Briefly: Napoleon’s daily routine was perforce limited. Marchand awakened him early and served coffee in bed. One or more of the valets washed him and helped him shave, then rubbed him down with a coarse brush and doused him with eau de cologne (which soon ran out and was replaced with homemade lavender water) and finally helped […]
“There are certain things I do if I sit down to write,” he said. “I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. There’s a certain time I sit down, from 8:00 to 8:30, somewhere within that half hour every morning,” he explained. “I have my vitamin pill and my music, sit in […]
How do you begin writing?Fitfully. I’ll write something, but it won’t be the beginning or the middle or the end — I’m just getting an idea out on the page. Then, as the words accumulate, I start thinking about how they need to be organized. What is in front of you when you begin to […]
Twenty Hours a Day The Wizzard of Menlo Park, as he was dubbed, reports on his routines in an interview given to Orison Swett for How They Succeed. He was 52 years old at that time: O.S.: “Do you have regular hours, Mr. Edison?” I asked.T.E.: “Oh,” he said, “I do not work hard now. I […]
The following is from Francis Darwin’s reminiscences of his father. It summarizes a typical day in Darwin’s middle and later years, when he had developed a rigid routine that seldom changed, even when there were visitors in the house. 7 am: Rose and took a short walk. 7:45 am: Breakfast alone 8-9:30 am: Worked in […]
He awoke about 7:30 a.m. and remained in bed for a substantial breakfast and reading of mail and all the national newspapers. For the next couple of hours, still in bed, he worked, dictating to his secretaries. At 11:00 a.m., he arose, bathed, and perhaps took a walk around the garden, and took a weak […]