""You work really hard during the week, as hard as you can-you know, 12 hours, 14 hour days, whatever-and on the weekends, when you're at home or with your family or whatever, carve out a few hours to think," Schmidt said on the podcast. "Turn off the phone. You're not texting. You're not looking at Instagram and so forth. And think and write down your assessment of what you did last week, and then what you need to do next week to address the things you forgot to do last week.""
""He insists this simple practice can be transformative because it helps you practice focusing on accountability. "It's a good trick because it forces you to take charge of your next week. Like, 'Oh, I forgot that I have a sales problem over there,' or 'I forgot I was supposed to call this person,' 'Oh, I didn't have this proposal and I had this idea but I didn't get to it.' And that usually works pretty well," he said.""
""This practice isn't about squeezing more tasks into the weekend. It's about using downtime to recalibrate. Schmidt said he eventually found his optimal workweek to be about 63 hours-not the 80-plus-hour marathons of his younger years-which just goes to show that more time at the desk doesn't always lead to better outcomes.""
Eric Schmidt advocates reserving a few undisturbed weekend hours for handwritten reflection with no screens. The practice requires reviewing the past week's actions and writing next-week priorities to capture forgotten tasks and unresolved issues. The habit trains accountability and clarifies concrete steps, such as following up on calls, proposals, or sales problems. The technique traces to mentorship by Bill Campbell and emphasizes recalibration during downtime rather than packing weekends with extra work. Schmidt found an optimal workweek near 63 hours, illustrating that relentless longer hours do not necessarily produce better outcomes.
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