Work-life balance
Weeks with real work-life balance: a hard stop on the workday, evenings and weekends that belong to something else, and the boundaries written into the schedule.
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16 frameworks
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
David Heinemeier Hansson's Daily Routine
Do great work in 40 hours a week and still sleep in. David Heinemeier Hansson wakes without an alarm at 8:30 AM and starts work at 11:00 AM.
Colin PaceUpdated
Daniel Ek's Daily Routine
Give your first 4 hours to family, exercise and thinking. Spotify's Daniel Ek wakes at 6:30 AM and doesn't start work until 10:30 AM.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
Jason Fried's Daily Routine
Give work 8 hours and keep the other 16 for sleep and life. Jason Fried sleeps from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM and caps his week at 40 hours.
Colin PaceUpdated
Jeff Bezos's Daily Routine
Make fewer, better decisions. Jeff Bezos keeps his mornings slow, takes no meeting before 10:00 AM and holds his hardest meetings before lunch.
Colin PaceUpdated
Mark Cuban's Daily Routine
Cut the meetings and there's time to play every day. Mark Cuban works almost entirely by email and plays an hour of basketball each morning.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
Benjamin Franklin's Daily Routine
Plan every hour on purpose. Benjamin Franklin's timetable opens at 5:00 AM by asking what good he'll do and closes by asking what good he did.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated
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.
Colin PaceUpdated