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- 🌃 Evening Routines: How 11 Successful People End Their Days
🌃 Evening Routines: How 11 Successful People End Their Days
Learn about the evening habits of successful people like Zendaya and Pharrell Williams, and how they recharge for their demanding lifestyles.
Hao Nguyen
May 01, 2024
Welcome to Balance the Grind, a TNG Media newsletter as part of The Nudge Group. We’re a work-life balance publication featuring conversations and stories on how to ‘live better.’ If you received this email as a forward, you can subscribe right here.
Welcome back to the Balance the Grind newsletter! In this issue, we’re looking into the evening rituals of some of the most successful individuals around.
Discover how Zendaya winds down with a calming skincare routine before diving into her favorite shows, and how Pharrell Williams switches from intense studio sessions to chilling with episodes of Ancient Aliens to relax before bed.
From Sara Blakely's tranquil evening baths to Emily Weiss's nightly bath ritual that completely shifts her mindset, this edition explores the various ways these celebrities recharge after their bustling days.
Also, find out how Daniel Ek aligns his creative and professional life with meticulous evening planning and why Priyanka Chopra ensures her skincare routine is impeccable before heading to bed.
Zendaya
Zendaya doesn’t cook and often uses Postmates to order food around 6:00 PM. She tries to consider her housemates’ preferences, but ultimately, the final decision is hers. Her living situation is harmonious, as her family understands boundaries and respects each other’s space.
At 7:30 PM, she spends time with her housemates or relaxes in her sparsely furnished home. Her evening routine starts at 9:00 PM with makeup removal, face washing, teeth brushing, and another shower. Although she occasionally falls asleep in her clothes, she usually watches shows like Weeds and Shameless before falling asleep.
Kerry Washington
With such a busy daily routine at all times, Kerry Washington is conscious of including lots of self-care activities throughout her schedule so that she doesn’t burn out. In addition to her Pilates, yoga and weight training, she also enjoys outdoor exercise like swimming and hiking. She’s also big on therapy and massages.
At the end of the day, Washington performs a skincare routine that she says helps her to wind down before bed. “I like to double cleanse by removing my makeup with makeup-remover wipes, followed by washing my face and then applying retinol serum,” she revealed to The Cut.
Shan-Lyn Ma
After spending some time in the afternoon catching up on emails, Shan-Lyn Ma will usually leave work at around 6pm. Since her accident, Ma has been committed to including self-care rituals in her daily routine. This includes logging from work at a specific time each evening to walk her dog, and also going to SoulCycle and Pilates a few times a week. For her evening routine, she’ll write in her Five Minute Journal again, then use an aromatherapy sleep aid that has lavender, chamomile and vetiver before lights out at 11pm.
Hailey Bieber
To wrap up her day, and as part of her evening self-care routine, Hailey Bieber likes to have a candlelit bath with bath salts. “I think Epsom salt is really good for detoxing your body and your muscles,” she said. “I might throw on a little face mask and hang.” After her bath, she’s usually in bed by 9pm to watch a movie before going to sleep. Occasionally she’ll take a melatonin gummy to help her relax.
We try to have a rule where once we get in bed and the TV’s on, we’re off our phones for the rest of the night—unless it’s urgent or we’re setting an alarm. I’m trying to break the habit of being on the phone right before bed. I know it’s not healthy for your brain. Honestly, my favorite thing is either to get in bed and watch a good show or movie, or just talk away until I’m tired.
Priyanka Chopra
At around 6.30-7pm, Priyanka Chopra will have a break for dinner (”Vietnamese chicken with zucchini noodles, Lebanese food, Greek, Thai”), before heading back to work for a few more meetings until 9pm, at which point she’ll finish up her day and start her nighttime routine.
I need to spend some time on my face before bed — I do my nightly routine, take off makeup, moisturize. I try to time myself to get about seven to eight hours of sleep a night, because that’s when I function the best. When I see that I’m [about to hit my time limit] that’s when I go to bed, usually by 11:30 p.m. or midnight.
Issa Rae
To wrap up her day, Issa Rae follows a particular evening routine which she described to The Cut.
My favorite part is stripping off that makeup, and I have a very specific regimen. If I feel lazy, I’d start with makeup wipes — that’s terrible for the environment — then I go to my face cleanser, and then I have an exfoliation cleanser that I use after that. And then I use micellar water, that incredible water, with cotton pads, and then I use a toner and then top that off with this face-restoring oil that I really love, wrap my hair, and go to bed.
Janelle Monáe
To wind her day down, Janelle Monáe likes to put on a documentary to fall asleep to — “something a bit cerebral to wear me down.” If she’s recording she’ll most likely be asleep by 1-2am, but if she’s on tour, the priority is getting in 8 hours of sleep so she’ll go to bed at midnight.
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Sara Blakely
To unwind from her hectic schedule, Sara Blakely told The Cut she takes a bath every night, as part of her evening routine. “I pretty much always light a candle. I sit in the bath for usually five or ten minutes. I get really, really, warm and then I get out,” she said. “It calms my body down but it also helps keep me warm in bed. I use drugstore lavender Epson salts every night with the bath.”
Pharrell Williams
If his day includes a music session, Pharrell can be working in the studio for over 10 hours that day, while juggling other business ventures over the phone.
I do phone calls from somewhere between 10:30 a.m. and noon. I’m usually entering the studio between 12 and 1. I work from 1 or 2-ish to maybe 9 or 11 every day. Somewhere between 4 and 6, I may have to get on one or two conference calls about things outside of music.
Pharrell will be heading to bed anytime between midnight and 2am, but not before unwinding with some TV. “When I get back to my room late at night, I first watch MSNBC, then some Discovery Channel stuff,” he said in an interview. “Then I’ve gotta go to TiVo and look at all my esoteric aliens stuff, like Ancient Aliens. I have to spend at least 30 minutes on that a night.”
Emily Weiss
When it comes to her self-care rituals, Emily Weiss’ go-to ritual is taking a bath. She explained her evening routine in an interview with Vogue.
The number one thing that always helps me is taking a bath – so maybe I’m English if I take a bath every night. It’s a transition from daytime to nighttime. I get home from work, take a bath, and there’s a real before and after. Straight away my whole body is completely relaxed and I’m in a totally different headspace. I always dump a giant bag of Epsom salts in the bath – they’re cheap and you need a lot of them, not just a scoop. I have so much Epsom salt real estate in my house – that’s the base.
Daniel Ek
Daniel Ek has a habit of writing out his daily, weekly, and monthly goals and tracking their progress every evening. From there, he’ll allocate time accordingly to each goal. “People think that creativity is this free spirit that has no boundaries,” he told Fast Company. “No, actually the most creative people in the world schedule their creativity. That’s the irony. So I try to do the same.”
A 2012 Forbes profile revealed that Ek usually leaves the Spotify offices at around 8pm, “eats dinner out and then returns home to unwind, either by playing guitar for a few hours or juggling a rotating trio of books.” After that, he’ll jump back online to do some emails, then go to sleep at around 2am.
And that's all for this issue! Here at our newsletter, we aim to bring you stories and insights that help you manage your daily life. We look forward to sharing more with you in our next edition. Keep pushing forward, and we'll be back with more soon!