The daily routine of 17 CEOs
Jim Citrin at Yahoo! Finance set out to study the daily routine of 20 CEOs. Surprisingly, he received responses to his survey from 17 of the 20 CEOs polled. Jim’s questions were focused around their daily routines. There was overwhelming similarity between the daily routines of all the CEOs. The following are the most interesting to me:
Start early.
This is the part of your morning routine over which you have the greatest control. To fit it all in, it’s a must to start early. The latest any of the surveyed executives wake up is 6 a.m., and almost 80 percent wake up at 5:30 or earlier.
The early-bird-gets-the-worm award goes to Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for Motorola, who rises at 4:30 a.m., spends an hour on email, reads most of the news online, and then does an hour of either cardio or resistance training each morning. This allows her to get her son ready for school and drop him off, and still get to work by 8 or 8:30 in the morning.
Exercise every morning.
It’s often difficult to find a way to fit exercise into your busy schedule, but knowing that some of the most successful businesspeople do so might motivate you to find a way to work it into your routine.
More than 70 percent of the business leaders in my survey perform their exercise in the morning, while 15 percent find a way to do it during the day (one does it late at night before turning in). Only two of the executives admit to not exercising on a regular basis, although one said, “I know I should.”
The individual who demonstrates the greatest exercise discipline is the CEO of a high-performing global technology company (I promised him anonymity so as not to blow his cover). “I exercise at lunchtime,” he says. “I block the time every single day. This is because I’m a runner and that’s the best time to run outside all year long.”
Make family time.
Many business leaders find that the morning encourages important family time. Some have breakfast with their families or make taking kids to school a central part of the morning routine.Clayton, Dubilier & Rice managing partner Kevin Conway lingers at home when he can to help send off all three kids to school. Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, says, “I try to talk one of my kids into going outside to get the paper, but end up getting it myself. I then have breakfast with my wife and kids, help the latter get dressed, and drive the older boys to the bus stop at 7:40 a.m.”
The CEO daily routine - [Yahoo! Finance]
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Comments
Beth says on February 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 am
The article you reference is a portrait of workaholism. Not what I want to emulate. Working from 5 a.m. until midnight? Sad.
BillOGoods says on February 2nd, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Workaholism? Most CEOs I deal with have an excellent family life and love their work.
The schedules above are par for the course for motivated entrepreneurs. One CEO, not my client, leaves work at 4:00 pm or so, to pick the kids up at school or attend after school events, sports, and so on. He will always have dinner with the family. We have coached our daughters’ summer softball teams regularly.
To do this, he tries to be in bed by 7:30 or 8:00 pm. He rises at 1:30 a.m., leaves for the office where he works out for an hour, and starts his day at 2:30 or 3:00 am, when he can be productive with few interruptions for four or five hours before people start coming in. No TV, other than occasional sporting events. Same with the kids.
It’s a great life, they love their work, and they are all very well off. While they have “other interests,” those are on hold until financial goals are met.
omer says on February 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
What time does their day end? 5 AM to ??10 PM?
BillOGoods says on February 2nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm
I should have added that my CEO friend takes one to three 20 to 30 minute naps during the day whenever he can. Not my choice, but he’s been doing this for 22 years +/-.
Tim Ferriss says on February 6th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Here’s the question to ask: what are these CEOs working 12+ hours per day for? I’ve spent the last five years researching and interviewing to get individual answers to this.
I am a fan of money, but once it’s the driving motivation for even a few years, the job becomes your identity (this is true of entrepreneurs especially), and work becomes the default mode. Not to work all the time leaves a frightening void once other hobbies and interests have atrophied.
This isn’t preaching — I worked 60+ hour weeks for years and was a huge fan of the results-by-volume approach. Having thankfully hit my mid-life crisis early, I now believe that to have all you want and more, there is no “need” to spend more than two hours per day maximum on income-generating activities. Most things matter little, if at all.
Once you narrow things down to one or two “to-do”s that really matter on a daily basis (whether the 5% of customers who bring in 90% of your income or otherwise), there are no excuses to be a workaholic except the most common explanation: fear of creating meaning outside of the office when the rest of the world is postponing life to make a dollar more than the next person.
Sad but true. I’ve been there.
Alex Shalman says on February 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Tim,
I believe that if you are passionate about something and find a way for your passions to pay off as well there is no such thing as being bored. That meaning that you speak of outside the office could very well be what you need to seek out and in turn make profitable.
Some people have hobbies that make them millions. I doubt they think they’re spending too much time on them because they’re fun. Same thing with professions that help other people. If you find a way to make profit while helping others than you can be very happy with the 60+ hour weeks.
jeff says on February 15th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
This advice is, of course, to be taken only if you want to emulate overworked CEOs.
Otherwise, rise at 9, eat whatever you want, exercise at will, read blogs throughout the day and get your work done while keeping a quality of life.
Antjuan.LaShawn says on February 16th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Talk about being over worked!!! Well, I consider my life to be pretty good as I love what I do and do what I love! And can be found doing it 24/7 at any hour. I’m a Graphic Designer, Cafe Owner, Youth Leader & Mentor, and active in my community. Everything is designed to be enter-twined with one another.
Check out: myspace.com/reds_november