An hour-by-hour breakdown of my daily routine. Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors: 
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OUTLINE:
0:00 - Morning
1:17 - Mantra
5:22 - Deep Work Session 1
8:07 - Social media and guitar
9:53 - Exercise
13:03 - Shower
16:48 - Deep Work Session 2
19:30 - Eating
25:03 - Shallow Work Session
28:21 - Reading

these a day in the life videos to talk about how I do time management in the day, how I structure the routine to maximize productivity.

The day starts now after about 6 to 8 hours of sleep.

Now there's periods of my life where I do sprints, where I'll pull all-nighters, work crazy hours and so on, but regularly I try to get 68 hours of sleep, plus the mythical epic 30-minute power nap.

I think sleep, diet, and exercise are essential for productivity, just under, I would say, passion and whatever the heck you need to do to be happy and keep every single day low stress.

I might give a shout out to a few products that sponsor the podcast for no reason except that I love using them, and that's why we agreed for them to sponsor the podcast So click their links in the description to support the videos I make I'm really fortunate to have way more sponsors than I need so I get to choose only the ones I really love I'm generally a minimalist guy.

I don't like material possessions, but this Asleep Bed has been nice.

It lets you set the temperature throughout the night.

So for me, what I like is for it to cool the bed and then warms up as I wake up.

It's been helping me get some restful sleep.

So I start each day when I get out of bed, the first thing there's a mantra, a list that I have on a sheet of paper that I go through.

So I start by reminding myself of the current set of rules and constraints on the various addictions, things that drain on my time.

The current rule is I only check social media when I post, which is 1, 2, or 3 times a day for no more than 10 minutes.

That's 1 of the main addictions I think that's important to control.

Some people completely remove themselves from social media.

I think that's 1 of the possible solutions, but to me that's a little bit of an easy way out.

The hardest thing to do is to really moderate the use of social media, because when you use it in moderation, it actually can bring you joy.

It can really connect you with other people.

It kind of makes me feel amazing when I only check it once or twice a day.

And then the other rules are diet and exercise.

So I make sure I exercise every single day no matter what even if injured.

I find a body part, any body part that's not injured and exercise it.

And then diet, I just have a strict diet that I follow within the constraints of which I can enjoy myself.

So for me that's been keto which is a very low carb diet.

So the first part of the mantra is I remind myself of those rules.

It kind of sets the constraints within which the game is to be played.

The second part of the mantra is gratitude.

I visualize and meditate on the idea that I might die today, at any moment today.

So I kind of try to accept the notion that today is my last day on this earth.

And it's mostly just a breathe in and out and a pause and a meditation on the fact that it's freaking amazing that I'm alive that life is amazing.

Third is I list out loud by the way unless I'm with somebody then it's in my head, but I list a set of goals for the next 5 years, a set of goals that I have, and these are ambitious big goals that I would like to achieve in the next 5 years.

For me that's by the end of 2020 I want to do these kinds of things.

They're just out of reach but achievable.

So if I really work my ass off and with a bit of luck I can get it done.

I mean that really starts to get me amped up like let's let's get to work Fifth part of the mantra is zooming in even further.

I actually focus in on the day I visualize going through the rest of the day all the things I think I need to get done.

This is really quick but I literally visualize myself like in a game of Sims, like on fast forward, running around, getting all this stuff done successfully.

Like I visualize both the struggle of it, I visualize the hardest part of the day that I have on my to-do list and getting them done, crushing it, but really sort of focusing on the timing of it, the beat of the day and getting it all done.

Just like a game of sims, except for the part where when you're cooking you set yourself on fire and you run around.

Finally, I go through a set of principles that I strive to live up to as a man.

Now there's a particular set of phrases that are a little bit cliche, but I think fundamental to who I am.

But they center around compassion, empathy, love, and on the other side of it is character, integrity, and strength, both physical and mental.

So today is a little bit different because I'm also making this video.

