How to live on 24 hours a day
by Arnold Bennett · first published 1900
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A short, practical guide from the early 1900s on using spare time for learning and focused work. Its advice on time management and focus remains useful, and the book is free to read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
You have to live on ... twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul,” says Arnold Bennett in this timeless self-help book. Sometimes it seems like there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished. This amusing little book is sure to help you manage your time better.
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A hundred years ago a wonderful slender book was written, "How To Live On 24 Hours A Day" by Arnold Bennett. He suggests getting up early and doing your passion projects before work. https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680
on “Working for someone vs. doing your own thing” ↗The blog post is content-free, so instead of wasting thirty seconds reading it, I'd suggest HN members for whom the title is interesting instead grab a copy of Arnold Bennett's _How to Live on 24 Hours a Day_. Written in 1910, it is one of the first self-help books, it is firmly in the public domain, and is a lovely "meta" companion to Getting Things Done.
on “We All Have 24 Hours” ↗It's been mentioned before but meditations is great, but I would also like to add "How to live on 24 hours a day" by Arnold Bennett https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274 In fiction Sherlock Holmes and the Three Musketeers is some of my favorites.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗Four Hour Work Week: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com and re-reading How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274 Loving them both - excellent books.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett is a good reminder on how to find time here and there. It's available for free at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2274) or even Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/144952849X).
on “Create” ↗…minutes to do so. Don't ask, just do it. Bring a book and leave your smartphone on your desk. Show up at 9, be at your meetings on time, get your work done, leave at 5. Don't ask, just do it. Read "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day" by Arnold Bennett. You have eight more hours in the day that you're not using wisely if all you're talking about here is your day job. And all of that is well and good, but it won't fix the root problem,…
on “Ask HN: Lack of Meaning/Social Interaction as a Developer” ↗A real guide to personal productivity from about that time: Arnold Bennett's How to Live on 24 hours a day. https://gutenberg.org/files/2274/2274-h/2274-h.htm
on “Frederick W. Taylor offers some productivity hacks (1911)” ↗- How to live on 24 hours a day (Arnold Bennett) A short and fairly simplistic view of daily life that really changed how I look on time. - How to run a big ship (Cptn Rory O'Connor, RN) Really made me think about how much of modern…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗best advice I ever had on time mgmt was to read 'how to live on 24 hours a day ' www.gutenberg.org/etext/2274 - excellent advice even though written over 100 years ago. only other thing would be to see how a VA would work to make your life better but like all things in life you…
on “Ask HN: How can I be more effective?” ↗…short-term emotional high, and find it harder and harder to resist replenishing the anger. You can't tell yourself "don't think of pink elephant". Instead you can say think very hard of "a". Read "how to live on 24 hours a day" for a good guide on focus mind on single topic. If you don't like living in a world that makes you angry, try to make it a world that does not make others angry. If even a small majority has this as…
on “Ask HN: How to not bring emotion from work back home?” ↗Read 'what color is your parachute' to figure out your direction and drive then read 'how to live on 24 hours a day' to figure out how you are going to fit it in.
on “Ask HN: Burned out. How can I make the most of a sabbatical leave?” ↗How to Live on 24 Hours a Day - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2274 Also if your hypothesis is that there are too many free resources, then you could try discrediting that by seeing if you focus better when you pay for learning…
on “List of 600 free online courses launched by 190 universities” ↗…example of how a book can change your life in your question. If a book makes you view the world differently (even by a little) doesn't that change your outlook on life? As a personal example a book/novel (how to live on 24 hours a day) made me change how I view my day, shifting from a work day focus (the day is finished when work is finished) to looking at the waking time outside of work as the focus for my day. This is something…
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?” ↗…something great you get not only the learning, but the having done something worth doing. The defeat gives you two of the most meaningful measures of victory. Read wisdom. Epictetus. Marcus Aurelius. How to live on 24 hours a day. Make a log of your time and be brutally honest. Know your budget of time - where it goes. Truth allows you to allocate it in improved ways. Watch Randy Pausch - the last lecture. Live life well.…
on “Ask HN: When do you know your startup has failed?” ↗So in case I’m not spending enough time on the front page of this HN, good to know there’s a nearly infinite depth to plumb. And now I’m reading Arnold Bennett’s ‘How to Live on 24 Hours a Day’ originally published in 1908. Good to know tongue-in-cheek self-help books will never go out of style! [1] - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2274/2274-h/2274-h.htm
on “Show HN: Hacker News Classics” ↗