His daily routine is as admirable as it is unorthodox—he doesn’t so much “take a day off” as he does shape every day to fit his needs. He believes in being present, doing what you feel like, and living a “clear” life. Here’s a small taste of his schedule, straight from the source. Whatever time I go to bed, I make sure I get eight hours of sleep, and I make sure that at least 90 minutes is in deep sleep, and another 90 minutes is in a dream state. (You can monitor that with all these gizmos and gadgets. I love to get feedback and relate it to how I feel subjectively.) So yes, I aim for 10 out of 10, all the time. When I wake up, what I do is, for about half an hour, I don’t do anything. I just lie in bed and focus on being still. Then I start my meditation, which usually lasts about 90 minutes, sometimes two hours. That includes reflection, mindful awareness; it includes mantra practice. It includes intention setting; it includes awareness of body, awareness of mental states, awareness of perceptual experience, and I transcend it to mantra practice. In terms of my diet—I eat light. I have one meal that is a major meal, and that’s usually at 6 or 7 p.m. Things change, but I usually don’t eat after 6 p.m. I’m a vegetarian, and I eat mostly plant-based foods. I eat a bowl of fruit and yogurt in the morning and then have a routine lunch—if I’m at home, it’s usually a little bit of lentils, rice, and vegetables. In the evenings, I keep it really light with soup and salad, and I usually eat before sunset. Basically, that’s my diet. I keep weekends totally off, unless there are reasons not to, like a conference or something like that. I don’t usually see my family during the week, so we try to get together on weekends, and they also spend the summers with me in New York. We take one vacation every year, and my wife spends time between my children. When I’m in California, she’s there. When I’m in New York, she comes with me. I also spend a lot of time in nature. In New York, and in big cities now, I’ll head out to the park, and when we go on vacation with the family, it’s in a natural environment. Bali, or India, Australia, Argentina… We always spend a lot of time in nature. I do my evening meditation every night. Obviously, if I go to sleep at midnight, then I’ll wake up later, like 8 a.m., and I’ll keep the same routine. And when I travel, it’s the same routine. It doesn’t matter. I don’t consider my work to be work, so for me, it’s play. For me, every day is beautiful, and I’m a maximizer, which means I maximize my potential for giving information, knowledge, or whatever I have to say. I write every day for as long as I need to, for planning. When I’m flying, I write a lot on the plane. I used to read a lot; I don’t read that much anymore. I get my answers from stillness and, generally speaking, I don’t take myself seriously. Nor does my family, and that keeps me going.
