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CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Self-made millionaire's daily routine: Waking up at 4:45 a.m., sending emails during bedtime—hard work is a requirement 'to be successful'
Emma Grede has co-founded multiple companies, works as the CEO of one of them, was the first Black woman to be an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank" and has an estimated net worth of $405 million. A calculated daily routine helps Grede stay productive without sacrificing self-care, she said on a May 12 podcast episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him and Her." "I'm pretty regimented with my routine and, because I have four kids, that's the only way I can do it," said Grede, 42, the co-founder and CEO of apparel brand Good American. "I'm very, very, very militant about not picking up my phone first thing [in the morning] ... So I'm like, what do I need to do today? What's important to me? And what do I think before I start getting messages from the world, from the news, from social [media]?" Grede, who also co-founded apparel brand Skims and cleaning product company Safely, starts each day at 4:35 a.m., grabbing a cup of coffee before heading downstairs to her home gym, she said. She does a 90-minute workout five days per week, she said: "[It's] the only time no one's asking anything of me. That's like my meditation time ... I'm in my own space."From there, she gets her four kids ready for school, makes breakfast and corrals everyone at the table by 7:30 so they can spend at least 20 minutes together as a family before they go their separate ways for the day. By 8:30, Grede is at her office in California for a day of "back to back to back" meetings, she said. The companies that she's operationally involved in — like Skims, Good American and Safely — are based in the same building, added Grede, who was named a CNBC Changemaker on February 24. Grede gets home each day around 5:30 p.m., she said — then it's dinner, bath time and bed time for her kids. About three nights each week, she'll attend a work dinner or gathering with friends, get home and answer more emails before meditating, reading and turning in for the night, she said. Staying busy, both personally and professionally, works for her, she said: "You have to work really, really, really, really, really hard if you want to be successful ... I'm a furious organizer and scheduler. I try to make the most of every single thing I'm doing." Grede's routine contains elements of timeboxing, where you spend a specific amount of time tackling a task on your to-do list and stick to it. Highly successful people from Richard Branson to Michelle Obama have used the scheduling method to lead more productive lives. Some experts particularly recommend scheduling time for dedicated focus, and breaks, into your calendar each day. It's "really critical" for productivity, Slack senior vice president of research and analytics Christina Janzer told CNBC Make It on Jan. 8, 2024. For Grede, the idea is more simply to pack her workdays tightly enough to balance productivity and personal happiness outside the office, she said. "When you're someone like me that, all day, people are taking [from you] ... I can't wait for someone to come and give something to me. I have to do that part for myself," said Grede. "I have to find those moments in my day because it ain't coming otherwise."
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Self-made millionaire: Remote work is fine, unless you're 'deeply ambitious'—'proximity' helped me succeed
For serial entrepreneur Emma Grede, being "deeply ambitious" means working in-person five days per week. Grede, a co-founder of apparel brands Skims and Good American, has an estimated $405 million net worth, according to Forbes — and her work ethic was shaped by working in the office everyday during her early career, she said on a May 12 podcast episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him and Her." If you work at Good American, where Grede is the CEO, you're expected to be in the office every weekday, she added. Grede, 42, "learned from proximity" when she was younger, she said. She sat near her boss in meetings, writing down "every phrase that would come out of her mouth," she said. When she had to make calls, she'd repeat what her boss said, learning from her word choice, cadence and presence. "How are you learning if you're not, like, in it [and] on the job? We know some jobs need more proximity than others, but I'm in the product business ... If you're not in the room, you're not able to do that at an excellent level," said Grede, who was named a CNBC Changemaker on February 24. In addition to her apparel brands, Grede is also a co-founder of cleaning product brand Safely and an occasional guest Shark on ABC's "Shark Tank." "I have businesses that are relatively young and it requires people that come every day with 100%, put everything in and leave nothing on the table," she said. "I think I make it quite clear that if you're a three-day-a-week person, that's totally fine, it just doesn't work here. It doesn't work for me." When circumstances require hybrid work, like a mom returning to her job after having a baby, Grede makes accommodations, she said. "We want to create the conditions for ambitious people to be successful and that might mean, at certain points in their career, they need a different set-up," said Grede. "But ... for those starting out, for most people in the company, we have to be [in person] five days a week." Many employees tout the benefits of hybrid work, according to 2023 Gallup data: 76% said they had improved work-life balance, 64% said they used their time more efficiently and 61% said they experienced less burnout or fatigue at work. A minority of workers in the same data set noted a few downsides. Twenty-eight percent said they felt less connected to their organizations, 24% said they had decreased collaboration with their teams and 21% said they had impaired working relationships with their team members. If you're a boss who struggles with the idea of remote work because you think your employees aren't as productive from home, you can offer them trainings to help them communicate more effectively online and get the most out of hybrid meetings, Lucid Software CEO Dave Grow told CNBC Make It on June 21, 2024. The fact that "executives who are often the ones setting the policy still have a relatively high level of dissatisfaction is indicative that we have not gotten to the right end state" of hybrid workplaces, said Grow, whose company makes digital collaboration tools. Of course, if your employees want to be in the office every weekday, there's little reason to stop them. "There's a lot of different ways that people come to work and there [are] always exceptions to every rule, because otherwise, you're not running a modern business," Grede said.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CNBC
