HACKER Q&A
📣 dticed

How to deal with free time/personal projects?


I really want to improve my programming skills and maybe learn new things in my free time, but I always feel exhausted after working for eight hours. How do you guys manage this? I feel like I need to get better at so many things, but when I think about everything at once, I end up doing nothing.


  👤 davidsojevic Accepted Answer ✓
I think it's tough to force it if the energy and motivation aren't there after a day of work. It becomes significantly easier if you have something that you're excited to work on that can exercise a few of the new things you'd like to learn or practice.

For example, perhaps you play games and want to make a tool/website that makes some aspect of your game-playing life easier or more enjoyable.

You can then use that project as an opportunity to learn new skills and put them to use when building out functionality. Having something you're actively looking forward to doing is an easy way to have that energy boost even after an exhausting day at work.

Alternately, don't even try to put pressure on yourself to do anything like that during the week and perhaps just allocate a couple of hours each evening on the weekend to learning when you've had time to do other fun or less exhausting things throughout the day.


👤 markus_zhang
I have a kid and a full-time job. I think you would have to learn a bit about energy management -- doing the most important thing in the morning or any time you are undisturbed and free of anxiety.

I can sacrifice a couple of hours after 10pm when my kid sleeps but I feels exhausted doing that for a few weeks. I'm trying to get up early, maybe around 5am so I can enjoy 2 hours of free time between 5:20 and 7:20, when I need to get my kid and wife out of bed. The ultimate plan is to move up to 4:30am so I have an extra 30 mins to make breakfast, exercise and shower.

It's tough. Good luck. If you don't have a kid, you should aim for 4 hours at least. Build up slowly. Manage your workload so you don't feel exhausted after work. 2 hours in the morning + 2 hours in the night are reasonable.


👤 BobbyTables2
Massive amounts of coffee…