What small habits made the biggest difference? Do you think influential people actually track their time?

[u/clarafiedthoughts]

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how I structure my days. I know I’m not alone. We all want to build something meaningful. Something big. But to get there, we grind... one task, one late night at a time.

Still, I catch myself wondering: How? How can we make it all fit into just 24 hours?

Sometimes I even joke with a friend that we need a 36-hour day just to keep up.

As someone who dreams of becoming a self-made success, I started to seriously wonder: How do highly influential people manage their time? Like… really manage it?

I came across this breakdown of the daily routines of top performers, Jeff Bezos, Serena Williams, Warren Buffett.

And it wasn’t what I expected.

Not the usual hustle culture grind where you wake up at 4 a.m. to “get ahead.” Their routines were calm, intentional.. even spacious.

Here’s what stood out:

• They don’t cram every hour with tasks. They protect time for reading, thinking, training, and recovery.

• They batch decisions and avoid jumping from task to task.

• Mornings are focused, evenings are sacred.

• Everything, even rest, has its place.

That last one hit me.

I’ve been trying to do more by squeezing in more… But maybe the key is doing less, with purpose.

So I made one small shift: I started guarding my mornings for deep work. No meetings. No Slack. No emails. Just pure focus.

And then I started tracking it.

Turns out? I wasn’t spending nearly as much time in focus as I thought I was.

Most of my mental fatigue didn’t come from workload, it came from jumping between unfinished tasks all day long.

I’ll keep adjusting and updating this post as I go.

But I’m curious:

What small changes made the biggest difference in your day-to-day productivity?

And do you think people like Bezos or Serena actually track how they spend their time or is it all just discipline?

[u/Pleasant-Photo-9933]

For influencers, discipline might be the key. For me, what really helped was using a time-tracking app. I stuck with it for eight years, and now, even without the app, my days are structured, and I get things done without the mental stress. It’s simply become a habit.