Jeff Bezos's Daily Routine
Make fewer, better decisions. Jeff Bezos keeps his mornings slow, takes no meeting before 10:00 AM and holds his hardest meetings before lunch.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, ran it as CEO until 2021 and is now its executive chairman. He also founded the rocket company Blue Origin in 2000. His day is designed around a modest target: three good decisions.
He sleeps about 8 hours and spends the morning puttering, with coffee, the newspaper, breakfast and the gym. His first meeting is at 10:00 AM, and the "high-IQ meetings" go before lunch. After 5:00 PM, hard decisions wait until the next day, and every night he does the dishes. He described the day at the Economic Club of Washington in 2018 and again on Lex Fridman's podcast in 2023, as CNBC reported.
It's for leaders whose big calls keep landing at the end of long days. You get your hardest thinking at your sharpest hour, an evening free of decisions and three good ones a day instead of a pile of rushed ones. The sleep and morning timings, the meals and the weekend are our estimates.
At a glance
- 8 hr sleep per night
- 42 hr work per week
- 3 meals per day
- 12 hr eating window
- 10.5 hr learning per week
- 7 hr movement per week
- 3.5 hr play per week
Sleep
56 hours/week8 hr per night
- Every day10:00 PM → 6:00 AM· 8 hr
No naps.
Work
42 hours/week6 hr a day
- Meetings10:00 AM → 12:30 PM· 2 hr 30 min · Every day
- Meetings1:30 PM → 5:00 PM· 3 hr 30 min · Every day
Eat
17.5 hours/week3 meals12:12 eating window2 hr 30 min eating
- Breakfast7:30 AM → 8:00 AM· 30 min · Every day
- Lunch12:30 PM → 1:30 PM· 1 hr · Every day
- Dinner6:30 PM → 7:30 PM· 1 hr · Every day
Off
Learn
10.5 hours/weekNews 6:00 AM
- Every day6:00 AM → 7:30 AM· 1 hr 30 min
Move
7 hours/weekMove 8:00 AM
- Move8:00 AM → 9:00 AM· 1 hr · Every day
Play
3.5 hours/weekChores 7:30 PM
- Every day7:30 PM → 8:00 PM· 30 min