This one daily habit can boost brain health and help lower risk of dementia—it's 'very overlooked,' longevity doctor says
There are many things you can do to keep your brain sharp, from eating certain foods to playing memory games. But there's one daily practice for brain health that longevity doctor Dr. Avinish Reddy finds isn't talked about enough. "The thing that's very overlooked, which I'll always say, is exercise. Regular exercise reduces the risk of dementia," he says. "There's specific activities that lower your risk for Parkinson's and dementia as well, including racket sports like table tennis and pickleball. Because they use hand-eye coordination." Hand-eye coordination gets worse as people age because important areas of the brain can decline after the age of 60 without adequate exercise or nutrition, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Having good hand-eye coordination is necessary to remain independent, since it's important for activities like driving and grabbing a handrail, the publication noted. Playing racket sports like tennis and ping pong can improve hand-eye coordination because "the speed of the moving ball is challenging," occupational therapist Jennifer Packard told Harvard Health Publishing in 2021. "Your brain has to manage that hand and arm not just where you can see it, but also where you can't see it, as the ball flies by and you reach behind you or to the side." Engaging in team sports and group fitness activities can not only help you stay active, but they also increase social connection, Reddy notes. Research shows that meeting new people and maintaining personal relationships can improve your happiness and increase your chances of living longer. "I see patients that are older and if they get hurt, their first reason for wanting to get back exercising is because they're like, 'I want to go back and see my golf friends' or 'I want to go join my pickleball league again, to see my friends,'" he says. The largest age bracket of pickleball players was 55 and up in 2021, according to SFIA's 2022 Single Sport Participation Report on Pickleball. The social aspect of the sport is a huge draw, according to players who spoke to CNBC Make It in 2023. "I tell everyone I have made more friends and good acquaintances through pickleball within the last six to seven years than my lifetime," said Ryo Shinagawa, 72 at the time. Shinagawa played tennis for decades before pivoting to pickleball in 2016. He played pickleball three to four times a week, for about two to three hours, and connected with over 150 acquaintances through the sport. "It just makes you realize that exercise doesn't have to be that complicated," Reddy says. "And longevity doesn't have to be that complicated."
CNBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNBC
Lindsay Lohan shares the simple morning routine that keeps her motivated and productive: 'It's all about balance'
Lindsay Lohan credits her ability to juggle her hectic work schedule as an actress and her responsibilities as a mom to her consistent, yet simple, morning routine. Lohan, who's promoting her "Freakier Friday" sequel, starts off each day like many other people — with mindfulness, a meal and a workout. "I love having a routine, and I like schedules," she said in a May 27 interview with Elle. "So, my morning routine: Waking up, writing in my journal, sipping my green tea, breakfast with my son. And then Pilates, making sure I go." A decade ago, Lohan moved to Dubai for a reset. There, she met her husband, Bader Shammas, and in 2023, had her son, Luai. Around that time, she'd just ended a long break from acting. Though she's constantly back and forth from her home overseas to New York and Los Angeles, she tries to keep the same routine. "It's hard in L.A. Even taking my son to the park in L.A., I get stressed," said Lohan, 38. "It's all about balance and, as I said, routine. Especially when you have a kid, routine is the most important thing. And whatever their routine is, I've got to live by that." Her commitment to self-care and having a consistent morning regimen, she added, came from a lesson from her co-star and work mom, Jamie Lee Curtis, who taught her "to always take care of yourself first. Because without that, how can you do everything for everyone else?" Experts like bestselling author and personal growth expert Mel Robbins tend to agree with Curtis' advice. Robbins learned the lesson firsthand unintentionally after not paying attention to her own mental health early in parenthood. That seemed to lead to increased stress and anxiety in her child. The "single best thing" parents can do is to get ahead of those issues early, she said on a May 6 episode of "The Oprah Podcast." Starting your day with mindfulness, physical activity or time with your kids — as opposed to checking your emails or calendar — can boost your happiness and fulfillment, experts say. Journaling every morning, as Lohan does, can have a real impact: Just 15 minutes a day can help you clarify your thoughts and feelings, improve your problem solving skills and even help you recover from trauma, bestselling authors Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal wrote for CNBC Make It in July 2019. Putting pen to paper at least three to five days a week could significantly improve your physical and mental health, they said. They recommended reflecting on topics like advice you'd give your younger self, or 10 things you wish other people knew about you. "If you're new to journaling, the easiest way to begin is to find a time and place where you won't be disturbed, and just start writing," they wrote. Dedicating a portion of your morning to having fun is important too, says psychologist Laura Pendergrass, who advises Fortune 500 companies. "Self-care in the form of fun is just as important as anything else we do to take care of ourselves," she said in 2022. "We recognize the importance of recess for kids and build it into their school time, but we forget the importance of play as adults. It's up to us to create our own enrichment opportunities to do something fun or creative and inject color into what could otherwise be a gray day."
