A CEO's 24-Hour Sanity Protocol That Works

By an anonymous tech startup founder

Look, I run a machine learning startup with seventy-three brilliant, exhausting people across four time zones. My investors text me at dawn with "quick questions" that are never quick. My engineers debug at midnight and Slack me screenshots like I'm some kind of nocturnal oracle. And somewhere in between all of this, I have to remember to drink water, be a decent human, and not become a cautionary tale in a think piece about founder burnout.

I'm staying anonymous because the last thing I need is my competitors, my board, or that one journalist who keeps trying to get me on their podcast knowing exactly how I spend my mornings. Also, my yoga instructor doesn't need to know I'm a CEO. She just knows me as "the woman who can't do crow pose without swearing." This is the protocol that helps me keep my sanity. Try it if you dare.

5:30 AM: The One Thing I Protect

Yoga isn't a luxury. It's the difference between me being a good leader and me being a tyrant by 2 PM. My studio is quiet and dark when I arrive, which is exactly what I need. Before Slack explodes, before the first fire needs putting out, I'm on my mat. Eighty minutes of vinyasa flow. Phone in the car. Just breath and movement and the reminder that my body is still mine.

What's actually in my beat-up yoga bag:

• The Manduka PRO Yoga Mat in Black Sage. Yes, it's $135. But I've had this thing for four years and it's still perfect. Dense enough that my knees don't complain, grippy enough for sweaty balance poses. I did the math once: that's about seven cents per class.

• Lululemon Align High-Rise Pants in navy. I know they're everywhere, but they're everywhere for a reason. Buttery soft, they stay put, and I own seven identical pairs because I genuinely cannot be bothered to think about what yoga pants to wear.

• Alo Yoga Airlift Bra -supportive without feeling like armor. Clean lines, minimal fuss, does the job.

• My trusty Hydro Flask 32 oz with the straw lid. Room temperature water with a squeeze of lemon. I know everyone says ice-cold water is refreshing, but it makes my body tense up, and I'm trying to do the opposite here.

• Isdin Mineral Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ - no white cast, all my doctor friends swear by it, and it works. The studio has these huge windows, and UV damage is cumulative. I'm playing the long game with my skin.

• A Slip Silk Scrunchie because I learned the hard way that regular hair ties create breakage, and I have enough things breaking in my life.

• And tucked in the side pocket: Aesop Lip Balm. No shine, no shimmer, just protection. It smells faintly herbal and makes me feel like I have my life together.

7:00 AM: The Shower That Saves Me

After yoga, I have a very specific shower routine that probably sounds extra, but it genuinely resets my nervous system.

• Aromatherapy Associates De-Stress Muscle Gel goes on first, rosemary and black pepper, massaged into shoulders that are already bracing for today's challenges. The scent is sharp and clarifying, nothing sweet or cutesy. It wakes me up better than coffee.

• Once a week, I use Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt. My scalp gets congested from dry shampoo and stress, and this feels like hitting the reset button on my whole head.

• Daily shampoo is Olaplex No. 4. My hair is fine and dark and gets damaged easily, so I'm precious about what touches it.

• Nécessaire The Body Wash in Eucalyptus is my everything. It has niacinamide for skin texture, and the eucalyptus scent clears my head without overwhelming me. Clean and focused, that's the vibe.

• Then the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel—two-step pads that take thirty seconds. Glycolic and salicylic acids doing their thing. When you're on video calls twelve hours a day, even skin tone is a strategy.

• I step out feeling like myself again. The day hasn't gotten to me yet.

8:00 AM: My Workspace Isn't Negotiable

I spend most of my waking life at this desk, so it has to work for me, not against me.

• Herman Miller Aeron Chair, Size B. Look, I know it's expensive. But I sit for eight-plus hours a day, and this chair is the reason my back doesn't hate me. Lumbar support, adjustable everything, and honestly? Good posture helps me breathe better, which helps me think better.

• My LG 40" Curved UltraWide Monitor is my command center. I usually have six windows open at once—code, Figma, Slack, email, terminal, analytics dashboard. This screen is how I see everything without losing my mind.

• Keychron Q1 Mechanical Keyboard with Gateron Brown switches. Tactile but not loud. My engineers can already hear me typing through Zoom calls, no need to sound like a telegraph operator.

• Loftie Lamp provides warm, dimmable light. Overhead fluorescents make me feel like I'm in a dystopian nightmare.

My desk companions:

• My LARQ Bottle PureVis in Monaco Blue, it self-cleans with UV light, which sounds like overkill until you realize you're drinking four liters of water a day and washing a water bottle is surprisingly annoying.

