75 ms·

A day in the life of a CEO

111 points by ryancarson 14y ago

DanBC 14y ago
Thanks for this. The BBC Radio Four programme "The Bottom Line" recently had some discussion with business people about one of their days. Here's the link to the Podcast, which should be available in different regions. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfb#synopsis http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfb#synopsis) They also mention some research (that he read via the London School of Economics) about days in the life of Italian business people (but quite large businesses, 8,000 employees) - I haven't found that report yet. The Bottom Line should be interesting to many people on HN - it's a less formal discussion guided by Evan Davis with business people.
- ryancarson 14y ago
  I love The Bottom Line. One of my favorite podcasts. Thanks for sharing the link.
redguava 14y ago
It sounds like a classic tale of getting to a position because of a great skill set... then not using that skill set anymore. I am not saying you aren't also great as a CEO, but do you enjoy it as much? As far as job satisfaction goes, are you happier now that most of your time is spent in meetings and "steering the ship" or did you enjoy executing more? Thanks for the transparency in this post (and your others).
Deezul 14y ago
I really appreciate hearing about the very paced/zen schedule you seem to keep. I'm a firm believer that productivity is an easily exhaustible resource and you can't simply extract more of it per week with additional desk hours. You can have all the money and time in the world, but true freedom is the ability to bask in every small moment of the day, revel in the experience and reflect on life as it happens. Don't wait for the big payoff.
johnndege 14y ago
I don't know many people who wake up at 5am. Is that necessary to get the job done or just your preferred wake up time?
- ryancarson 14y ago
  I love mornings. I don't need to wake up that early
- mhurron 14y ago
  > I don't know many people who wake up at 5am Maybe because you know intelligent people. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201005/why-night-owls-are-more-intelligent-morning-larks http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundament...
kanwisher 14y ago
Am I the only one that feels Ryan's blog is mostly hacker news link bait, every article is pretty fluffy stuff that gets a lot of upvotes. I'm not sure how much actual value you get from knowing his schedule
- johnndege 14y ago
  No. The titles may give that impression but the content is useful. He shares useful links and details. For example his explanation for using trello vs other products in a previous post. Let's also remember the hacker news community includes many people who have never done a startup and keen to get as much knowledge as possible before they eventually do it. Ryan's content is far more useful to them than the latest news on JS.
- dave1619 14y ago
  I actually get a lot out of Ryan's posts. It's especially helpful to know what tools he's using to remotely manage his team, the structure of his company, and also how he meets and manages his team. All super helpful when you're a startup founder managing a remote team like me.
- nhangen 14y ago
  Feel the same way, and can't help but wonder why these articles keep getting upvoted. Side note - reminds me of my first FOWA, where Ryan hogged a majority of the QA time from each presenter to ask questions about his own business. I admire his business success, but to me, he comes off as self-centered.
tatsuke95 14y ago
>@ryancarson can you blog about how you spend your day running your biz? What biz activities do you focus on now that the product is up? The person on Twitter clearly asks about the business. The author then proceeds to write 18 points about his day, only five of which are actually about the business, including some gems like, "Crank through todos". Does this guy think he's a celebrity or something? Why am I interested in his personal life whatsoever? He's the "CEO" of a small company most people have never heard of. Someone in the comments asks him why he calls his phone an iPhone, rather than just a phone, to which he replies that he wants us to know the all the details and specifics. Oh, so you go into detail about how eating right away boosts your metabolism, but 3 hours of the day is "meetings"? Thanks for being specific.
- Void_ 14y ago
  How to be cool, a HN guide: 1. Get up at 5 AM or sooner 2. Go to gym every day 3. Eat organic food or be vegetarian or vegan 4. Use iPhone and 11" MacBook Air 5. Work from coffee shops 6. Write a blog post about it and post it on Hacker News Feel free to add ideas. :) (I'm not mocking the author, but the idea.)
  - crusso 14y ago
    People want to "live the life", I guess. You can't blame them for wanting money, free time, power, celebrity, and a beautiful family. I think that shooting for success in a "balanced" life is a great thing. What that balance is varies tremendously by the individual. My only beef is when sideline critics go ballistic just because someone works hard and wants to be a part of a team that works hard. Take a look at the HN-linked article from yesterday where the Google manager talked frankly about being driven and the manager of a group that's very work-oriented and driven. From some of the comments in the thread, you'd think that she was talking about her joy of drowning kittens. It's a shame to see that kind of attitude dominate the conversation of even one thread on HN, a site that should be open to many routes to success for entrepreneurs, including very hard work.
