search for it on Business Insider or read the highlights below:

4:30 a.m. — Wake up and head to the airport.
Tierney takes a cab or a car depending on what's easier. Deloitte covers all transportation expenses while he's on the road.

6:30 a.m. — Catch the flight.
Usually the Monday morning flights are at 6:30 or 7 a.m.

9:00 a.m. — Flight lands, hop in a car to get to the client.

10:30 a.m. — Arrive at office, get coffee, and start work.
Tierney says he spends the first few hours on site making "multiple coffee runs," sifting through weekend emails, and reviewing material before meeting the client.

1:30 p.m. — Break for a half-hour lunch.
Lunch can be hit-or-miss depending on where you're working. "I was on a project in Columbus, Ga., at this bank, and Columbus is in the middle of absolutely nowhere," Tierney said. "So we're going to fried chicken places, and that's the only option."

2:00 p.m. — Begin the day's meetings.
From 2 to 4 p.m., Tierney says he'd meet with the client to get a better understanding of their job and their company. He calls these "walkthroughs" and says they give you the "nuts and bolts" of the project.

4:00 p.m. — Catch up on emails again and meet with the team manager.
Consultants spend the next few hours reviewing what they've learned, making sure they understand the client, and coming up with a game plan. When they're not doing that, Tierney says, they're busy preparing PowerPoint slides and fixing details like font size in existing presentations.

7:00 p.m. — Grab drinks and dinner.
Assuming he's not swamped with a project (and needs to eat at the office), Tierney says he and the team will usually go out for drinks and dinner on Deloitte's dime. "That's always fun, especially if you're on a good team," he says.

8:00 p.m. — Head back to the hotel.
On a normal night, Tierney gets back to the hotel around 8 and tries to find a gym. If he has a rental car, he also sometimes drives around the area looking for a movie theater or something fun to do.

Rest of the night — Do a bit more work, and then get some sleep.
Most consultants will log on and do another hour or so of work back at the hotel, Tierney says. That includes checking emails, fixing proposals, and doing some internal stuff that Deloitte calls "partner development work." He tries to get six hours of sleep before getting up to do it all over again."

TL;DR: A third-year at Deloitte gave his typical Monday, causing people in the comments to post, "I KNEW CONSULTANTS ONLY WORKED TWO HOURS A DAY!!!".

So, Business Insider, here is my typical Monday as a consultant. Please post yours as well.

3:15 am: Wake-up and fly to airport. I set my Keurig machine to brew at this time so I have a quick cup ready when I hop out of the shower. I'll fire up the laptop, check emails for last minute scheduling changes, check the weather for flight delays, and fire off some quick emails until my cab arrives at 4 am.

6:00 am: Catch flight. I try to get work done, but sometimes after a long weekend I'll use the flight to catch up on sleep.

9:00 am (two hour flight and one hour time change): Get to airport. I'll hang around the baggage claim area until a few others on my project arrive (from other home cities) and then go to the rental car station. Nothing says style like riding in a Ford Fusion!

10:00 am: Arrive at client site. I'll walk around the halls of the floor, stop in and say hi to some of the project team members (ask how the weekend was, little Johnny's t-ball game, etc.). I try not to schedule meetings before noon just in case of any outbound flight delays, so the next hour or so revolve around meeting with the project team and going over day, week, month, etc. status and objectives.

12:00 pm: There's no typical day, so a Monday afternoon will usually be made up of meetings with the client and Execu|Searchting work in between. Ratio of meetings to work is (on average) 50/50.

5:00 pm: The client team clears out, so I'll use the lull to catch up on emails and lower priority items I've put off throughout the day. If you're a third-year "fixing details in a Power Point," you probably never got promoted.

7:00 pm: Check-in at hotel. By this time I'm starving, and will be group texting project team members to see who wants to go out to dinner and who is too busy. Even when not swamped with client work, there are always internal initiatives to be working on. I'd say about half the team gets dinner while the other half stays in and works.

7:30 pm: Grab drinks and dinner. Being on the road destroys your waistline, so I'll try to eat healthy and limit the drinking to a minimum. Monday nights are usually the least busy of the week, so it's a great time to catch up with the team and see how everyone is doing both in and out of working environments.

9:00 pm: Head back to hotel. I've never seen a movie while traveling, and gym time is usually in the early morning, so my nights consists of work. This lasts until around 11 or 12, which is when I'll call for my 5:30 am wake-up call to start it all over again.

This was a little rushed, but I felt that would match the journalistic quality of Business Insider (and I have a gate change).