In 1975, when I was seven years old, I walked to an old lady’s house, knocked on her front door, and said “I’m supposed to take piano lessons from you, but I really want to draw comic books.” Thus began my musical career. The comic book thing wasn’t a fluke—I was serious about it, even traveling to New York with my family once to tour DC comics. I still read Batman. But around the age of 15, I knew I had to make a choice, and, for better or for worse, I chose the piano. I attended the North Carolina school of the arts, the Cincinnati Conservatory of music, and the university of Texas at Austin, and in 1998 earned a Doctorate in Piano Performance. This doctorate qualified me to be a low paid, part-time instructor for 20 years, at which point I said, “screw this” and, at the age of 45, looked for something else I could do with my life.

I found it in something my father had taught me. When I was about 12, he taught me to say “Guten Morgen. Guten Abend, Gute Nacht,” and something took—I thought it was beautiful. Still do. And this led to a lifetime of interest in the German language. So, when my musical career was floundering mid-life, I gave translating a try. It was a smash hit. I loved it, made more money than I was making teaching with a doctorate and 25 years of experience. And I’ve been doing it ever since.

Here’s what my day looks like:

6am My wife and I get up at his ungodly hour because she teaches public school. She gets ready, and I make her breakfast. And the you have it, the two things I’m craziest about: my wife and food (if I had a third career, I might go to culinary school and become a chef).

7am After she takes off—with me in her rear-view mirror waving goodbye, as I’ve done every morning for ten years—I go back up to our fourth-floor condo and get to work. Unless I go back to bed. But usually, I get to work.

The first thing I do is watch German news on Tagesschau while drinking good coffee (I refuse to drink any other kind). Then I spend the rest of the hour on LinkedIn. Although I’ve never gotten a job on LinkedIn from a new client, I’ve met lots of cool people there, and some of them have forwarded some really lucrative gigs my way.

8am From 8 to 9, I handle our finances: accounting for our budget, sending invoices, tracking late payments, etc.

9am Here’s where I start “deep work.” If I have translating to do, it begins here. If I don’t, I might do anything from practice the piano to go for a walk. I also do household chores at this time: dishes for sure, maybe vacuuming, maybe “decluttering.”

11:30 Lunch. Either at home or at a coffee shop downtown. Since I work exclusively online, it’s great to go out and talk to my friends there. Unlike some translators, I’m an extrovert. I talk to whoever shows up, sometimes for hours. After I finish lunch, I work at the coffee shop on my laptop. And after that, I might stop by a local cocktail bar on my way home.

After lunch, I take a nap if I’m home. Usually about 20 to 30 minutes.

1–4pm I try to finish up any work that’s due the next day (usually in Germany, meaning before I go to bed in the US). I also do any prep work for dinner: starting artisan bread, cutting vegetables, attending to my mise en place.

4pm I start dinner.

5:30 My wife gets home.

5:30 We eat dinner and watch TV. Movies, Your Honor, Gordan Ramsey shows, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Nurse Jackie.

9pm Go to bed, read on our phones until we fall asleep.