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Another 2 get taken for eating/commuting if you live close to work, let's say you spend another 1-2 per day taking care of your school-aged children, so now you

Another 2 get taken for eating/commuting if you live close to work, let's say you spend another 1-2 per day taking care of your school-aged children, so now you're down to 20-30 hours a week. Let's say you spend another 5 of those doing social things, that's 15-25 hours a week. Subtract another 5 to deal with errands... 10-20. Some more of that will likely go towards your spouse. That means you get something closer to 500-1000 hours a year. Perhaps you can get more if you carefully prune. That's enough to do stuff, not enough to accomplish a second career.

tamersalama 8y ago
it's not only that - everything else will be competing for those 10-20 hours (e.g.: gigs for extra money, learning, teaching, life-administrativia, personal growth, burnout, ...).
- munchbunny 8y ago
  Just don't let it become an excuse. Put another way, your life might be complicated, but more improvement does require digging a bit deeper than the status quo, so it's still up to you to find or make time/energy to work on things. I'm in no place to tell you how much time or how to manage it, but you do get out of your time what you put in, and there isn't a shortcut for that.
baroffoos 8y ago
And after you finish all of that you absolutely want to spend those last few hours sitting down and resting. You will quickly burn out if you spend every minute busy.
- imhoguy 8y ago
  Unless the work is a rest time. Not every job is demanding and if one turns of emotional reactions to workday situations then one will have more energy for later activities.
  - ox_cable 8y ago
    That's funny, it almost sounds like you're suggesting it's common to have a job that's more relaxing and restful than actual leisure time.
patsaw 8y ago
I have school aged and younger children and recently came to the realization that I am not willing to sacrifice time with them or my spouse for side projects, so I am content with the 4-8 hours a week I have to myself to work on projects until they are a bit older.

tamersalama 8y ago

it's not only that - everything else will be competing for those 10-20 hours (e.g.: gigs for extra money, learning, teaching, life-administrativia, personal growth, burnout, ...).

munchbunny 8y ago
Just don't let it become an excuse. Put another way, your life might be complicated, but more improvement does require digging a bit deeper than the status quo, so it's still up to you to find or make time/energy to work on things. I'm in no place to tell you how much time or how to manage it, but you do get out of your time what you put in, and there isn't a shortcut for that.

baroffoos 8y ago

And after you finish all of that you absolutely want to spend those last few hours sitting down and resting. You will quickly burn out if you spend every minute busy.

imhoguy 8y ago
Unless the work is a rest time. Not every job is demanding and if one turns of emotional reactions to workday situations then one will have more energy for later activities.
- ox_cable 8y ago
  That's funny, it almost sounds like you're suggesting it's common to have a job that's more relaxing and restful than actual leisure time.

patsaw 8y ago

I have school aged and younger children and recently came to the realization that I am not willing to sacrifice time with them or my spouse for side projects, so I am content with the 4-8 hours a week I have to myself to work on projects until they are a bit older.