Hayao Miyazaki's Daily Routine
Keep a long creative career going on the same hours every day. In 2013 Hayao Miyazaki worked at his studio from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM, six days a week.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli and directed My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and The Wind Rises. In 2013, while he finished The Wind Rises, the documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness filmed his days at the studio. They ran to the minute.
The Daily Beast reported that he worked Monday through Saturday from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM and spent Sunday mornings helping clean a local river. Vice said he arrived precisely at 11:00 AM and left at 9:00 PM all year, and showed him doing radio calisthenics with his staff. Neither says much about his mornings or nights at home, so we left most of that blank.
It's for anyone doing long creative work who wants the hours fixed, so the effort goes into the work and not into deciding when to start. One free morning a week goes to something outside the studio. His sleep, lunch and the hours of the Sunday clean-up are our estimates.
At a glance
- 8 hr sleep per night
- 57 hr work per week
- 1 meal per day
- 2 hr play per week
Sleep
56 hours/week8 hr per night
- Mon–Sat12:00 AM → 8:00 AM· 8 hr
- Sun12:00 AM → 8:00 AM· 8 hr
No naps.
Work
57 hours/week9 hr 30 min a day
Nothing on Sun
- Creative work11:00 AM → 1:00 PM· 2 hr · Mon–Sat
- Creative work1:30 PM → 9:00 PM· 7 hr 30 min · Mon–Sat
Eat
3 hours/week1 meal23:1 eating window30 min eating
Nothing on Sun
- Lunch1:00 PM → 1:30 PM· 30 min · Mon–Sat
Off
Play
2 hours/weekOutdoors 9:00 AM
Nothing on Mon–Sat
- Sun9:00 AM → 11:00 AM· 2 hr