Ludwig van Beethoven's Daily Routine

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, the Fifth and the Ninth among them, and kept composing after he lost his hearing. His day began with coffee made from exactly 60 beans, often counted out one by one.

Mason Currey's Daily Rituals, which he drew on for a piece in Slate, has him composing from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM, with short breaks to walk outdoors. Dinner with wine came next, then a long walk with a pencil and music paper in his pocket. He spent the evening at a tavern with the newspaper, had supper at 8:30 PM and never worked after dark.

Adopt this if your best ideas arrive early and you want your evenings back. You get one long creative block, a walk to shake ideas loose, and nights with nothing left on the list. The chart rounds his bedtime to 9:30 PM and gives the tavern four hours, and the day repeats all week.