Most wake up early, do their most important work immediately, and then schedule downtime for later in the afternoons and evenings, to reflect, and recuperate. Of course, this is not true of every single successful person in existence, but it’s common enough that it warrants exploration.
Routine #1: Barack Obama
6:45 AM: Works out, reads several newspapers, has breakfast with family, begins work at 8:50 AM
Benjamin Franklin’s Essential Routine
4:00 AM – 8:00AM: Wake, wash, eat breakfast, think about what you want to accomplish for the day, work
- 12:00PM-12:30PM: Lunch while reading or looking over accounts
- 5:00pm-5:30pm: Conclude work, finish the day with dinner, cleaning, music and conversation, reflect on the day
Joan Didion
Morning: various work
Henry Miller Routine #11: Henry Miller
Mornings: If groggy, type notes and allocate as stimulus
- Afternoons: Write to finish one section at a time
- Evenings: See friends. Write, if in mood, but only on Minor program
- Paint if empty or tired
- Notes: Allow sufficient time during daylight to make occasional visits to museums or an occasional sketch, etc.
Steve Jobs
Looked in the mirror and asked: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
- If the answer is no, know it’s time to change something
- Keep your mortality in mind, always
Haruki Murakami routine
4:00 AM-10:00AM: Work
- 12:00PM-12:30PM: Read, listen to music, go to bed
- Repetition is key
- The idea that steady repetition induces flow (it does)
- Allowing yourself to simply flow with your set routine lets you work more diligently
Anna Wintour
6:45 AM: Rises for an hour of tennis, then has her hair blown out and is in the office for the day’s work
- Don’t be afraid to claim a beauty routine as essential if it’s what makes you feel most like yourself
Ernest Hemingway routine
Sunrise: begin writing, and do not stop until what he had to say was said
- Afternoon: complete writing for the day, go over ideas in his head and hold onto anticipation of starting again the next day
- Ernest had incredible impulse control
- He would only work at certain times of the day leaving him with plenty of downtime to focus on what he’d say next
Franz Kafka Routine #2: Franz Kafka
8:30 AM – 2:30 PM: Worked his day job at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, then had lunch, dinner, and sleep.
- 9:30 pm – 11:00 PM: Time with family (and dinner).
- 10:00 pm – 2 am: Writing.
Winston Churchill’s Day:
7:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Wake up, stay in bed, eat breakfast, read, write, and take a nap.
- 1:00 PM – 3:00PM: Lunch, work, and a ½ hour nap, followed by dinner at 11:30 PM, bath, and read before bed.
Susan Sontag
8:00 AM: Wake up
- Lunchtime: Lunch only with Roger (Straus). Can break ‘no going out for lunch’ rule once every two weeks.
- Afternoon/night: take and respond to phone calls (she told people not to call in the morning, or she didn’t answer the phone).
- Evening: reading, to escape from writing (but only in the evening). Fridays: letter answering day.