    - ZanderEarth32 14y ago
davidw 14y ago
Very detailed: except for what sort of things the "todos" actually are - and that's a significant portion of the time.
- StuieK 14y ago
  http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-for-founders http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-for-f... some more info in there for you mate.
mej10 14y ago
I love reading things like this and it sounds like you live a very balanced life. Honestly, this sounds like a pretty ideal schedule. Any advice for someone that still has a day job? I don't have kids but do try to spend a good amount of time with my SO.
- bmj 14y ago
  I'm not a CEO, but I keep a similar schedule (replace his meetings and schedule reviews with development), and it works well for me. I'm up early, work for ~90 minutes, then get the kids up and ready for the day. Same thing in the evening--unless something is truly on fire, I leave the office between 4:30 and 5:00 every day (or close the computer if I'm working from home), spend time with my family 'til 8:00 or 9:00, then work again for an hour or two (if necessary--I don't do this every night). Obviously, this doesn't work for everyone who works for someone else. I'm fortunate to have a job with a great deal of flexibility. If I'm in the office, I'm rarely there longer than 7-8 hours a day.
yesimahuman 14y ago
Hey Ryan, I'm just curious how you handle spending quality time with your employees. I've worked at companies where the CEO is never around, and when you do meet with him, it's in meetings that feel rushed and they are always looking at their watch for the next meeting. Frankly, it's disrespectful and it does negatively impact the morale of the team. I'm in the CEO role right now, and I'm realizing a lot of meetings that we schedule are frankly worthless. We'd be better off canceling them and spending time working on stuff with the team. As a side note, I enjoyed watching some of the making of the Boeing 777 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3551731641323350192 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3551731641323350192). Then-CEO Alan Mulally is often in meetings with the employees and not trying to control every thing. It's pretty refreshing.
- tatsuke95 14y ago
  He can't hear you. He's at the gym.
  - pitt1980 14y ago
    why are you being a dick? if you want him to go into more detail about a paticular item, why don't you ask about it? if you don't care at all, why don't you just find a different item to read?
    - larrys 14y ago
      "why are you being a dick?" Surprisingly the OP's profile says: "Not a hacker whatsoever, but enthralled by the culture." Ryan has gotten ink on HN. There is something to be learned from that. It is a part of the culture or it wouldn't get comments the way it has.
- ryancarson 14y ago
  I agree - it's really important to be fully present and not rush. As you said, if you're rushing the meeting then it's probably not important
  - 14y ago
UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
He can go to bed at 10 pm and wake up at 5 am? I go to bed at 10 and wake up still extremely tired at 7 am...
- evilbit 14y ago
  that may be because you actually oversleep. unless you're very young (<20yo), 7h of sleep is likely all you need, and anything less than 6h or more than 8h will leave you tired and lacking energy.
  - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
    I could be oversleeping but I cannot really fix that. I don't use drugs to sleep or wake, and I don't wake via an alarm most days (alarm is for 7, I wake up at 6:40~55). I could set an alarm for 5 am but I predict that I would be even more tired compared to my 10 to 7 schedule.
    - robgough 14y ago
      Why not go to bed later?
    - BruceM 14y ago
      Try it for a week and see. What do you have to lose? Alternatively, have some children and your sleep will not be the same for a long long time. Ryan Carson says he has a 1 year old child, so I doubt he's sleeping through the night. :)
  - brown9-2 14y ago
    source?
    - cncool 14y ago
      No source. What he said is just broscience. You will feel tired and groggy if you wake up from an alarm in the middle of a sleep cycle regardless of number of hours slept.
suking 14y ago
My comments are blocked.
dbecker 14y ago
CEO's say how busy they are, but it seems like most execution is handled by people below the CEO. So I'm left wondering what are specific tasks that are the right level to keep the CEO so busy? The author had a great chance to address this... but all we're told is "meetings" and "todo list."
- ivanr 14y ago
  There's a blog post from Fred Wilson that I've found to be most insightful: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html The main point is this: "A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank."
mikeleeorg 14y ago
The important thing to note is: "When Treehouse was <25 people, I actually did a lot of execution. I’d write newsletters, sketch wireframes, answer support emails, start marketing campaigns, etc. Now that we’re about to hit 50 full-time employees, I spend all my time ‘steering the ship’. I suspect some of the vitriol here is due to the relatively large audience of entrepreneurs in startups less than half his size. To be more relevant, I'd love to see his schedule when he was a 3-5 person company.
- rdl 14y ago
