Deep work
Weeks built for focus: long deep work blocks, meetings herded into the rest of the day, and time blocking that survives contact with a calendar.
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31 frameworks
Kurt Vonnegut's Daily Routine
Write 4 hours before your day job begins. Kurt Vonnegut wrote from 5:30 AM, swam before lunch, taught in the afternoon and was asleep by 10:00 PM.
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Cal Newport's Daily Routine
Finish your deep work by 5:30 PM and keep the evening. Cal Newport plans every minute of his workday, after a morning run and 25 pull-ups.
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Andrej Karpathy's Daily Routine
Do the most important thing first and keep weekends free. Andrej Karpathy exercises for an hour, has one coffee, then goes straight to his top task.
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Isaac Newton's Daily Routine
See what total absorption in one subject looks like. Isaac Newton studied until 2:00 or 3:00 AM and often ate standing up. A portrait, not a plan.
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Demis Hassabis's Daily Routine
Have dinner with your family and still get quiet hours for hard problems. Demis Hassabis starts a second workday at 10:00 PM and peaks around 1:00 AM.
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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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Lex Fridman's Daily Routine
Get 8 hours of deep work from two 4-hour blocks, with exercise in between. Lex Fridman runs his day in a fixed order and eats once a day.
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Albert Einstein's Daily Routine
Fit a walk and a nap into a serious working day. Albert Einstein walked to work at 10:30 AM, worked until 1:00 PM, then lunched and napped.
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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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Paul Erdős's Daily Routine
See how completely one subject can fill a day. Paul Erdős did mathematics from 8:00 AM to 1:30 AM, a pace he kept up with amphetamines.
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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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W.H. Auden's Daily Routine
Do your sharpest work early and stop on time. W.H. Auden started soon after 6:00 AM and kept a hard stop at 6:30 PM for friends and dinner.
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Haruki Murakami's Daily Routine
Finish the big project by running one day on repeat. Haruki Murakami writes from 4:00 AM, runs or swims after, and is in bed by 9:00 PM.
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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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Immanuel Kant's Daily Routine
Guard an hour of thinking before work. Immanuel Kant wrote at dawn, lectured all morning, then took a long lunch, his walk and bed at 10:00 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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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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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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Charles Darwin's Daily Routine
Do your best work in two short, protected sittings. Charles Darwin worked 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM to noon, with walks and a nap around them.
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Charles Dickens's Daily Routine
Write all morning, then walk for three hours to think it through. Charles Dickens wrote from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM and walked London until 5:00 PM.
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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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Hello world
Ship at your best for years. Test edit.
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