According to author Laura Vanderkam, who extensively studied the schedules of various high achievers, 90 per cent of executives wake up before 6am on weekdays.
This had lots of benefits and puts you in control of your day before it begins. It also means there's time to have breakfast with family, meditate, exercise; all of which are necessary for a productive day.
5:30am: Exercise
Jack Dorsey CEO of Twitter and Square will jog for 30 minutes in the morning before checking in with his companies, while billionaire Jack Besos exercises on his treadmill at 6am before going to the office.
Exercise has a powerful effect on your energy levels throughout the day. As you expend energy, you also create more of it. This helps to keep you more alert and energised throughout the day, as well as significantly reducing the impact of stress on the body.
6am: Meditate
One of the reasons highly successful people meditate is that it makes you more productive. Research shows that by training yourself to resist urges you can improve your relationships, increase your performance and dependability.
Billionaire Tony Robbins refers to his daily meditation or mindset practice as Priming, a ritual that involves powerful and directed breathing and movement to centre yourself so that you're primed for whatever the day brings.
6:30am: Read
Highly successful people read every day. Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill gates and Warren Buffett devote many hours a day to reading for learning purposes.
A recent survey found that only 11 per cent of wealthy people read for entertainment purposes. At least 85 per cent read two books a month for learning or educational purposes. If you read for 30 minutes a day you will be doing what the top 1 per cent do.
7am: Breakfast
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; it increases mental alertness, regulates blood sugar and helps to reduce sugar cravings. Richard Branson starts his day with a fruit salad and granola.
"No one would ever mistake me for an expert on engines, but I know one thing: They don't work without fuel," says billionaire Oprah Winfrey. "Our bodies are the same way, which is why I'm passionate about breakfast."
8am: Start work
1pm: Lunch (for at least one hour)
Taking a proper lunch break is something that many highly successful people have in common. They recognise the importance of a proper break for efficiency.
If you're in meetings and reading emails all morning, straining your eyes and getting a migraine is just not an option for these individuals. The same goes for your concentration - taking a restorative break will improve your concentration levels for the rest of the day.
6pm: Leave work
From my research, billionaires have highly scheduled lives. That's what helps them achieve all that they do, as well as have time for family. That means leaving work at work, so when they are at home they are fully present.
"My day ends when I'm tired and ready to go home... There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done," says Intel founder and former
CEO, Andy Grove, who always left the office at 6:30pm every day no matter what was happening.
11pm: Sleep
"Sleep your way to the top", according to Arianna Huffington. She advocates sleeping eight hours a night, as well as banning all electronics from the bedroom. This eliminates the temptation to check work emails in the middle of the night, which can lead to insomnia and stress.
Billionaire Bill Gates likes to get seven hours sleep a night, as well as reading before bed. "I read an hour almost every night. It's part of falling asleep," he says.
Getting more sleep can enhance your creativity, ingenuity, confidence, leadership, and decision-making ability.
