Creative work
Weeks for people who want to write a book, make music or make art beside a day job: a creative practice at a fixed time, and the energy saved for it.
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25 frameworks
Steve Jobs's Daily Routine
Skip the listicles and get the sourced day. Steve Jobs worked from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM when he returned to Apple in 1997, Walter Isaacson reports.
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Alexander Graham Bell's Daily Routine
Try ending each day on a question. Alexander Graham Bell worked from 9:30 PM to 4:30 AM, set a problem in his mind, then slept until noon.
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Paul Graham's Daily Routine
Get a maker's schedule inside a manager's day. Paul Graham did business until dinner, then programmed from dinner until about 3:00 AM.
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Thomas Edison's Daily Routine
Keep learning after a full day's work. Thomas Edison was at his lab by 8:00 AM, home for tea at 6:00 PM, then studied until 11:00 PM.
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Brian Chesky's Daily Routine
Keep your best hours for your best ideas. Airbnb's Brian Chesky starts slow, books nothing before 10:00 AM and saves 9:30 PM onward for creative work.
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Nikola Tesla's Daily Routine
Build a long day around one fixed ritual. Nikola Tesla worked in his lab from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, dined at 8:00 PM sharp, then went back to work.
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Pablo Picasso's Daily Routine
Make a night-owl body clock work for you. Pablo Picasso slept late, saw friends until 3:00 PM, then painted until 2:30 AM with a break for dinner.
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John Milton's Daily Routine
Compose before dawn, then walk it off. Blind, John Milton wrote Paradise Lost in his head from 4:00 AM and spent his afternoons pacing his garden.
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Flannery O'Connor's Daily Routine
Get real writing done in three focused hours a day. Flannery O'Connor wrote from 9:00 AM to noon, then gave the afternoon to rest and her peacocks.
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Sigmund Freud's Daily Routine
Fit serious writing around a full day job. Sigmund Freud saw patients morning and evening, took a fast walk after lunch and wrote until 1:00 AM.
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Vladimir Nabokov's Daily Routine
Spread your writing across a calm, full day. Vladimir Nabokov wrote morning and afternoon, walked by the lake and played Scrabble in Cyrillic.
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Kingsley Amis's Daily Routine
Get the work done without an early start. Kingsley Amis wrote from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM, took a long pub lunch and a nap, then wrote until 7:00 PM.
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Maya Angelou's Daily Routine
Find one room where only the work can happen. Maya Angelou wrote in a bare hotel room from 7:00 AM, then reread her pages over a quiet dinner.
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Thomas Mann's Daily Routine
Give your hardest work the freshest hours. Thomas Mann wrote behind a closed door from 9:00 AM to noon and kept the afternoon for reading and letters.
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Richard Strauss's Daily Routine
Ease back into work after illness or burnout. Richard Strauss composed in 2 short sittings, walked twice and slept 10 hours on his 1892 rest cure.
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Honoré de Balzac's Daily Routine
Get 13 hours of writing done before dinner. Honoré de Balzac went to bed at 6:00 PM, rose at 1:00 AM and wrote through the night on black coffee.
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Voltaire's Daily Routine
See what total absorption looks like. Voltaire dictated from bed all morning and worked 18 hours a day, breaking only for a carriage ride and supper.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Daily Routine
Fit your own work around a paid job at both ends of the day. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart taught from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and composed until 1:00 AM.
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Ludwig van Beethoven's Daily Routine
Do all your creative work before mid-afternoon and never after dark. Ludwig van Beethoven composed from dawn to 2:30 PM, then went walking.
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Le Corbusier's Daily Routine
Keep mornings for your own work and bring it to the day job after lunch. Le Corbusier painted alone all morning, then ran his architecture studio.
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Victor Hugo's Daily Routine
Try a dawn writing session and a cold plunge before lunch. Victor Hugo wrote until 11:00 AM, then poured icy water over himself on the roof.
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Daily Routine
Let your best ideas find you on foot. Tchaikovsky composed morning and evening and walked for exactly 2 hours after lunch, in any weather.
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Franz Kafka's Daily Routine
Make room for serious writing around a full-time job. Franz Kafka left the office at 2:30 PM, slept through the early evening and wrote from 11:00 PM.
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Gustave Flaubert's Daily Routine
Keep your life orderly so your work can be bold. Gustave Flaubert woke at 10:00 AM and wrote from 2:00 PM into the small hours, every day alike.
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William Styron's Daily Routine
Build your day around a late body clock. William Styron slept until noon, wrote for 4 hours from 4:00 PM and stayed up until 3:00 AM.
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