Aug – Sep 2026 · operating model
Olli's optimized week
One fixed daily spine — 06:45 wake, morning routine, admin on sit-down, 22:30 cap — with two shapes on top: WFH (Mon, Fri) and office (Tue–Thu). The whole design turns on one fact: Zürich runs +9 hours ahead of US-Pacific, so the European morning is the middle of the US night, and the West Coast only wakes at 17:00 your time.
Why it's shaped this way
Deep work in the dead zone
Zürich is +9h vs US-Pacific, so mid-morning is the middle of the US night — structurally un-bookable. A 2-hour deep block lands there every day; it's the highest-leverage time on the calendar and it costs the team nothing to protect.
Concentrate the US core at 17:00
17:00–18:30 ZH = 08:00 PT — the whole West Coast fresh and online. Put the real 1:1s and decisions there; anything past ~13:30 PT goes async or to a US deputy, which shrinks the late-night tail.
22:30 is a wall, not a target
Laptop shut and screens off at 22:30, in bed by 23:15 → 7.5h against the fixed 06:45 dropoff wake. Without the 45-min wind-down the cap quietly becomes a 6-hour night.
Two late nights, five recovery nights
Tue and Wed carry all the US-evening weight. Mon, Thu and Fri end early to bank ~8h × 3 — two consecutive late nights is the real sleep-debt exposure, so Thursday genuinely stops at 18:30.
The train is a tool
Meditate on the way in, read on the way back — never reactive email on either leg. It walls the deep block and the family handoff off from attention residue. Admin batches into one real block; lunch happens away from the desk.
The week, block by block
- 06:45Pushups · breakfast · kids
- 07:45Dropoff
- 08:30Run
- 09:30Meditate · read
- 10:00Deep work
- 12:00Lunch (away)
- 12:45Admin block
- 13:30Euro meetings · 1:1s
- 15:30Deep work #2 / flex
- 16:30Admin #2 (US mail)
- 17:00US async / light overlap
- 18:30Kids' dinner + bed
- 20:00Family / free
- 22:45Sleep → 06:45 (~8h)
- 06:45Pushups · breakfast · kids
- 07:45Dropoff → train
- 08:30Train in · meditate
- 09:15Run w/ Joe + shower (1h15)
- 10:30Deep work · builder sprint
- 12:30Lunch (away)
- 13:15Euro meetings · 1:1s
- 15:00Train home · read + shutdown
- 16:00Admin block · US prep
- 17:00US CORE (WC fresh) · 1:1s · decisions
- 18:30Kids' dinner
- 19:30US block 2
- 20:30Movement break (30m)
- 21:00US block 2 (heavier items)
- 22:30Wind-down · screens off
- 23:15Sleep → 06:45 (7.5h)
- 06:45Pushups · breakfast · kids
- 07:45Dropoff → train
- 08:30Train in · meditate
- 09:15Run w/ Joe + shower (1h15)
- 10:30Deep work · builder sprint
- 12:30Lunch (away)
- 13:15Euro · staff (decide only)
- 15:00Train home · read + shutdown
- 16:00Admin block · US prep
- 17:00US CORE (WC fresh) · 1:1 #2 · decisions
- 18:30Kids' dinner
- 19:30US block 2
- 20:30Movement break (30m)
- 21:00US block 2 (relocated Thu series)
- 22:30Wind-down · screens off
- 23:15Sleep → 06:45 (7.5h)
- 06:45Pushups · breakfast · dropoff → train
- 08:30Train in · meditate
- 09:15Run w/ Joe + shower (1h15)
- 10:30Deep work · builder sprint
- 12:30Lunch (away)
- 13:15Zurich 1:1s · Euro
- 15:00Train home · read + shutdown
- 16:00Admin / flex #2 (Thu surplus)
- 17:00US CORE (WC fresh) · live
- 18:00US async / wrap
- 18:30Kids' dinner + bed
- 20:00Family / free
- 22:45Sleep → 06:45 (~8h)
- 06:45Pushups · breakfast
- 07:45Dropoff
- 08:30Meditate · coffee
- 09:00Admin block
- 09:30Deep work
- 11:30Weekly review · prune next-wk TBC
- 12:30Lunch
- 13:00Last meeting (if needed)
- 13:45Light async · reading · close loops
- 16:00Run (week shutdown)
- 17:00Weekend / family
- 22:45Sleep → 06:45
Morning routineRun / workoutTrain (meditate in · read+shutdown out)Deep workAdmin / emailEuro meetings · 1:1sUS core (West-Coast-fresh)US block 2Kids' dinnerFlex / reviewFamily / freeSleep · wind-down