ClassPass Founder Payal Kadakia Shares Her Daily Wellness Habits

Maintaining Work-Life Balance

Balance is so important, yet can feel difficult to achieve in our busy modern lives. Payal finds time for activities that nourish her mind, body and soul every day, no matter what. She makes self-care a priority, even when running a successful startup.

Creating Little Moments of Joy

Payal sets aside little moments each day to simply do something enjoyable, like putting on a face mask or dancing to fun music. These small acts of self-care help her destress and maintain a positive outlook.

Starting the Day with Exercise

Payal starts her day with barre or yoga classes. Getting movement first thing grounds her for the busy day ahead and reminds her to connect to her body.

Eating Nutritious Meals

Maintaining a healthy diet rich in whole foods gives Payal sustained energy while nourishing her body and mind. She focuses on eating a balanced diet every day.

Practicing Gratitude

Taking some time for gratitude – reflecting on people and things she’s thankful for – is an uplifting part of Payal’s routine. This simple practice helps her appreciate all she has.

Optimizing Cognitive Performance Through Environment Design

Beyond the physical rituals of movement and nutrition, Payal Kadakia emphasizes the importance of curating a physical environment that fosters deep work and creative clarity. Her approach to workspace design is rooted in the belief that external order directly correlates to internal focus. She suggests that “frictionless” environments—where the tools you need are immediately accessible and distractions are physically removed—are essential for founders and high-achievers. This involves a rigorous audit of one’s desk space, ensuring that digital notifications are silenced and the immediate vicinity is cleared of clutter before tackling high-stakes strategic decisions. By treating her workspace as a sanctuary rather than just a place of labor, she maintains the mental bandwidth necessary for high-level problem solving without succumbing to decision fatigue by mid-afternoon.

The Strategic Integration of Micro-Restorative Breaks

While long-form rest is vital, Kadakia utilizes the concept of “micro-restorative breaks” to sustain momentum during intense work sprints. These are not merely pauses for social media scrolling; they are intentional, 5-to-10-minute windows designed to reset the autonomic nervous system. Examples include box breathing exercises, quick bouts of stretching to release shoulder tension, or even stepping outside to observe natural light. The key, according to her philosophy, is the transition away from a screen-based focus to a sensory-based focus. By shifting the visual field and engaging the body, she avoids the common afternoon “slump” and ensures that her cognitive output remains consistent from her first meeting to her final evening review.

Harnessing Data-Driven Personal Accountability

Kadakia’s background in technology naturally bleeds into her wellness philosophy, where she treats her personal habits with the same analytical rigor as a business KPI. She advocates for tracking non-negotiables—not to create a sense of guilt, but to build a feedback loop that identifies what truly drives her energy levels. For instance, by logging how different types of movement impact her mood, she can adjust her morning routine dynamically. If a high-intensity session leaves her depleted rather than energized, she pivots to a restorative practice. This iterative approach to self-care allows her to move away from rigid, one-size-fits-all routines and toward a personalized system that adapts to her body’s evolving needs throughout the month.

The Art of Intentional Disconnection and Digital Hygiene

A frequently overlooked aspect of Kadakia’s routine is her proactive management of digital consumption. She recognizes that the constant influx of information is a primary driver of burnout. To mitigate this, she employs “digital sunsets,” where devices are powered down or moved to a different room well before sleep. This practice is not just about sleep hygiene; it is about reclaiming the boundary between the “professional self” and the “authentic self.” By creating a buffer zone of silence, she allows her brain to process the day’s events without the interference of external noise, which she finds critical for maintaining the perspective required to lead a company through rapid growth and change.

Cultivating Resilience Through Creative Outlets

While movement is a core pillar, Kadakia finds that artistic expression serves as a vital release valve for the pressures of entrepreneurship. Whether it is dance, music, or other creative endeavors, she views these not as hobbies but as essential components of her professional resilience. Engaging in creative work forces the brain to shift from analytical, goal-oriented thinking to intuitive, process-oriented thinking. This shift is essential for innovation; it allows for the “incubation” of new ideas. She encourages others to find a creative outlet that has absolutely nothing to do with their career, as this lack of outcome-pressure provides a unique sense of freedom that restores the spirit after a week of high-stakes business demands.

Navigating Social Dynamics and Energy Management

Kadakia is highly cognizant of the energy she gains or loses through social interactions, treating her social calendar as a finite resource. She advocates for “conscious curation” of one’s circle, prioritizing relationships that offer mutual support and inspiration. This involves setting clear boundaries around time and energy, which can be challenging but is necessary for long-term health. By being selective about her engagements, she ensures that she has the emotional capacity to be fully present for her team and her personal life. She suggests that saying “no” to non-essential commitments is often the most profound form of self-care, as it preserves the energy required to say “yes” to the things that truly align with one’s mission and values.

Building Sustainable Systems for Long-Term Consistency

The final pillar of Kadakia’s wellness strategy is the focus on systems over willpower. She warns against relying on motivation alone, as it is a fleeting resource. Instead, she builds her wellness habits into the architecture of her life. This means automating the “easy” choices: preparing workout clothes the night before, keeping a gratitude journal on the nightstand, and scheduling wellness appointments as if they were board meetings. By removing the need for daily negotiation with herself, she makes it significantly easier to maintain her habits during periods of high stress. Her advice is to start small, build a system that is virtually impossible to fail, and then scale the complexity only once the behavior has become an unconscious part of the daily rhythm.