It takes away from my focus, but I'm going to get the job done.

So I'm going to do the mantra now and next thing, hit hard the deepest work of the day for 4 hours a four-hour session that I'll probably film behind the desk.

Alright so I did the mantra then I drank about a liter of water went to the bathroom made a coffee and now ready to hit the day hard with a four-hour session of deep work focused on a single thing no interruptions if interesting ideas come into my head to try to trick me into pulling on the thread of that idea I gently set it aside write it down in Google Doc to address later so I bring my mind gently back to the focus of the task because ideas keep coming but you really want to focus on the task.

So the only interruptions that are allowed is water, coffee, bathroom and I try to minimize those.

I usually try to be just once in that four-hour session.

I stop the timer when I take that break but I don't do anything during that break like social media or any of that stuff.

It's really my mind is still focused on the task at hand and hitting it hard when I return to the desk.

The desk by the way is a standing desk they don't sponsor anything but I still love them it's autonomous you should check it out pretty inexpensive I sometimes I sit sometimes I stand not wearing a suit I sometimes wear a suit especially I'm going to film I wear a suit when I go outside I just enjoy the way I feel when I wear a suit but at home I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans right now I'm not wearing any pants just kidding I'm wearing jeans but you would know it if I didn't Which is the magic of the internet if you pointed shit I can do a separate video on my setup I optimize the heck out of everything but my First love my home is the kinesis keyboard.

It's this weird Ergonomic keyboard that's probably way too expensive but I still love it I'm surrounded by things I love and Emacs editor although I use a lot of modern IDs like today I'm working on tensorflow light on a Samsung Galaxy S20 doing some deep learning on the smartphone.

There's a bunch of tricky undocumented things that I'm trying to accomplish.

Not looking forward to it because it's going to be just a lot of debugging and trying to figure out obscure things.

That's the hardest thing on my to-do list.

That's what this 4 hour session is about.

I'm usually drained but happy at the end of the session.

I mean I'm happy throughout but I kind of dread this 4 hour session every day which is why I hit it hard early on without reflecting without thinking almost like a machine.

I just get the job done that's the way I think about it and I feel good afterwards but I don't want to do it And I do it anyway.

I'll see you on the other end of the 4 hours.

I did not get as much done as I wanted, but it's nevertheless a big success because I just grinded it out.

Only took a single bathroom and water break.

Next up, I'm gonna do a little bit social media now, which I need to post a podcast conversation with David Eagleman, brilliant neuroscientist.

So I'm just gonna post that, check the comments from the previous day, trying to keep the whole experience under 5 minutes and definitely under 10 minutes.

And after that, like I do every single day, no exception, is guitar or piano or music.

In the human world, I'm currently single, but in the music world, I'm in an open relationship with this beautiful guitar.

Open relationship because I sometimes cheat on her with the acoustic but mostly electric Fender Strat, the warm bluesy sound of a Fender kind of like the Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix as brings joy to my heart So I look forward to this moment.

It just makes me happy, like a lot of things do, but this is kind of a private moment of joy.

And after that is about an hour and a half to 2 hours of a private set of moments of suffering, AKA exercise.

So here we go, social media, guitar, keep the social media under 10 minutes no exceptions and the guitar sometimes I'll let it slip but usually just 20 minutes.

Alright got the social media and the guitar done actually there was a bunch of moments which just brought a smile to my face both the hilarity and the love I always really appreciate it when I check social media moderation, it really does bring me joy.

Now it's time to face the demons in my mind going on a long run, all the things I don't wanna think about.

I usually start out listening to Brown Noise as I run.

It really focuses my mind, lets me think deeply.

And then about 2, 3 miles into the run, when I start feeling a little better, I'll switch to listening to an audio book.

I'm currently listening to the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

If you don't study history, you're doomed to repeat it.

