Tampa Bay Sports Commission Exec Dir ROB HIGGINS knows with his varied schedule, it can be tough to keep track of everything he has got on his plate. That’s why every night, without fail, Higgins uses the tried-and-true method of writing out a to-do list for the next day. As he gets set to celebrate 15 years with the TBSC on Friday, Higgins spoke with THE DAILY about what his days usually look like.
5:00am: I’ll do a quick check of email and social media, specifically Twitter, to find out what I may have missed overnight, then go to the gym for a little while. Usually 30-40 minutes of light weights, nothing too crazy.
6:30am: I head home and help get the kids ready for school, which can mean anything from putting together their lunches to putting stuff together for their after-school activities. My wife takes them to school -- she also works there -- so I don’t handle any of the transportation duties, but I like to help see them off.
7:30am: They usually leave around 7:30, which is also when I’ll get ready and either leave around the same time or shortly after. It’s about a 30-minute drive, and I’ll usually listen to some local sports talk radio to listen to what’s going on in the local sports community.
8:30am: Any email I couldn’t get to when I first woke up, I try to knock out first thing. Each night, I’ll put together a to-do list for the following day, and I’ll start in on that after I knock out any pressing emails. If I have things on the list, it helps me stay on top of both short term and long-term events, since we’re working on some big projects in different stages.
9:30am: Typically, I have wall-to-wall meetings depending on what we have going on or coming up and what phase we’re in with specific events. For example, having just hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four, the NCAA came in for wrap-up meetings where we went over every event, what went well and what didn’t. From a Super Bowl standpoint, we’re going through a fundraising process, meeting with local community partners and getting them geared up for that. There’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to these big events, and our job is to keep everybody on the same page.
Higgins (r) tries to maintain strong relationships and communication with others in the industryROB HIGGINS
1:00pm: I usually have a little window in the early afternoon, which gives me a chance to catch back up on email. One thing I do, which is really a New Year’s resolution of mine, is reach out every day to three different people to just check in. It’s for no reason in particular, just to let them know I was thinking about them. It’s more trying to service those relationships and friendships to keep open lines of communication.
2:00pm: For the most part, I’m back into meetings, again just depending on what’s going on and what’s next, making sure we’re meeting and exceeding expectations.
5:00pm: I always like to run through the list one last time to see if there’s anything I can get crossed off before coming back the following day. It could be a phone call I can do on the ride home, or an email that needs sending. Anything to get more accomplished today.
5:30pm: Depending on if we have an event or something going on that night, I’ll typically leave at 5:30 and if I have a chance, I like to try to get to one of my kids’ practices. My wife and I will divide and conquer, she’ll go to one and I’ll go to the other and give them a ride home and catch up on their days. It means a lot for me knowing that I’m the first person they see coming out of practice. My number one responsibility is to try to be a good dad and I’m going to do everything I can to be in a position to do that.
9:00pm: It’s usually 9-9:30 before we’re all home, and unfortunately there’s usually some kind of takeout as opposed to a family-style dinner. My wife or I will pick something up for a quick dinner, quick homework, and then the kids are off to bed, and we’re not far behind. Again, depending on if we’ve got an event going on, things can change for when I’m going to bed. In the months leading up to the Women’s Final Four, it was probably early hours of the morning before I’d be in bed, but now it's more typically 11-11:30.
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