Thomas Mann's Framework

Mann was up by eight, had coffee with his wife, bathed and dressed, and ate breakfast with her at 8:30. At nine he shut the study door and wrote until noon. What was not finished by noon waited for the next day. Lunch came with the first cigar of a daily ration of twelve cigarettes and two cigars. He read newspapers and books on the sofa until four, napped for an hour, and rejoined the family for tea at five. Late afternoon went to letters, reviews and articles, work that could be interrupted, and a walk before dinner at 7:30. Evenings were family, guests, reading or the gramophone, and he retired at midnight. The chart counts the afternoon reading as creative work, so the week shows a three-hour morning of writing, three and a half of reading, an hour's nap, ninety minutes of correspondence and a four-and-a-half-hour evening. The principle to copy: the hard work gets the fresh hours and a closed door, the interruptible work gets the rest.