My current exercise routine is run a minimum of 6 miles every day and then when I'm about 3 or 4 miles in I decide how far more I want to go.

I usually don't feel like running but once I actually get out there, once I put some of the miles in, you start feeling good sometimes.

Sometimes not, sometimes it's the drag, but sometimes you feel really good and then I'll do the 8, 10, maybe even 12 miles.

My hope 1 day is I'll just keep running and do an ultra marathon just on a whim.

Now for the usual 67 mile run it should take about an hour and afterwards I do a short but intense session of body weight exercises.

After the whole crazy push up, pull up, squat challenge that I did, I now do the David Goggins inspired nickel and dime workout that he talks about.

So Every single minute you do 5 pull-ups and 10 push-ups, minute on a minute.

And usually it kicks my ass to do about 15 to 20 minutes of that.

My hope 1 day is to get up to like 1 hour, which is really tough.

Your muscles just drained, exhausted, but I find it's a really great, intense way to get the exercise in without taking too much away from your day.

Hard on the mind, hard on the body, but good for the soul.

By the way, all of this is fasted, so it's been about 14, 16 hours since I've eaten last.

No food, water, and I've just taken a salt pill in case I do run for a long time.

It's important to have electrolytes in the body.

I love exercising, fasted, an empty stomach, focuses the mind.

That's 1 of the things I've learned about myself.

Everybody's different, but I've actually learned for like martial arts, for combat sports, for intense workouts even.

I just personally enjoy working out fasted.

So I guess based on my diet, but also my psychology, I perform best when I'm fat adapted, which means I'm a low carb diet.

It's probably deep somewhere in my Eastern European genetics that my ancestors will go without food for long periods of time and then have to wrestle a bear to the death intensely.

So it seems like this is the kind of thing I enjoy doing.

Not eating and then doing intense, focused, hard workouts.

All right, the exercise grind for the day is done.

I did 7 miles in just over an hour, I think.

It's slow pace, really losing myself in the audio book, to be honest.

And then after that, I did 20 nickel and dimes.

Every minute, you do 10 pushups and 5 pull-ups.

It's a great quick way to exhaust the muscle.

Also really good test of mental toughness because at least for me at least at home I really want to start quitting at about the 10 to 15 minute mark just the muscles exhausted you have to pause it's just unpleasant takes me back to the to the month and a half previously that I was doing the insane challenge.

20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes depending on the day and the 1 hour of the running.

Not so good about 1936, 1937 Nazi Germany, as the audio book is covering, but...

Really makes me think about the nature of evil.

It puts everything else into context somehow.

Studying history sometimes is a really good way to force me to stop and to acknowledge how weak my mind is and how much stronger it needs to be.

If I want to have a role in this world of making positive change, I think about Nazi Germany and what it means to be a hero in those times.

What it means to be a person that can reverse the decline into evil.

I think it's much more difficult than people realize.

I think it means standing against the masses.

It requires a kind of mental toughness, mental fortitude that I don't think I'm ready for and I need to be.

Most likely, hopefully I will never have to play a role of any importance but if I do have that opportunity I need to be able to step up.

That's what studying the 30s, The Great Depression on the United States side and the decline into a state of terror on the European side.

I know this is a day in the life video but that's also my days.

I as often as possible try to think deeply about history, about the state of the world today, about my own mind, about the science that I'm fascinated with, which is the science of intelligence and the science of engineering intelligence.

After the exercise, when I jump into the shower, which contains the moment of the day that I dread the most, which is the first minute that I take a cold shower, I have a bunch of songs that I know the 1 minute mark of that I usually put on.

It could be as cliche and cheesy as the Rocky soundtrack we're gonna fly now I think it's the the first solo is a one-minute mark or fortunate son by CCR or if I really need a boost I'm an old-school Metallica fan as well so master puppets I think when he starts singing is the 1 minute mark.

And after that, I'm right back into the grind of deep work.

Another 4 hour session of where I continue on a particular task focused for 4 hours straight.

