This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jesse Itzler, a 56-year-old entrepreneur based in Atlanta. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
We’re a house of six people, and with four kids, I don’t need an alarm. My daughter wakes me up every morning.
I started out in the music business as a recording artist and manager. Then, in 2001, I co-founded a private jet card company, which we sold to Warren Buffett’s NetJets.
I also owned a stake in Zico coconut water, which was sold to Coca-Cola in 2012. I’ve written two books: “Living with a SEAL” and “Living with the Monks.”
My partner, Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, and I have a fitness company called 29029. I also have a calendar company and a running festival called Runningman. My schedule is constantly changing depending on my environment, finances, personal life, and commitments. But there are a few things about my routine that never change.
6:30 a.m. — I don’t use an alarm to wake up
I plan out my day the night before, so I’m not winging it when I wake up. It’s pretty mapped out hour by hour. During the school year, I wake up, get my kids breakfast, get them ready, and take them to school. I’m home around 8 a.m.
8 to 10 a.m. — My workouts start early
From around 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., I get my workout in. I either run, bike, or swim. I get my workouts in early because if everything else fails, I accomplished something for the day.
Courtesy of Runningman
I try to do both the sauna and cold plunge every day and swear by them for their recovery benefits.
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Morning to 12 p.m. — I don’t drink caffeine in the morning, and before noon, I only eat fruit
I’ve never had a full cup of coffee in my life. I’ve tasted it, but I just didn’t like it. Before noon, I only eat fruit and nothing else. I eat as much as I want in any variety, as long as it’s fresh.
I read a book called “Fit for Life” when I was 21 and about to run my first marathon. The book challenged the reader to try fruit only until noon for 10 days. I felt so much better, so I never went back.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — I work six hours a day, and what I do changes every week
Every Sunday night, I look at what I need to accomplish for work and then map it out by importance for the week. It changes a lot, and sometimes I’m prioritizing only one company all week. I work from home now and have a six-hour workday. If I’m writing, that six-hour window might be spent working on the book.
I have Runningman coming up, a three-day wellness festival in Georgia, so I’m prioritizing that right now. This year, I’m trying to run 30 miles at the festival, so I’ve been training for that. I plan by the week because I might not be able to run on a certain day, but I can space out the extra mileage over the rest of the week. I prefer this over a day-by-day perspective, where you tell yourself you have to run seven miles every day.
Courtesy of Runningman.
I’m also not a huge lunch person, and I don’t usually break to eat lunch during my workday.
4 p.m. — When my kids come home from school, my worktime stops
If I need to finish something, it continues at night after my kids go to bed, but I have a hard stop at 4 p.m. My favorite time of the day is when they come home from school.
Years ago, when I was asking for career advice, one woman told me that she takes the last week of every month and every Friday off. I thought it would be insane if I could ever do that. I was working 18-hour days when I was in my 20s, and it was a completely different schedule.
I can’t really take a whole week off. Every Friday feels like a lot, but I can realistically stop at 4 or 4:30 p.m. every day.
The evening is always different, but if I’m not traveling, we have family dinner
Once I’m done with work, I’m taking my kids to practices or hanging out with them. There’s usually something they have going on after school or at night, but we always try to have a family dinner.
We try to have dinner at home as much as possible. We all eat very differently. I’m not a meat eater, and they’re big meat eaters, so often, we order from separate places if we’re ordering in. I was a vegetarian for 35 years, and that has pretty much carried over. I eat a lot of pasta, salads, and veggies.
After dinner — There’s no routine; everybody goes their own way
At this stage in our lives, we’re just trying to survive to make sure that everybody has clothing to wear to school in the morning.
If there’s a show everyone’s into and my wife and I get recommendations, we’ll watch it. We watch 60 Minutes a lot, but we’re trying to cut down on TV and do more reading.
Courtesy of Runningman
Right now, I’m reading “The First 20 Hours: How to learn anything…Fast!” by Josh Kaufman. It’s about mastering things in 20 hours or less.
I eat healthy during the day, but I eat all my calories back in chocolate at night. I like those Hu chocolate bars a lot for dessert, but I’m not picky about my chocolate. Just give me chocolate, and I’m happy.
10 p.m. — I try to get into bed
I’m trying to maximize my nighttime routine and fall asleep at 11 p.m., but it doesn’t always work that way. I’ve just started working on getting better sleep, which means shutting the TV off earlier, not eating late at night, and all that stuff.
I don’t have a wind-down routine. I’m like an 8-year-old; I try to just exhaust myself throughout the day. I’m the opposite of my wife. She likes to take a bath, and then she goes through a whole wind-down routine before she goes to bed. I usually have chocolate on my face, and I’m still sweaty from running around when the day ends.