8 ms·

I would like to try that approach but I just don't have the energy after working all day to come home and start investing time chasing wildly creative projects.

tannerc 7y ago
I’m writing a book on how I do this! I’ll be sharing here on HN once it’s complete. But the TL;DR for the chapter on motivation and energy comes down to: work on things that improve your own life, set clear objectives, and work in small chunks. The book itself is being written in 30 minute chunks throughout my week because that’s all the time I can spare.
- bogdanoff_2 7y ago
  I found that back when I had lots of free time, my style when doing projects was: I start where I left off, I get engrossed and code late into the night, repeat that one or two more days, get bored and "burned out" from the project, don't touch it for a week or so (sometimes I work on some other projects), repeat. Of course, that's not really sustainable. But 30 minutes does not seem feasible for me. It's not like you're going for a 30 minute jog where you just run without thinking. Don't you need to take time to "warm up" until the project you're doing starts being fun? And how does stopping just when you start enjoying yourself not kill your motivation? And don't you think about the project throughout your day job (instead of whatever problem you're supposed to be working on)?
  - yellow_lead 7y ago
    Agreed, 30 mins is not enough time to get into "deep work" for programming. At best you could do some business-y tasks.
    - ptah 7y ago
      on the contrary it can make you more productive. for one it forces you to take a step back regularly instead of blindly going down a potentially wrong path. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
    - Robin_Message 7y ago
      I reckon TDD would get you at least part of the way there, because it enforces a discipline of making smaller, meaningful changes. Hard to learn though, and some things genuinely do need longer.
  - tannerc 7y ago
    I’ve found 30 minutes works just fine for programming as well as the more mundane tasks. Primarily because it’s not always 30 minutes, that’s just the minimum I can get away with on a regular cadence. Then a spare weekend will finally come around and I’ll have made enough progress that I want to spend an hour, or three, on the project. The purpose is to make progress however you can. This is also why my other points are so important: work on something that will directly benefit you (scratch your own itch) and have a clear objective outlined.
- modo_mario 7y ago
  In 30 minutes I can pick up where I left off and write most of a blog post so i can definitely see it working for writing or the like but I'm gonna get much less programming done than if I worked continuously for a while.
spir 7y ago
A hundred years ago a wonderful slender book was written, "How To Live On 24 Hours A Day" by Arnold Bennett. He suggests getting up early and doing your passion projects before work. https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680 https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680
- ruvis 7y ago
  But I get up at 4am already
  - fouc 7y ago
    That works well if you don't go to work on your full-time job before 9am
- AwesomeFaic 7y ago
  I'm trying to do a bit of that, but it's understandably difficult. I have an easy day job time-wise, but even then I feel like I rarely do my best passion project work at home. Lately I'll wake up at 5 and work, go to the office from ~8 to ~4, and then get a couple more hours done at home afterwards.
- originalbryan2 7y ago
  I keep explaining this to my kids. They are still refusing to let me sleep. Why do they treat me this way?
q-base 7y ago
I would say that this also depends a lot on how draining and intense your day job is. Some jobs require too much of you to be able to do anything once you are done - or do so in periods. You will probably have to decide what is most important to you. You cannot chase and strive for promotions, extra responsibility etc. on your day job while still wanting to do your own thing in your spare time. Perhaps you need to look for a job that has less pressure and perhaps less pay, but which does not drain you. I have just had to go through the same realization myself that I cannot chase on both fronts. And my priority is my own projects, so I will have to course correct.
- wolfoftheweb 7y ago
  I agree with you 100% that it's on the individual to find a job which is most suitable for them. Interestingly, for myself the more intense the day at work is, the more energized I feel when I get home to work on my own passion projects and businesses. Since my role has been relatively autonomous, I'm the one setting the intensity level and if it's a high pressure day it means I bit off more than I bargained for. To avoid the after-hours productivity slump, I try not to let work get "slow" by taking on new projects, asking other teams what problems they're encountering, and finding new tools to add to my arsenal. That being said, there are still days that seem to crawl by and very little is left to be done. Those are the days that drain me mentally and physically. Some of the people I've worked with have talked about how they spend their workdays pretending to work while actually playing mobile games or whatever and how it makes the day go by faster. I'm genuinely fascinated by what I perceive to be their complacency and lack of ambition. As background, this is my first role at an organization I'm not a founder of and I started there three years ago at the age of 27. Starting at age 14 I had my website network which was racking up $500+ a month in server bills, so the entrepreneurial lifestyle (rollercoaster ride) is my definition of normal. As a first-time employee, I've had some embarrassing moments while learning the rules and etiquette which is probably common sense to everyone else.
- ss3000 7y ago
  I would argue that _most_ full time jobs probably require too much of us than we should be willing to accept, regardless of if we have energy left over to do anything else outside of those hours. 40 hours per week is more than half of most people's waking hours. That's a terrifying amount of my life to have to spend on something I don't _absolutely love_ doing, and I sincerely hope I can find a way out of it sooner rather than later.
akvadrako 7y ago
Then don’t work so much. One can live comfortably doing freelance programming for 3 months a year and spending the rest of the time on creative projects.