  I'm more interested in people who remain operational as founders or CEOs in larger (>25) person companies. I've never seen good come from being entirely about todos, delegation, etc. in large companies -- all the great people I know remain hands-on even past the point where it's necessary.
samstave 14y ago
According to this, he puts in 28 hours per week, which doesn't account for time in the restroom, sidebar chats, walking between appointments, personal life issues that pop up etc. Sounds like a dream job.
samstave 14y ago
According to this, he puts in 28 hours per week, which doesn't account for time in the restroom, sidebar chats, walking between appointments, personal life issues that pop up etc. Sounds like a dream job.
blhack 14y ago
>5:05 AM - Make a point of appreciating all that is good about my life, instead of immediately rushing into my day. I often take a deep breath and sit out on our deck for a few minutes. Is this meant to be satire or something? This was seriously put into his schedule as a 5 minute task?
- bgilroy26 14y ago
  I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying, but how much time you put into a particular scheduling item does not necessarily correspond with its importance/urgency. When it's just you and your thoughts, 5 minutes can be a long time. I don't think it would be a good idea to stretch this activity out longer for the sole reason of showing how important it is.
  - blhack 14y ago
    No, it's the fact that it's literally on the schedule as a task. Imagine telling a designer: "From the hours of 12:00pm to 3:00pm, be creative." Life doesn't work like that, and if you're scheduling your life down to individual minutes, then I can't imagine how you're also managing to be creative.
- bgilroy26 14y ago
  I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying, but how much time you put into a particular scheduling item does not necessarily correspond with its importance/urgency. When it's just you and your thoughts, 5 minutes can be a long time. I don't think it would be a good idea to stretch this activity out longer for the sole reason of showing how important it is.
- crazygringo 14y ago
  I totally agree. It sounds awfully ridiculous -- appreciation of life isn't something that happens "on schedule" any more than falling in love is. Maybe he should have just said, "take a quiet moment before starting my day, because it helps keep me relaxed/whatever" or something to that effect.
abalashov 14y ago
That sounds terrible. If this is being a CEO, I don't want any part of it, especially the dull evenings.
- jmduke 14y ago
  If you're calling 'spending three hours with your family' a dull evening, then I guess you might be technically correct -- but keep in mind your priorities are different than most people's.
justjimmy 14y ago
The gem I found from his post is this: https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness-greens.html https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness... I have never tried supplements, always thought they were a bit extreme and only for hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. As I get older, I realize the importance of metabolism (who cares about it when you're a teen and it's sky high), knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism and how fibre and greens play in your health. Now I'm actually very tempted to try this supplement out - seems really healthy even though it comes packaged in a plastic jar and powder form.
- mertd 14y ago
  > knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism I'm not sure this is experimentally verified. There is also the "skip the breakfast" camp that advocates remaining in the catabolic state a little longer to keep burning the fat. Also, why not throw the exact same greens into a blender. Surely that powder in the tub cannot be any better than fresh vegetables.
yankoff 14y ago
A well structured, balanced life with the focus on family. It possibly leads to some degree of happiness and stability, but this seems so boring for being a CEO. Where's the action! Most the time seems wasted on minor daily routines that could be squeezed into 1 hour.
Timothee 14y ago
Question for Ryan: I know you said you work 4 days a week at Treehouse. How well do you respect that? Do you do any kind of work during the weekend or just errands, relaxing and family time?
- ryancarson 14y ago
  I respect it a ton. I rarely work over the weekends. I check email occasionally, but not often.
ryancarson 14y ago
Thank you to everyone who took time to stick up for me here. I can take it though, don't worry. I appreciate it nevertheless. I wrote the post because I'm interested in the details behind everyone's daily life. It's where talk meets action. I don't think I'm a celebrity. I merely wanted to be transparent about my routine so that other CEOs could see how their life compares. I submit my articles to HN, but it's the community that puts them on the front page. Take them or leave them. It's just my blog :)
- larrys 14y ago
  "I don't think I'm a celebrity." Not a celebrity yet. Julia Allison was roundly made fun of a few years ago for her ability to garner press on some blogs and people felt she was totally overexposed. (So was Bethenny Frankel for that matter). Both of them now have TV shows.
taurussai 14y ago
Close to 9 hrs of work/day and with 4 day work weeks this seems to be a well balanced life! One can argue that quality of work is way better than quantity but this looks primarily for a later stage startup founder...
Paul_S 14y ago
I turn up at 9-10am and then churn out code for 7-10 hours. This is why I don't have a blog.

