Unveiling the Secret to a 25-Hour Day

Every founder wishes for one more hour in the day. Today I'll tell you how to get it: the 25th hour.

Before you clear your calendar to make room, a heads up: it's April 1st. But the idea underneath the joke is real, so stay with me.

The version of this I actually live: a cold ocean swim at dawn a few times a week, and drumming, badly, but on purpose, most weeks too. Neither one makes money. Neither one is on anyone's roadmap. Both of them are where I do my clearest thinking, not despite being unproductive time, but because of it.

If you want your own 25th hour, here's what it actually takes.

Pick something with no deliverable. Reading a book you won't finish counts. So does an instrument you're bad at. The point isn't output, it's a different part of your brain getting the wheel for a while.

Put it on a schedule, not a someday list. The 25th hour never shows up by accident. Mine is a swim before the phone turns on.

Say yes more than your instinct wants to. The best version of this hour usually starts as something you almost skip.

There's no real 25th hour hiding in the calendar. What's real is that the hours you already have go further when at least one of them belongs to nothing but you.

P.S. If your calendar hasn't had a real gap in it for months, the Whole Human Baseline is a good place to start finding one.