How five of the most successful female entrepreneurs manage their time

A new study by card payment provider, Dojo, reveals the daily habits of some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs – to see just how their routines contribute to their success.

Dojo analysed biographies, interviews, social media and articles to depict the 24-hour routines of 26 female business owners, CEOs or founders that are renowned for their success globally.

From Kardashian’s to Whitney Wolfe-Herd, the entrepreneurs’ day-to-day activities were then split into a category of either sleep, food/drink, exercise, meditation, leisure, work/admin or other to understand how they manage their time and achieve their goals.

How five of the most successful female entrepreneurs manage their time:

Kim Kardashian – Founder, Skims Shapewear

The day-to-day routine of Kim Kardashian has helped her achieve an estimated net worth of over 1 billion US dollars, making her one of the successful entrepreneurs in the study. The reality TV star turned business woman’s wealth is heavily generated from her KKW Beauty company and SKIMS clothing brand.

Preparation is key for the Kardashian daily routine

From waking up at 5:45 a.m and filming till around 7-8pm most days, Kim has things planned out rigorously. She chooses her workout clothes the night before and her meals are also all prepped for each day to maintain a level of structure, prevent ‘decision fatigue’ and save time. Anna Wintour is also known for stepping out in similar outfits every day for the same reason.

Kim has stated that family time is also massively important to her. Her favorite thing to do is video-chat with her family when she’s not with them. She also incorporates this into her routine. Rather than working flat out for eight hours at a time, Kim split’s work between other activities such as exercise, meditation, social/family time – which is a similar routine also observed by her sister Kylie Jenner.

Whitney Wolfe-Herd – CEO & Founder, Bumble

Founder and CEO of the highly successful dating app Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd is the world’s youngest self-made billionaire due to her hard work and determination. Whitney believes anyone can make money at something they are good at, stating “you just have to find your passion and lean into it”.

A healthy lifestyle and the right amount of sleep is important to Wolfe-Herd’s routine

Whitney claims to sleep until around 6am before morning yoga and follows the circadian rhythm. She commented, “I sleep with the drapes open to rise with the sun. I think that’s a healthy thing to do because even if you don’t like to wake up early, your body does adjust.” This has become a new routine for the entrepreneur in the last 5 years as she used to lack sleep waking up at 4am most mornings.

In her high-pressure role, Whitney uses “the question of nine” method to help her prioritise and focus her work. By asking whether something will matter in nine minutes, nine hours, nine days, nine weeks, nine months, or nine years, she can then understand if she needs to pay attention to it.

Kayla Itsines – Co-Founder, BBG & Sweat

This month, Australia’s Kayla Itsines sold her fitness platform, Sweat, to iFIT in a reported $400 million deal – something that doesn’t happen every day in her life.

To build this empire, the fitness influencer turned entrepreneur’s routine normally heavily revolves around health, training and content creation. She does not have a strict 9 to 5 schedule but is known to visit the office regularly throughout the day in between shoots and working out.

Kayla’s diet is a key focus in her routine everyday

This is no surprise from the amount of exercise she is doing. Even when she is traveling she claims to build her schedule around her meals.

With Kayla’s busy schedule she makes sure to note down everything at night that she needs to do the next day. She also blocks out an hour of her time each day for herself. At this time she forbids any meetings, phone calls or interviews. She has learnt to do this, as she claimed work used to take over her life when starting out. She now advises PT’s to schedule their priorities, such as family time and personal training, and then organise clients around this.

Oprah Winfrey – Chairwoman, Harpo Productions

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has developed her role into a media and business empire making her one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the list.

Like the majority of the entrepreneurs studied, Oprah’s day starts early – at around 6am. Like Whitney Wolfe-Herf, Oprah also opts for a natural approach to waking up, saying she ‘doesn’t believe in alarms’ – she simply manifests the time she wants to wake up before she goes to sleep.

Oprah makes time for spiritual exercises everyday

She practices gratitude by journaling each day to document the things she is grateful for.

Rihanna – CEO and Founder, Fenty Beauty

CEO and Founder of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna, evolved her singing career into a fashion and make-up business empire – helping to make her into the wealthiest female musician in the world with a $600 million fortune.

The foundation of Rihanna’s routine is doing what makes her happy and learning from mistakes

When starting Fenty, branching out into different creative outlets was a strong passion of hers. Rihanna reported a learning point from her empire has been to delegate tasks and not do it alone, with the singer saying “I’m welcoming everyone’s vision here, because that’s what it’s gonna take”.

Rihanna follows a unique schedule, opting for a late night and early start, sleeping from 1am to 6am. The singer makes up for any fatigue with power naps throughout the day if needed. Rihanna also looks after her mental health by making sure to book ‘personal days’ on her calendar where she can shut off from work.

More unique routines of successful entrepreneurs

When performing Beyonce is known for doing up to nine hours a day of dance practice on top of regularly working out 3-5 times a week. When she’s not training and performing, Beyonce’s routine focuses on her wellbeing and family. Similar to Oprah, even on Sunday’s the singer wakes up at 6am and will practice gratitude.

During month 3 of her business Uoma Beauty, Sharon Chuter followed an intense daily routine working 14-16 hours a day and waking up at 2am to conduct business overseas. She cites making lists as the route of her being to organise and formulate her days when starting out, as well as affirmations and listening to her body’s needs by staying in tune with it.

For the current chair at major investment firm A.J. Bell, Dame Helena Morrissey, having nine children means she often finds herself “working on the weekends while her kids do their homework” and comments that she can do 12-hours days which exhaust her completely.

Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post, also struggled with maintaining a healthy work-life balance which eventually impacted her health. After burning out and collapsing from sleep deprivation and exhaustion in 2007, she was forced to change her routines. She now takes sleep a lot more seriously and has become an advocate for work-life balance.