111 points by ryancarson 14y ago

DanBC 14y ago

Thanks for this. The BBC Radio Four programme "The Bottom Line" recently had some discussion with business people about one of their days. Here's the link to the Podcast, which should be available in different regions. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfb#synopsis http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfb#synopsis) They also mention some research (that he read via the London School of Economics) about days in the life of Italian business people (but quite large businesses, 8,000 employees) - I haven't found that report yet. The Bottom Line should be interesting to many people on HN - it's a less formal discussion guided by Evan Davis with business people.

ryancarson 14y ago
I love The Bottom Line. One of my favorite podcasts. Thanks for sharing the link.

redguava 14y ago

It sounds like a classic tale of getting to a position because of a great skill set... then not using that skill set anymore. I am not saying you aren't also great as a CEO, but do you enjoy it as much? As far as job satisfaction goes, are you happier now that most of your time is spent in meetings and "steering the ship" or did you enjoy executing more? Thanks for the transparency in this post (and your others).

Deezul 14y ago

I really appreciate hearing about the very paced/zen schedule you seem to keep. I'm a firm believer that productivity is an easily exhaustible resource and you can't simply extract more of it per week with additional desk hours. You can have all the money and time in the world, but true freedom is the ability to bask in every small moment of the day, revel in the experience and reflect on life as it happens. Don't wait for the big payoff.

johnndege 14y ago

I don't know many people who wake up at 5am. Is that necessary to get the job done or just your preferred wake up time?

ryancarson 14y ago
I love mornings. I don't need to wake up that early
mhurron 14y ago
> I don't know many people who wake up at 5am Maybe because you know intelligent people. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201005/why-night-owls-are-more-intelligent-morning-larks http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundament...

kanwisher 14y ago

Am I the only one that feels Ryan's blog is mostly hacker news link bait, every article is pretty fluffy stuff that gets a lot of upvotes. I'm not sure how much actual value you get from knowing his schedule

johnndege 14y ago
No. The titles may give that impression but the content is useful. He shares useful links and details. For example his explanation for using trello vs other products in a previous post. Let's also remember the hacker news community includes many people who have never done a startup and keen to get as much knowledge as possible before they eventually do it. Ryan's content is far more useful to them than the latest news on JS.
dave1619 14y ago
I actually get a lot out of Ryan's posts. It's especially helpful to know what tools he's using to remotely manage his team, the structure of his company, and also how he meets and manages his team. All super helpful when you're a startup founder managing a remote team like me.
nhangen 14y ago
Feel the same way, and can't help but wonder why these articles keep getting upvoted. Side note - reminds me of my first FOWA, where Ryan hogged a majority of the QA time from each presenter to ask questions about his own business. I admire his business success, but to me, he comes off as self-centered.

tatsuke95 14y ago

>@ryancarson can you blog about how you spend your day running your biz? What biz activities do you focus on now that the product is up? The person on Twitter clearly asks about the business. The author then proceeds to write 18 points about his day, only five of which are actually about the business, including some gems like, "Crank through todos". Does this guy think he's a celebrity or something? Why am I interested in his personal life whatsoever? He's the "CEO" of a small company most people have never heard of. Someone in the comments asks him why he calls his phone an iPhone, rather than just a phone, to which he replies that he wants us to know the all the details and specifics. Oh, so you go into detail about how eating right away boosts your metabolism, but 3 hours of the day is "meetings"? Thanks for being specific.

Void_ 14y ago
How to be cool, a HN guide: 1. Get up at 5 AM or sooner 2. Go to gym every day 3. Eat organic food or be vegetarian or vegan 4. Use iPhone and 11" MacBook Air 5. Work from coffee shops 6. Write a blog post about it and post it on Hacker News Feel free to add ideas. :) (I'm not mocking the author, but the idea.)
- crusso 14y ago
  People want to "live the life", I guess. You can't blame them for wanting money, free time, power, celebrity, and a beautiful family. I think that shooting for success in a "balanced" life is a great thing. What that balance is varies tremendously by the individual. My only beef is when sideline critics go ballistic just because someone works hard and wants to be a part of a team that works hard. Take a look at the HN-linked article from yesterday where the Google manager talked frankly about being driven and the manager of a group that's very work-oriented and driven. From some of the comments in the thread, you'd think that she was talking about her joy of drowning kittens. It's a shame to see that kind of attitude dominate the conversation of even one thread on HN, a site that should be open to many routes to success for entrepreneurs, including very hard work.
  - ZanderEarth32 14y ago

davidw 14y ago

Very detailed: except for what sort of things the "todos" actually are - and that's a significant portion of the time.

