Hugh Jackman — His Best Decisions, Favorite Books, Daily Routines, The 85% Rule, & More

Recorded May 21, 2020, this wide-ranging conversation explores Hugh Jackman's daily routines, decision-making, and inner life rather than his film roles. He describes the morning ritual he and his wife Deb share (reading aloud, cold showers, meditation), his decades-long meditation practice, and how he replenishes energy for grueling stage runs. Jackman traces the formative influence of his father and mother, his pivot from studying journalism to acting, and the gut-driven decisions that shaped his career, including The Greatest Showman. He also shares practical tools like the daily design exercise, the 85% rule for relaxed performance, the rowing machine as best-bang-for-buck exercise, and his love of jigsaw puzzles.

• Jackman reveals he and his wife read books aloud to each other every morning, an idea he borrowed from Patrick Stewart, who realized at 60 he'd never read all the books he wanted.
  00:07:48
• He shares that he was introduced to Transcendental Meditation in drama school at age 23 and has practiced for nearly three decades, letting go of the 'duty' element a few years ago.
  00:15:34
• Jackman says publicly for the first time that he prayed nightly as a young man asking God to make his path clear, fearing being on the wrong path more than failing at one.
  01:00:14
• He recounts ripping up his acting-school acceptance letter over the $3,500 tuition, then receiving a check for the exact amount from his late grandmother's will the next day, which he took as a sign.
  01:04:58
• He tells the never-before-shared story of how his life coach Lauren Zander accused him of 'preparing to choke' on The Greatest Showman, prompting him to fully commit through daily manifestation.
  01:13:51
• Jackman describes asking a casting director to let him audition for Trevor Nunn while explicitly not wanting the job, an audition that became a career-changing turning point.
  00:55:32
• He recalls pulling an 11-year-old boy recovering from brain surgery onstage in Sydney; the child, whose father had died, ended up performing and getting a standing ovation.
  01:08:38

• Saint Billy (Billy Shore of No Kid Hungry) taught Jackman to gift short books; he regularly gives E.B. White's 'Here Is New York' and David Foster Wallace's 'This Is Water'.
  00:11:25
• Jackman calls 'The Overstory' by Richard Powers the most transformative fiction he's read in a long time, gifted to him by Senator Gary Hart.
  00:13:28
• His father told him 'you cannot over invest in education' and that your religion should be in your actions, not on a bumper sticker.
  00:31:50
• On ethics: his father said if you accept an invitation, you keep it even if the Queen of England invites you afterward, because you always keep your word.
  00:37:32
• Jackman graduated with a journalism major but discovered acting via a theater elective in his final semester and never worked as a journalist.
  00:42:49
• After drama school he worked as a gas-station attendant and dressed in a koala suit for National Parks, getting punched in the kidneys by teenagers.
  00:46:30
• He vowed to give acting five years of seven-days-a-week effort, treating his name as a brand, and never to wait for the phone to ring.
  00:51:19
• The 85% rule, derived from a coach studying sprinter Carl Lewis, holds that running at 85% effort produces faster times than 100% because of relaxation and form.
  01:21:43
• Jackman names the rowing machine plus push-ups as the best bang-for-buck exercise, aiming for a 2,000-meter, 7-minute row four times a week.
  01:19:38
• He's so addicted to jigsaw puzzles he sets an alarm to make himself go to bed, and recommends Wentworth 1000-piece puzzles with color images, not black-and-white.
  01:29:36

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