SANTI VILLANUEVA
Hunter S. Thompson’s daily routine
With his immersive storytelling, irreverent prose, and unflinching political criticism, Hunter S. Thompson transformed the world of journalism. His revolutionary approach, coupled with his need for chaos and a daily routine responsible for his success and self-destruction, immortalized him as one of the wildest ink-stained wretches in American history.
In Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson, journalist E. Jean Carroll provides a vivid account of the writer’s infamous daily routine.
This is E. Jean typing
3:00 p.m. Rise
3:05 p.m. Chivas Regal (whiskey) with the morning papers, Dunhills (cigarettes).
3:45 p.m. Cocaine
3:50 p.m. Another glass of Chivas, Dunhills
4:05 p.m. First cup of coffee, Dunhills
4:15 p.m. Cocaine
4:16 p.m. Orange juice, Dunhills
4:30 p.m. Cocaine
4:54 p.m. Cocaine
5:05 p.m. Cocaine
5:11 p.m. Coffee, Dunhills
5:30 p.m. More ice in the Chivas
5:45 p.m. Cocaine, etc., etc.
6:00 p.m. Grass to take the edge off the day
7:05 p.m. Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, Cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas.)
9:00 p.m. Starts snorting cocaine seriously
10:00 p.m. Drops acid
11:00 p.m. Chartreuse (French herbal liquor), cocaine, grass
11:30 pm. Cocaine, etc, etc.
12:00 a.m. Midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
6:00 a.m. The hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
8:00 a.m. Halcyon (sedative used to sleep)
8:20 a.m. Sleep
E. Jean Carroll writes, “I have heard the biographers of Harry S. Truman, Catherine the Great, etc., etc., say they would give anything if their subjects were alive so they could ask them some questions. I, on the other hand, would give anything if my subject were dead. He should be. Look at his daily routine.”
E. Jean would get her wish about a few years later.
Cause of death: suicide.
Thompson’s chaotic routine was, without a doubt, a cry for help, but it was also the fuel for some of his most iconic work.
I’m not telling you to exchange self-development for self-destruction. But in a world obsessed with optimization and productivity — where gurus preach 5 AM alarm clocks, ice baths, and every trend — take a page out of Thompson’s book and do whatever the fuck works for you.