Open calendar
An appointment book kept almost empty so most days are free for reading and thinking
Most days have nothing booked at all. Meetings are the exception, and the freed hours go to reading, thinking and being available when something worth doing comes up. The habit rests on two ideas. Time is the one thing you cannot buy more of, so it gets guarded harder than money. And a full calendar is not proof of seriousness, whatever the surrounding culture says; sitting and thinking may be a better use of a morning than any meeting that could fill it. Few people can clear the whole week, so the usual version is one or two protected days, or a run of mornings, with nothing in them. It costs nothing but the nerve to say no, and the willingness to look idle.
Who backs it
Sorted by strength of stance
- Warren BuffettDoes it
Investor · Berkshire Hathaway chairman
Showed Bill Gates and Charlie Rose a paper appointment book with almost nothing in it, three entries for a whole week in April, and agreed there was nothing on it. Time is the one thing he cannot buy, he said, so he is careful with it. Gates credits that calendar with teaching him that a packed schedule is not proof of seriousness.
Source: CNBC Make It: What Warren Buffett taught Bill Gates about managing time by sharing his blank calendar
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under productivity or focus.
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A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
Backed by 19 of 44 stacks: 17 do it, 2 recommend it, 0 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
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A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
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Phone-free first hour
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
Backed by 4 of 44 stacks: 2 do it, 2 recommend it, 0 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
Backed by 3 of 44 stacks: 3 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Thinking retreats
Blocks of time cleared of the schedule to sit with one hard problem
Backed by 2 of 44 stacks: 2 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily design
Writing the day ahead in the past tense, then scoring it out of ten at night
Backed by 1 of 44 stacks: 1 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.