I tried Steve Jobs’ 8 intense work routine for 30 days. I barely kept up.

It’s the kind of thing you hear about all the time: the legendary habits of insanely successful people.

Steve Jobs is right at the top of that list. Visionary, perfectionist, genius—his work routine has practically taken on mythical status. The idea is that if you can just tap into even a fraction of his habits, you’ll unlock some hidden level of productivity and innovation in your own life.

I wanted to see if that was true—or at least if I could survive it. For 30 days, I committed to following Steve Jobs’ famously intense work routine. No shortcuts, no excuses. Just me, my calendar, and a whole lot of Apple-inspired ambition.

Here’s what happened when I took on the challenge—and why it didn’t exactly turn out the way I hoped.

1) The pressure to “think different” hit me hard

Steve Jobs was known for his relentless focus on innovation. “Think different” wasn’t just a slogan—it was a way of life. I thought I was ready for that mindset, but it hit me harder than I expected.

One of the key parts of his routine is dedicating long stretches of time purely to thinking—strategizing, brainstorming, and picking apart ideas until only the best ones remain. It sounds inspiring, right? But in practice, it was overwhelming.

Sitting in silence, staring at a blank notebook, and trying to force my brain into brilliance felt unnatural. My mind kept drifting to emails, deadlines, and the usual noise of daily work life.

I realized quickly that Jobs’ ability to stay laser-focused wasn’t just about clearing his schedule—it was about completely rewiring how he approached productivity.

By the end of week one, I found myself struggling with frustration more than inspiration. Thinking differently is easier said than done when your brain has been trained to multitask and chase instant results.

2) I realized how uncomfortable simplicity can be

Steve Jobs was infamous for his obsession with simplicity. From product design to decision-making, he was all about stripping things down to their essence.

Part of his routine involved cutting out anything unnecessary, both in work and life. It sounded freeing in theory, but when I tried it, it left me feeling… exposed.

I started by decluttering my workspace and my daily schedule. I said no to meetings that weren’t critical, muted notifications, and kept my to-do list ruthlessly short.

But as the days went on, I noticed something unexpected: without the usual busyness filling every corner of my day, I started feeling anxious.

One afternoon, I sat at my desk staring at a single task I had set aside two hours for. It wasn’t even a huge project—it was updating a pitch deck—but with nothing else to distract me, it felt oddly heavy.

I realized how much I’d been using noise—Slack pings, back-to-back calls, even scrolling through headlines—as a way to avoid sitting alone with my thoughts or tackling work that required deep focus.

The quiet made me confront how much of my productivity was fueled by momentum rather than intention. It wasn’t a comfortable realization, but it stuck with me.

3) “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life”

That quote from Steve Jobs haunted me throughout this experiment. It’s one of his most famous lines, and it’s packed with wisdom—but trying to live by it while following his routine created this strange contradiction I couldn’t shake.

I was waking up at the same time he did, structuring my day around his focus blocks, and even eating simpler meals inspired by his minimalist diet. But somewhere along the way, I started feeling like I was losing touch with what actually mattered to me.

One morning, I was working through a task that I thought would move my business forward—something I’d put on my calendar during one of those “focus-only” sessions.

But as I sat there grinding away, I realized it wasn’t something I cared about deeply. It was something I thought I should do because it aligned with what others in my field were doing or expecting.

That quote kept echoing in my head: “Don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Here I was, trying to channel Steve Jobs’ brilliance, but in the process, I was squeezing out the parts of myself that made my work meaningful in the first place. It was sobering to realize how easily you can adopt someone else’s habits without questioning whether they truly align with your own vision.

4) His obsession with walking meetings threw me off

Steve Jobs swore by walking meetings.

He believed they sparked creativity and led to better, more honest conversations—something backed up by research showing that walking can increase creative output by up to 60%. I thought this would be one of the easier parts of his routine to adopt. It wasn’t.

At first, I loved the idea. I scheduled a few walking meetings with colleagues, thinking it would break the monotony of sitting at my desk all day.

But what I didn’t expect was how unprepared I felt without the usual crutches: a laptop to take notes, a whiteboard to map out ideas, or even just a desk to lean on when the conversation stalled.

During one call, I had to stop mid-walk and scramble for my phone to jot something down because I’d forgotten half the details by the time we finished talking. Another time, I found myself so distracted by dodging pedestrians and street noise that I barely retained anything from the discussion.

It’s one thing to embrace the freedom of movement, but Jobs made it look effortless because he’d mastered balancing focus with flexibility.

For me, it felt more like juggling—trying to keep my thoughts in sync while my feet kept moving.

5) Perfectionism slowed me down

Steve Jobs was a notorious perfectionist. Whether it was the curve of an iPhone’s edges or the exact shade of white on a box, he demanded nothing less than flawless execution. I thought I understood the value of high standards, but living with that level of scrutiny for 30 days was a different story.

