Immanuel Kant's Daily Routine
Guard an hour of thinking before work. Immanuel Kant wrote at dawn, lectured all morning, then took a long lunch, his walk and bed at 10:00 PM.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Immanuel Kant wrote the Critique of Pure Reason and remains one of the central figures of modern philosophy. From his forties he kept a day so regular that he was proud never to have been even half an hour late getting up.
Mason Currey's Daily Routines blog, drawing on Manfred Kuehn's biography, has his servant Lampe wake him at 5:00 AM. Kant drank weak tea and smoked one pipe, wrote from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM, then lectured until 11:00 AM. Lunch out with wine and company ran to 3:00 PM, then came his walk and Joseph Green's house until 7:00 PM. He read at home until bed at exactly 10:00 PM.
Adopt it if your mornings belong to a job and you still want thinking time nobody can take. You get an hour of writing before work, a long sociable lunch, a daily walk and an early, regular night. The 1-hour walk is Podio's estimate, and Saturdays match the week here, though he stayed at Green's until 9:00 PM that day.
Who's it for
At a glance
- 7 hr sleep per night
- 35 hr work per week
- 1 meal per day
- 7 hr movement per week
- 70 hr play per week
Sleep
49 hours/week7 hr per night
- Every day10:00 PM → 5:00 AM· 7 hr
No naps.
Work
35 hours/week5 hr a day1 hr writing4 hr teaching
- Writing6:00 AM → 7:00 AM· 1 hr · Every day
- Teaching7:00 AM → 11:00 AM· 4 hr · Every day
Eat
7 hours/week1 meal23:1 eating window1 hr eating
- Snack5:00 AM → 6:00 AM· 1 hr · Every day
Off
Move
7 hours/weekWalk 3:00 PM
- Walk3:00 PM → 4:00 PM· 1 hr · Every day
Play
70 hours/weekFriends 11:00 AMFriends 4:00 PMReading 7:00 PM
- Every day11:00 AM → 3:00 PM· 4 hr
- Every day4:00 PM → 7:00 PM· 3 hr
- Every day7:00 PM → 10:00 PM· 3 hr