Caffeine, Showers, and Steak: Inside Elon’s Sleep and Daily Rituals
In an interview with AutoBild and more recently (Dec 2025 / Katie Miller Podcast) Elon shed some light on what his morning routine and sleep habits are like.
When asked what time he goes to be and wakes up Elon replied:
“I wake up at about 7am. But I go to bed late. I usually go to bed around 1am or so.”
For breakfast Elon said “I think it’s probably true that having a good breakfast is a good idea but usually I don’t have time for that so sometimes it’s made for me but probably half the time I don’t have breakfast. I just have like coffee or something like that…
I’m trying to cut down on sweet stuff and I think I probably should have an omelette and a coffee or something like that. That seems like probably the right thing and sometimes I do have that.”
These days (2025) he claims to have Steak and Eggs he said near the end of the Katie Miller podcast.
In another interview Elon was asked how much sleep he gets and he said:
“Sometimes not enough (sleep). Sleep is really great because I find if I don’t get enough sleep then I’m quite grumpy. I think most people are that way…
I found that I could get less sleep and sustain it but I would get less done because mental acuity would suffer. So I found generally the right number for me is around six to six and a half hours on average per night.”
Clearly Elon’s sleep schedule and morning habits align with his fierce work ethic. He has slept on the factory floor at Tesla on a number of occasions, with iron filings in the air. In another video he shared where he would sleep on the floor occasionally in a board room as the couch was too thin.
There is power and productivity potential to be produced optimizing your sleep.
To Paraphrase Ben Franklin: “Being early to bed and early to rise will help make you healthy, wealthy and wise.”
Fewer hours lost to sleeping means more hours for productive work, and with more working hours you can accomplish far more than if you were less diligent about your sleep.
Elon caught some flack for sharing the fact he sometimes takes Ambien to get to sleep but try to imagine how much he has on his mind.
Elon on Joe Rogan described his brain like a never ending explosion of ideas so I don’t blame him for taking some medication when needed so he can optimize his sleep.
Daily Rituals
On a reddit AMA (Ask me Anything) the most upvoted question was: “What daily habit do you believe has the largest positive impact on your life?”
Elon replied with a one word answer: “Showering.”
Pretty simple answer but when you think about it the advice is strong. A shower not only gets you feeling and smelling fresh for the day it also wakes you up and makes you ready for action.
Also, showering before bed can help you sleep.
Clearly daily rituals are working well for Elon so if you are running lean on sleep like he does try showering first thing to wake your body up, alert your mind, and start your day off right.
Elon values his time highly and manages it well. “Time is the ultimate currency.” is one of my favorite Elon tweets.
When you put in twice as many working hours as someone else, you will have the opportunity to gain more momentum and a competitive advantage.
With more momentum you can get twice as much done as someone else, or even much more.
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