Halfway through last year, I found myself overwhelmed by my schedule. There were simply too many things to do and not enough time. As we bookworms tend to do, I set out to find books that would teach me to wrangle my schedule.

I started with what felt like an obvious choice, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

The central idea in Getting Things Done is that we can’t hold everything in our heads all the time. But we try to, so we constantly have many open “tabs”. We’re not only trying to keep track of what we’re currently doing but also all the things we need to do. The takeaway is to stop trying to keep everything in your head. Instead, write everything down and only focus on what you have to do at this moment.

This led me to record every task and input. Now my TODO list lives on a few Trello boards instead of my head. When I switch contexts or decide what to do, I have a detailed and prioritized list of everything I need to do.

What did this get me? Increased productivity at work, a lot of progress on my budgeting project purchaseplan.io, and (incredibly) actually finishing house projects.

Yet, I still felt overwhelmed by all the things I wanted to do. Yes, I was using the time I had effectively, but I still didn’t have enough time. I still felt like 24 hours wasn’t enough.

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

That’s when I stumbled across what would become my favorite book of 2021, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennet.

Have you heard of Arnold Bennet? I hadn’t.

One hundred and ten years ago, The New York Times Book Review claimed “Every one who wants to talk smartly about the books of the hour must read Arnold Bennet.”

He was a prolific writer, the most financially successful British author of his day. He published novels, edited a women’s journal, and even briefly ran England’s Ministry of Information during the First World War.

Unfortunately, shortly before his death, attacks by Virginia Woolf ruined his literary reputation, perhaps dooming him to literary omittance.

The Daily Routine

He wrote the book in the early 1900s while living in Paris, but he was thinking about the white-collar workers he knew back in London.

He gives, as an example, what he believes to be a typical Londoner of the day. This city-dwelling, white-collar worker very likely does not enjoy their job, potentially they outright hate it. So far, it seems like much hasn’t changed since 1908.

Our Londoner wakes up as late as possible, rushing out the door just in time to make the last train to the office. While on the train they peruse the newspaper. From 10 am until 6 pm they work with minimal effort. Shortly after six, they hop back on the train. As they head home they work up a tired feeling that will persist through the evening. Once home, they eat dinner