Today I didn't get as much done on the TensorFlow Lite side so I'm going to probably dive right back in.

But usually during the shower and a little bit afterwards I'm thinking about like what's the right thing to be focusing on given what I was able to get done in the first 4 hour session.

All right next fun time is over we're back to the grind of deep work.

The second 4 hour session of the day where I remove the rest of the world and focus on a single task.

Today I'm going to continue with the TensorFlow light work on the Galaxy S20 for the probably entirety of the four-hour session.

Now depending on the day I might eat here if I'm eating twice a day.

Again that's kind of the benefits of the whole intermittent fasting, keto, that sometimes you just don't feel like eating, you feel great.

So I'm going to eat just 1 meal today which will be after this four-hour session and I see this as a kind of sprint to the finish because the 8 hours in total of deep work is really what I aim To do every single day the rest of the stuff There'll be another 4 hour session But it's often more relaxed more all over the place has a few more Distractions a little bit more fun and chaos, and just all over the place.

These 2 4 hour sessions of deep work is really what my day is centered around.

This is where that war of art, the battle for focus, for gaining focus and holding on to focus, that's what it's all about.

I found the focus pretty quickly and just stayed with it.

Part of it is because it's kind of a new activity.

And also doing a different kind of experiment with TensorFlow Lite.

And even though it was difficult, there was no serious stumbling blocks.

Like I didn't have to spend a lot of time debugging code and so on.

Let's see what the second 4 hour session is.

Sometimes it's a grind but no matter what the focus is always just to be present, to be there.

If nothing is working, it's not happening, I still stay in that place and wait for the breakthrough And the breakthrough always comes.

Everybody's different, I think, of how they discover focus, inspiration, motivation.

But I'm a big believer in the discipline of ritual.

So being there, and even if you don't feel like it, still being there, even if progress is not being made, still being there for the grind, because sometimes just minutes later, there'll be a breakthrough.

That's how I feel about deep work, That's how I feel about running too.

Just taking it 1 step at a time because some minutes are rough and others are full of bliss and that's just the way, the journey of hard work, the journey of doing anything difficult.

Now the 2 big battles of the day are done.

I break the fast with Athletic Greens, a sponsor of the podcast But actually an amazing thing that I love whether they're sponsor or not It covers all the bases that I need with the kind of restricted keto diet that I have It has all the things that a multivitamin has but a ton of other nutrients as well I don't know what it looks like to you, but it's actually pretty delicious.

It just makes me feel good In case it's interesting What I usually eat is some kind of meat and some kind of vegetable So if I eat once a day that's gonna be about 2 pounds of meat a total of 1,800 calories 2,000 calories for the total meal.

If I'm not being very fancy it's gonna be ground beef like this is grass-fed organic 85% so 15% fat ground beef in terms of keto it results in a good macro breakdown In terms of taste I just like it in terms of cooking It's also easier because it's just the right amount of fat when it's mixed with the vegetables It like it creates a non sticky pan situation where I don't have to add any oil It just mixes nicely and results in flavorful veggies.

So veggies my favorite go-to is probably cauliflower.

When I really wanna get crazy and party, I go with carrots.

My ground floor, the place I return to often, my home is cauliflower.

In this politically divisive world, we have to pick our sides.

My side is with cauliflower against broccoli.

So if I'm fasting or not on the keto diet it's important to get electrolytes.

I think 1 gram, 1000 milligrams of sodium in pill form.

When I first started keto, I think I was getting headaches for the first few days.

It's the keto flu that people talk about.

There's a bunch of ways to get potassium.

It's really just to be careful to make sure you get enough electrolytes in your diet, especially while I'm fasting, especially when I'm doing a lot of exercise to balance with the water and everything like that.

Did not plan on mentioning another sponsor, but I will.

Public Goods, they sell a bunch of different kinds of stuff including fish oil.

