I have found that I waste most of my time in the evening, when I need to "unwind" and end up watching something instead of reading or being productive in some m

I have found that I waste most of my time in the evening, when I need to "unwind" and end up watching something instead of reading or being productive in some manner. After working all day and taking care of the kids all evening, I'm mentally exhausted and prefer to have something else distract me until I'm tired enough to sleep. To counter this, I decided to wake up earlier and take my time first. I get up at 5 and then exercise, read, etc, so by the time the kids are in bed, I'm pretty much ready for sleep, and sometimes I read fiction for that last 10-30 minutes until I can't focus enough to read another page. This has made it easier for me to fall asleep and ensures I have time when I'm alert for everything I want to get done. The main downside is that my wife likes to stay up late, so I'm tired for our time together, but I find I can usually go to bed a few hours late once or twice a week and be fine, so it works out. As for things like Hacker News, I try to schedule 5 minute break throughout the day to catch up on that type of stuff. I use the pomodoro technique and catch up on stuff in the 5 and 15 minute breaks while getting a little exercise.