StuieK 14y ago
http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-for-founders http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-for-f... some more info in there for you mate.

mej10 14y ago

I love reading things like this and it sounds like you live a very balanced life. Honestly, this sounds like a pretty ideal schedule. Any advice for someone that still has a day job? I don't have kids but do try to spend a good amount of time with my SO.

bmj 14y ago
I'm not a CEO, but I keep a similar schedule (replace his meetings and schedule reviews with development), and it works well for me. I'm up early, work for ~90 minutes, then get the kids up and ready for the day. Same thing in the evening--unless something is truly on fire, I leave the office between 4:30 and 5:00 every day (or close the computer if I'm working from home), spend time with my family 'til 8:00 or 9:00, then work again for an hour or two (if necessary--I don't do this every night). Obviously, this doesn't work for everyone who works for someone else. I'm fortunate to have a job with a great deal of flexibility. If I'm in the office, I'm rarely there longer than 7-8 hours a day.

yesimahuman 14y ago

Hey Ryan, I'm just curious how you handle spending quality time with your employees. I've worked at companies where the CEO is never around, and when you do meet with him, it's in meetings that feel rushed and they are always looking at their watch for the next meeting. Frankly, it's disrespectful and it does negatively impact the morale of the team. I'm in the CEO role right now, and I'm realizing a lot of meetings that we schedule are frankly worthless. We'd be better off canceling them and spending time working on stuff with the team. As a side note, I enjoyed watching some of the making of the Boeing 777 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3551731641323350192 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3551731641323350192). Then-CEO Alan Mulally is often in meetings with the employees and not trying to control every thing. It's pretty refreshing.

tatsuke95 14y ago
He can't hear you. He's at the gym.
- pitt1980 14y ago
  why are you being a dick? if you want him to go into more detail about a paticular item, why don't you ask about it? if you don't care at all, why don't you just find a different item to read?
  - larrys 14y ago
    "why are you being a dick?" Surprisingly the OP's profile says: "Not a hacker whatsoever, but enthralled by the culture." Ryan has gotten ink on HN. There is something to be learned from that. It is a part of the culture or it wouldn't get comments the way it has.
ryancarson 14y ago
I agree - it's really important to be fully present and not rush. As you said, if you're rushing the meeting then it's probably not important
- 14y ago

UnoriginalGuy 14y ago

He can go to bed at 10 pm and wake up at 5 am? I go to bed at 10 and wake up still extremely tired at 7 am...

evilbit 14y ago
that may be because you actually oversleep. unless you're very young (<20yo), 7h of sleep is likely all you need, and anything less than 6h or more than 8h will leave you tired and lacking energy.
- UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
  I could be oversleeping but I cannot really fix that. I don't use drugs to sleep or wake, and I don't wake via an alarm most days (alarm is for 7, I wake up at 6:40~55). I could set an alarm for 5 am but I predict that I would be even more tired compared to my 10 to 7 schedule.
  - robgough 14y ago
    Why not go to bed later?
  - BruceM 14y ago
    Try it for a week and see. What do you have to lose? Alternatively, have some children and your sleep will not be the same for a long long time. Ryan Carson says he has a 1 year old child, so I doubt he's sleeping through the night. :)
- brown9-2 14y ago
  source?
  - cncool 14y ago
    No source. What he said is just broscience. You will feel tired and groggy if you wake up from an alarm in the middle of a sleep cycle regardless of number of hours slept.

suking 14y ago

My comments are blocked.

dbecker 14y ago

CEO's say how busy they are, but it seems like most execution is handled by people below the CEO. So I'm left wondering what are specific tasks that are the right level to keep the CEO so busy? The author had a great chance to address this... but all we're told is "meetings" and "todo list."

ivanr 14y ago
There's a blog post from Fred Wilson that I've found to be most insightful: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html The main point is this: "A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank."

mikeleeorg 14y ago

The important thing to note is: "When Treehouse was <25 people, I actually did a lot of execution. I’d write newsletters, sketch wireframes, answer support emails, start marketing campaigns, etc. Now that we’re about to hit 50 full-time employees, I spend all my time ‘steering the ship’. I suspect some of the vitriol here is due to the relatively large audience of entrepreneurs in startups less than half his size. To be more relevant, I'd love to see his schedule when he was a 3-5 person company.

