Mahatma Gandhi's Daily Routine

Mahatma Gandhi led India's campaign for independence from British rule through nonviolent resistance. From 1936 he lived at the Sevagram ashram in central India and ran his days there by the clock. His writing routine began at 4:00 AM, and every Monday he did not speak at all.

The Sevagram ashram timetable has him up for prayers, then writing until breakfast, followed by a walk of about 5 km and ashram chores. Visitors, letters and spinning filled the day, and bed was at 9:00 PM. On his Monday day of silence he wrote notes when he had to and used the day to finish the week's pending work. Lapham's Quarterly adds that he checked his watch all day and often went to bed later than the timetable says.

It suits anyone whose days fill up with other people and who never gets to their own work. The early hours are the only ones nobody else claims.

You get your own work done before the day's demands arrive, and one quiet day a week to clear what's pending. Try your most important writing in the first hour after waking, even if that is 6:00 AM. Treat his hours as an ideal rather than a record of every day. How long each block ran, and the split between letters and visitors, are our estimates.