Voltaire's Daily Routine

Voltaire, author of Candide and the French Enlightenment's most famous wit, fought for free speech and religious tolerance. Late in life at Ferney, his secretary Jean-Louis Wagnière reckoned that the two of them worked 18 to 20 hours a day. His writing routine began before dawn and happened mostly in bed.

A visitor's 1774 account, retold in Mason Currey's Daily Rituals and Meaning Ring's notes on it, shows him reading and dictating to a secretary all morning. He dressed at noon, skipped lunch for coffee and chocolate, and drove out with Wagnière from 2:00 PM to survey the estate. Work resumed until supper at 8:00 PM with his niece and guests, and he often went on dictating deep into the night, as Podio's 2014 chart draws it.

It's for a short season when one project matters more than anything and other people can handle the rest. It suits writers, founders and students who think best when they can talk an idea through to someone who takes it down.

You get 16 hours of your own work in 4 blocks, broken by a drive and a long supper with company. Few people should keep that up, so borrow one piece: spend tomorrow's first hour dictating into your phone before you get out of bed. The 4:00 AM start and the 4-hour night are Podio's inference, since no bedtime survives.