On Wednesday, January 17, 2018, I officially became the president of the United States.
Well, not officially. That day marked the first in a one-week experiment in which I tried out Donald Trump's daily routine.
Axios and The New York Times had reported on different aspects of Trump's schedule. I scoured the articles for details about what time he wakes up and goes to bed, what time he starts work, and how he spends the time when he's not in meetings — then tried to copy everything for five workdays.
Now that it's all over, I'm left wondering how Trump has so much energy — both physically, because he reportedly only sleeps four hours a night, and mentally, because he reportedly watches at least four hours of cable news every day.
Here's how my week went:
SEE ALSO: I tried Trump's daily routine for a week — and I don't know how he does it
The experiment
Trump's daily schedule breaks down into a few different components.
- Sleep: Trump reportedly rises at 5:30 a.m. after sleeping about four to five hours, meaning he goes to bed after midnight.
- Starting the workday: He's said to take his first meeting of the day at 11 a.m.
- "Executive time": Trump reportedly starts his day with executive time, which includes watching cable news (either "Fox and Friends" or MSNBC's "Morning Joe"), making phone calls, and tweeting.
- Watching the news: After dinner at 6:30 p.m., Trump may watch another few hours of cable news, meaning he consumes at least four hours a day.
It didn't seem like such a taxing routine. But it was.
Wednesday
I woke up like a champ to a 5:30 a.m. alarm and promptly set myself up with my laptop on the couch. Unlike the president, I don't have cable TV, so I'd planned to watch the news online. CBS has a livestream, so that was my first stop.
About an hour later, I woke up again. Apparently I'd fallen asleep again while watching the news. Fail. I brewed a big cup of black tea and returned to my presidential duties.
Though I wasn't technically due at the office until 11 a.m., I had a call at 10:40, so I scurried in just before.
A recurring theme throughout this experiment was guilt — specifically, about coming in later and leaving earlier than all my coworkers. On the first day of the experiment, I didn't leave the office until about 6:30 p.m., partly because I still had work to do and partly because most of my teammates were still working.
After dinner with a friend, I returned home and set myself up on the couch for another few hours of news-watching. This time, I tuned into Fox. Somewhere around 11:30 p.m., I drifted off with my computer still on my lap.
Thursday
I sprung out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and immediately went to make tea. Falling asleep on the job is for slackers, right?
The dose of caffeine was, it turns out, just the kick in the pants I needed. For the next few hours, I toggled between watching "Fox and Friends," preparing a to-do list for the workday ahead, and reading The New York Times.
Call me a stereotypical millennial, but I found it difficult to resist multitasking while the news was on. Maybe if Ainsley Earhardt had been talking about me instead of Trump, I would have paid closer attention.
The workday went surprisingly smoothly. I cranked out a few articles, transcribed an interview, and had a phone call with a source.
At 6 p.m. I really did need to leave — not only was I on Trump time, but I had to make a 6:30 p.m. appointment in midtown. Panic struck. I frantically messaged my editor asking if it was OK for me to head out — to which she replied "of course."
By the time I got home, I was exhausted, so I watched about 30 minutes of Fox and went to sleep, feeling guilty about that, too.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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