• Vitruvi Stone Diffuser in white, which I fill with eucalyptus essential oil during deep focus blocks, or peppermint when I need an energy boost without more caffeine.

• Pique Tea Organic Matcha Green Tea Crystals mixed into almond milk mid-morning. Clean, sustained energy without the jitters or the crash that coffee gives me around 2 PM.

12:30 PM: Lunch Is Fuel, But Make It Good

I'm not one of those people who forgets to eat, but I am one of those people who eats while working.

• My Zojirushi Stainless Steel Food Jar keeps soup hot for six hours. I batch-cook bone broth with ginger and turmeric on Sundays, it's deeply nourishing in a way that feels almost medicinal.

• Sometimes I use the little Dash Mini Waffle Maker we keep in the office kitchenette. Four minutes, chickpea flour batter, tahini on top. Protein, fiber, and it feels like a tiny act of care toward myself.

• I also religiously floss after every meal with Cocofloss in Delicious Mint. I know it sounds neurotic, but gum disease is linked to heart issues and cognitive decline, and I'm trying to stay sharp for a long time.

3:00 PM: The Afternoon Slump Is Real

This is when my brain starts to fog and I need a strategy beyond "drink more coffee and push through."

• Therabody TheraFace Mask red and infrared light therapy with vibration and heat. I wear this during a fifteen-

  minute standing break. It's ostensibly for collagen and skin, but really it forces me to be still, close my eyes, and just breathe. No screen, no input.

• Bala Bangles 1 lb wrist weights that I wear during walking meetings. It's micro-resistance training built into otherwise sedentary time. Every little bit counts.

• A double espresso over ice from the Nespresso Vertuo Next with a splash of oat milk. Quick, effective, no ceremony.

6:30 PM: The Transition Home

I leave the office at a specific time because if I don't, I never will.

On the drive home, I listen to nothing. Just silence. It's the closest thing I have to meditation that actually works for me.

• The second I walk through the door, I change into my Eberjey Gisele Pajama Set in ivory. Modal fabric, loose fit, no elastic anywhere. The physical act of changing clothes tells my brain: work is done.

• I use my Theragun PRO for ten minutes on my traps, glutes, and IT bands. Physical tension holds emotional stress, and this is how I release both.

• Dinner is usually simple, wild-caught salmon, roasted vegetables, a good carb. I'm conscious of protein and omega-3s without being obsessive. Brain food matters.

8:30 PM: Winding Down Like I Mean It

My Hatch Restore 3 starts dimming at 9 PM, gradually reducing light to cue melatonin production.

• Skincare: Isdinceutics Rejuvenating Facial Night Serum layered under Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream. Is it expensive? Extremely. But I think of it as a thirty-year investment in how my skin ages.

• Sometimes I use my NuFACE Trinity microcurrent device while I'm doing a final email sweep. Multitasking to the very end.

• I relish a Cup of Calm tea. It signals to my body that we're done now.

• I read physical books only at night. Right now I'm rotating between technical whitepapers, The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick, and fiction that has absolutely nothing to do with startups or tech.

• Manta Sleep Mask PRO for total blackout. No pressure on my eyes, no light leakage. Even the glow from a streetlight can mess with REM sleep.

• My Bearaby Cotton Napper 20 lbs of breathable, hand-knit organic cotton. It's weighted blanket pressure therapy for a nervous system that spent fourteen hours in overdrive.

10:00 PM: The Final Shutdown

• My phone goes into a Faraday box in another room. No vibrations, no notifications, no temptation to check "just one more thing."

• Magnesium glycinate, 400mg. Helps with muscle relaxation and sleep quality. Non-negotiable.

• I set my Dyson Pure Cool air purifier to night mode, HEPA filtration and gentle white noise at 45 decibels.

  
  

The last thing I do: three minutes of box breathing. Four-count inhale, hold, exhale, hold. It's not woo-woo, it's vagal nerve stimulation, and my heart rate variability data proves it works. Then. Then I let go.

Building something meaningful in tech -or in any field- is a marathon run at sprint pace. You can't sustain that on willpower alone. You need systems. You need rituals. You need things that are just for you. For me, it's yoga at dawn. It's the shower that resets me. It's leaving work at a set time. It's skincare that feels like self-respect. It's silence on the drive home.

I didn't figure this out overnight. It's taken years of trial and error, of pushing too hard and breaking down, of learning what my body and mind actually need versus what I thought they should need. The leaders who last aren't the ones who sacrifice everything. They're the ones who figure out what they absolutely cannot sacrifice and protect those things fiercely.

The author is a CEO in the machine learning space who wishes to remain anonymous. No, we can't tell you which company. No, we won't tell you even if you guess. Yes, she really does own seven pairs of the same yoga pants.