CNBC
13-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Richard Branson: People have told me I'd fail on many occasions—how I know when to trust myself anyway
Richard Branson says the biggest reason he's a billionaire today is because he trusts his instincts — and he's not discouraged when people tell him a new venture is "crazy" or doomed to fail. Instead, Branson takes those doubts to heart: He listens to his advisors so as to consider every possible pitfall of a new venture. Once those issues are identified, Branson says he takes the necessary precautions to "protect the downside" before forging ahead. That mindset has helped the British founder push past the objections of naysayers, particularly when he strongly believes that one of his seemingly "crazy" ventures can bring something new to a market that's ripe for disruption, Branson, 74, wrote in a LinkedIn post on April 28. "Since we launched, there have been many occasions where people told me we'd fail. But we've stuck by our belief that if you can create something better than everybody else, then you at least have a chance of succeeding," Branson wrote. Branson's risky decision to launch Virgin Atlantic in 1984 is a prime example of the billionaire's philosophy, he wrote in the LinkedIn post. "People thought we were crazy to launch an airline," wrote Branson. "I went against everyone's advice. Friends, experts, the press, the pundits — and on paper, they were right." Branson "had no idea how the aviation world worked" at the time, having previously only worked in the music industry since founding Virgin Records more than a decade earlier, he wrote. But he was convinced that he could improve upon the flying experience offered by most traditional airlines, mostly because it was so "subpar," he noted. It was a huge challenge — one that Branson acknowledged "was very risky" due to the fact that he was taking on much larger, established rivals in a highly competitive industry, he told CNBC Make It in April 2024. Branson took those risks seriously. Rather than dismiss anyone who disagrees with him, Branson advocates for surrounding himself with intelligent people and then spending "as much time as possible listening" to alternative points of view, he wrote on LinkedIn in February 2015. Branson prioritized "protecting the downside" by starting out small and negotiating an escape hatch in case he was wrong. In the case of Virgin Atlantic, that meant starting the company by leasing just a single 747 aircraft from Boeing: "In case my instinct was wrong, I negotiated the right to hand [Virgin's first plane] back to Boeing at the end of the first year," Branson said. "The most the airline was actually going to cost — apart from my reputation, which is obviously very important — was roughly a year's profits at Virgin Records." Fortunately for Branson, his instincts ultimately paid off: Virgin Atlantic is still in business after more than four decades. It has overcome ups and downs, even emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in 2021. More recently, the business posted record annual revenue of nearly $4.5 billion in 2024 that returned the company to profitability, the company announced in March. "Virgin Atlantic is proof that you don't need to stay in your lane," Branson wrote. Without that mindset, Branson never would have launched Virgin Atlantic, much less continued branching out into new industries like telecommunications, hospitality, and even spaceflight. "There's many things that we've done that we wouldn't have done if we'd listened to accountants," Branson told CNBC Make It. Not every decision has been a success. He launched some short-lived brands, like Virgin Cola and Virgin Clothing, that never panned out. Even Branson's spaceflight play, Virgin Galactic, has suffered "significant losses since inception," including losing $346 million in 2024, the company said in its annual report in February. In the case of Virgin Galactic, Branson mitigated the risk to Virgin Group by selling the bulk of its stake in the public space tourism company to investors. Ultimately, though, Branson's overall track record speaks for itself. He boasts a net worth that Forbes currently estimates at $2.8 billion. At the same time, Branson still refuses to think of himself purely as a businessman. "[I'm] somebody that loves to create things that I can be proud of," he told CNBC Make It.