It started small: I’d spend an extra five minutes tweaking the alignment on a slide or rewriting an email draft for the third time. But soon, it spiraled.

A task that should’ve taken an hour would stretch into two or three because I couldn’t stop nitpicking—whether it was the wording of a presentation or the formatting of a document.

One day, I spent nearly half an afternoon redesigning a simple graphic for a project, obsessing over tiny details no one else would probably notice.

By the end of it, I felt drained—not because I’d created something meaningful, but because I’d burned up my energy chasing some invisible ideal that didn’t really matter in the bigger picture.

Perfectionism has its place when you’re building something revolutionary, but for day-to-day work? It can be paralyzing. Jobs made it look like a superpower, but for me, it became a trap I struggled to climb out of.

6) I underestimated the emotional toll of constant intensity

Steve Jobs wasn’t just intense about work—he was intense about everything.

Whether it was pushing his team to their limits or relentlessly questioning every idea, he approached life with an all-or-nothing mindset. I knew this going in, but I didn’t fully grasp how exhausting it would be to live that way, even for a month.

The routine demanded that I pour everything into every moment—deep work blocks, walking meetings, obsessive attention to detail. But what I didn’t anticipate was how emotionally draining it would be to maintain that kind of energy day after day.

By the second week, I noticed I was snapping at people over small things. A delayed email reply felt like a personal slight; a minor hiccup in a project had me questioning my competence.

I started to feel like I was running on empty, not because the work itself was unbearable, but because there was no room for anything less than 100%.

One evening, after a particularly grueling day, I sat down to eat dinner and realized I couldn’t even enjoy the food in front of me. My brain was still racing through unfinished tasks and ideas I hadn’t perfected yet.

It hit me then: living with constant intensity doesn’t just drain you physically—it pulls you away from the simple joys and connections that make the grind worth it in the first place.

7) Creativity doesn’t work on a schedule

One of the pillars of Steve Jobs’ routine was carving out specific time blocks for creativity. He believed in giving himself space to think deeply, to let ideas emerge and evolve without interruption.

At first, I thought this would be one of the most productive parts of the experiment. It wasn’t.

For me, creativity has always been unpredictable. Sometimes it strikes in the shower or during a late-night scroll through my phone—other times, it’s nowhere to be found, no matter how much I try to summon it.

Dedicating strict hours to “creative thinking” felt like trying to catch lightning in a bottle.

I remember one afternoon I’d set aside for brainstorming new product ideas. I stared at my notebook for an hour, doodling mindlessly and waiting for inspiration to hit. It didn’t. The more I forced myself to stay in that moment, the more blocked I felt.

By the end of the session, I had nothing but frustration and a page full of meaningless scribbles.

Jobs might have been able to channel his creativity on demand, but for me, it felt unnatural and forced. Creativity is messy—it doesn’t always show up when you need it most, and trying to fit it into a neat little box only made it harder to access.

8) I forgot to leave room for being human

Steve Jobs was a master of discipline, focus, and vision, but what often gets lost in the stories about his work ethic is that he was still human—flawed, emotional, and sometimes unpredictable.

What I didn’t realize until the final stretch of this experiment was how much I’d sacrificed in trying to emulate a version of him that felt almost superhuman.

I became so wrapped up in sticking to the routine—perfecting every detail, maximizing every minute—that I stopped listening to what my body and mind actually needed.

One night, I was so determined to finish a task within my designated “deep work” block that I skipped dinner entirely. By the time I finally stood up from my desk, it was almost midnight, and I was too exhausted to eat or even think straight.

The next morning, I woke up feeling disconnected from myself. I’d spent 30 days chasing productivity and innovation but had neglected the simple things that keep us grounded: rest, connection, and moments of joy that don’t serve any grand purpose.

It’s easy to idolize someone like Jobs and try to replicate their habits in the hope of achieving their success.

But at the end of the day, even he wasn’t perfect—and neither are we. The most important lesson I learned wasn’t about work ethic or creativity; it was about remembering that no matter how ambitious your goals are, you can’t forget to live your life in the process.

The bottom line

Steve Jobs achieved extraordinary things, but his routine was built for his life, not anyone else’s. Trying to follow it step by step taught me that productivity isn’t about copying someone else’s formula—it’s about creating a rhythm that works for your goals, your strengths, and your energy.

What made Jobs exceptional wasn’t just his work ethic or attention to detail—it was his ability to stay aligned with his vision while embracing his imperfections. That’s what drives real innovation: not relentless perfection, but the courage to stay true to yourself even when it means breaking the mold.

If you’re looking for ways to push yourself or refine your routine, take inspiration from others, but don’t forget to filter it through your own needs and values. Authentic success doesn’t come from living someone else’s life—it comes from mastering your own.