I love the minimalist design of Public Goods stuff.

Anyway, So much of nutrition science is barely a science really.

I like to just listen to my own body and do 1 person, 1 subject scientific experiments of what makes me feel good.

You know, I just look at the signs to make sure it's not unhealthy and it's not and for the rest of it I just see what my energy levels are like, how I feel throughout the day in terms of mental performance, in terms of physical performance, all that kind of stuff.

Same with the nutrients, It's pretty minimalist so I do take stuff if I miss days where I don't take electrolytes or fish oil it doesn't really matter but I feel good but I find it's nice to make sure you're getting all the nutrients at least regularly and like I said athletic greens help make sure I cover all bases about all the weird stuff that I should be getting and I'm not even aware of so This might be the first and only video I'll ever make in the kitchen.

I kinda feel like this is 1 of those chef shows where I should be yelling at somebody about their mediocre performance in the kitchen.

So, I throw the veggies into boiling water, then drain the water, then throw in the meat, and then I guess broil it or whatever the heck the term is.

The entire thing takes about 20 minutes but I only really participate in the last 5 minutes when I like, when it's broiling and I mix it.

And sorry if broiling is not the right term.

And the final result kind of tastes amazing, makes me happy.

After I make the meal, I'll probably overlay the video of what the final result looks like.

I'll often eat it behind the desk sort of Thinking deeply about something oftentimes about the thing I'm going to do in the next 4 hour session.

Just kind of relaxing, enjoying the food, but also just thinking.

Of course if there are somebody else here with me I'll be enjoying the meal with them.

There's nothing more beautiful than connecting with other human beings over some delicious food.

Alright, I'm done eating, feeling pretty good.

Don't feel like being on video but by the way wearing a 2001 Space Odyssey shirt this is where I might be wearing a suit if I'm doing filming if I just feel like it.

So the next 4 hour session is more relaxed kind of work.

It's still really focused but there's a bunch of tasks.

This is where I might do the email check.

Now my rule with email, I check email most 3 times a day.

And the first 2 times is just to check for emergencies or respond to an email that takes like less than 30 seconds to respond to and it's kind of important.

The third session, which is during this 4 hour period, is when I actually spend, try to spend no more than an hour, but I go through the emails, I read them.

These days, I'm so freaking lucky to be getting just a lot of kind, thoughtful messages.

So I just take them in, brings me joy, brings a smile to my face, 1 of the favorite things of the day for me.

And I also, if there's like some of the stuff I have to deal with, I respond to those emails.

That's actually at the end of the 4 hour session.

Now I would also be doing video editing, any kind of filming I'm doing, any kind of website design stuff, and also the continuation of the deep work.

So today I didn't finish the tensorflow light thing, but I'm close So I'm gonna probably spend 1 hour on doing some more tensorflow then I'm gonna do 2 hours for video editing a podcast I need to be working on I usually try to put in an hour to a day of podcast related stuff I need to outsource it I really do but for now I'm doing it and then the last hour would be the checking the email and so on and after those 4 hours I do 2 plus hours of reading 1 hour paper 1 hour plus of literature but we'll get to that first this 4 hours I'm back to it tensorflow for an hour 2 hours of podcast editing and then 1 hour of email again very few distractions very few breaks On days like today when I'm feeling really good, really energetic.

This third 4 hour session, I try to make as good as the first 2 in terms of the deep focus that I achieve.

Also this time is for when I don't feel great.

I can just lay down and watch some Netflix, watch some documentaries on YouTube, hang out with friends.

If I had a girlfriend, this would be girlfriend time.

For now I'm doing just the Netflix part of that.

Anyway, today is deep work but starting now on any particular day this is where the possibilities of chaos are wide open.

So I can just do whatever the hell I want.

I got some Jack Daniels, I got some Stoli, Smirnoff vodka, I got some peanut butter flavored whiskey.

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A day in my life | Lex Fridman