rdl 14y ago
I'm more interested in people who remain operational as founders or CEOs in larger (>25) person companies. I've never seen good come from being entirely about todos, delegation, etc. in large companies -- all the great people I know remain hands-on even past the point where it's necessary.

samstave 14y ago

According to this, he puts in 28 hours per week, which doesn't account for time in the restroom, sidebar chats, walking between appointments, personal life issues that pop up etc. Sounds like a dream job.

samstave 14y ago

blhack 14y ago

>5:05 AM - Make a point of appreciating all that is good about my life, instead of immediately rushing into my day. I often take a deep breath and sit out on our deck for a few minutes. Is this meant to be satire or something? This was seriously put into his schedule as a 5 minute task?

bgilroy26 14y ago
I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying, but how much time you put into a particular scheduling item does not necessarily correspond with its importance/urgency. When it's just you and your thoughts, 5 minutes can be a long time. I don't think it would be a good idea to stretch this activity out longer for the sole reason of showing how important it is.
- blhack 14y ago
  No, it's the fact that it's literally on the schedule as a task. Imagine telling a designer: "From the hours of 12:00pm to 3:00pm, be creative." Life doesn't work like that, and if you're scheduling your life down to individual minutes, then I can't imagine how you're also managing to be creative.
bgilroy26 14y ago
I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying, but how much time you put into a particular scheduling item does not necessarily correspond with its importance/urgency. When it's just you and your thoughts, 5 minutes can be a long time. I don't think it would be a good idea to stretch this activity out longer for the sole reason of showing how important it is.
crazygringo 14y ago
I totally agree. It sounds awfully ridiculous -- appreciation of life isn't something that happens "on schedule" any more than falling in love is. Maybe he should have just said, "take a quiet moment before starting my day, because it helps keep me relaxed/whatever" or something to that effect.

abalashov 14y ago

That sounds terrible. If this is being a CEO, I don't want any part of it, especially the dull evenings.

jmduke 14y ago
If you're calling 'spending three hours with your family' a dull evening, then I guess you might be technically correct -- but keep in mind your priorities are different than most people's.

justjimmy 14y ago

The gem I found from his post is this: https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness-greens.html https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness... I have never tried supplements, always thought they were a bit extreme and only for hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. As I get older, I realize the importance of metabolism (who cares about it when you're a teen and it's sky high), knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism and how fibre and greens play in your health. Now I'm actually very tempted to try this supplement out - seems really healthy even though it comes packaged in a plastic jar and powder form.

mertd 14y ago
> knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism I'm not sure this is experimentally verified. There is also the "skip the breakfast" camp that advocates remaining in the catabolic state a little longer to keep burning the fat. Also, why not throw the exact same greens into a blender. Surely that powder in the tub cannot be any better than fresh vegetables.

yankoff 14y ago

A well structured, balanced life with the focus on family. It possibly leads to some degree of happiness and stability, but this seems so boring for being a CEO. Where's the action! Most the time seems wasted on minor daily routines that could be squeezed into 1 hour.

Timothee 14y ago

Question for Ryan: I know you said you work 4 days a week at Treehouse. How well do you respect that? Do you do any kind of work during the weekend or just errands, relaxing and family time?

ryancarson 14y ago
I respect it a ton. I rarely work over the weekends. I check email occasionally, but not often.

ryancarson 14y ago

Thank you to everyone who took time to stick up for me here. I can take it though, don't worry. I appreciate it nevertheless. I wrote the post because I'm interested in the details behind everyone's daily life. It's where talk meets action. I don't think I'm a celebrity. I merely wanted to be transparent about my routine so that other CEOs could see how their life compares. I submit my articles to HN, but it's the community that puts them on the front page. Take them or leave them. It's just my blog :)

larrys 14y ago
"I don't think I'm a celebrity." Not a celebrity yet. Julia Allison was roundly made fun of a few years ago for her ability to garner press on some blogs and people felt she was totally overexposed. (So was Bethenny Frankel for that matter). Both of them now have TV shows.

taurussai 14y ago

Close to 9 hrs of work/day and with 4 day work weeks this seems to be a well balanced life! One can argue that quality of work is way better than quantity but this looks primarily for a later stage startup founder...

Paul_S 14y ago

I turn up at 9-10am and then churn out code for 7-10 hours. This is why I don't have a blog.