tannerc 7y ago

I’m writing a book on how I do this! I’ll be sharing here on HN once it’s complete. But the TL;DR for the chapter on motivation and energy comes down to: work on things that improve your own life, set clear objectives, and work in small chunks. The book itself is being written in 30 minute chunks throughout my week because that’s all the time I can spare.

bogdanoff_2 7y ago
I found that back when I had lots of free time, my style when doing projects was: I start where I left off, I get engrossed and code late into the night, repeat that one or two more days, get bored and "burned out" from the project, don't touch it for a week or so (sometimes I work on some other projects), repeat. Of course, that's not really sustainable. But 30 minutes does not seem feasible for me. It's not like you're going for a 30 minute jog where you just run without thinking. Don't you need to take time to "warm up" until the project you're doing starts being fun? And how does stopping just when you start enjoying yourself not kill your motivation? And don't you think about the project throughout your day job (instead of whatever problem you're supposed to be working on)?
- yellow_lead 7y ago
  Agreed, 30 mins is not enough time to get into "deep work" for programming. At best you could do some business-y tasks.
  - ptah 7y ago
    on the contrary it can make you more productive. for one it forces you to take a step back regularly instead of blindly going down a potentially wrong path. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
  - Robin_Message 7y ago
    I reckon TDD would get you at least part of the way there, because it enforces a discipline of making smaller, meaningful changes. Hard to learn though, and some things genuinely do need longer.
- tannerc 7y ago
  I’ve found 30 minutes works just fine for programming as well as the more mundane tasks. Primarily because it’s not always 30 minutes, that’s just the minimum I can get away with on a regular cadence. Then a spare weekend will finally come around and I’ll have made enough progress that I want to spend an hour, or three, on the project. The purpose is to make progress however you can. This is also why my other points are so important: work on something that will directly benefit you (scratch your own itch) and have a clear objective outlined.
modo_mario 7y ago
In 30 minutes I can pick up where I left off and write most of a blog post so i can definitely see it working for writing or the like but I'm gonna get much less programming done than if I worked continuously for a while.

spir 7y ago

A hundred years ago a wonderful slender book was written, "How To Live On 24 Hours A Day" by Arnold Bennett. He suggests getting up early and doing your passion projects before work. https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680 https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680

ruvis 7y ago
But I get up at 4am already
- fouc 7y ago
  That works well if you don't go to work on your full-time job before 9am
AwesomeFaic 7y ago
I'm trying to do a bit of that, but it's understandably difficult. I have an easy day job time-wise, but even then I feel like I rarely do my best passion project work at home. Lately I'll wake up at 5 and work, go to the office from ~8 to ~4, and then get a couple more hours done at home afterwards.
originalbryan2 7y ago
I keep explaining this to my kids. They are still refusing to let me sleep. Why do they treat me this way?

q-base 7y ago

I would say that this also depends a lot on how draining and intense your day job is. Some jobs require too much of you to be able to do anything once you are done - or do so in periods. You will probably have to decide what is most important to you. You cannot chase and strive for promotions, extra responsibility etc. on your day job while still wanting to do your own thing in your spare time. Perhaps you need to look for a job that has less pressure and perhaps less pay, but which does not drain you. I have just had to go through the same realization myself that I cannot chase on both fronts. And my priority is my own projects, so I will have to course correct.

wolfoftheweb 7y ago
I agree with you 100% that it's on the individual to find a job which is most suitable for them. Interestingly, for myself the more intense the day at work is, the more energized I feel when I get home to work on my own passion projects and businesses. Since my role has been relatively autonomous, I'm the one setting the intensity level and if it's a high pressure day it means I bit off more than I bargained for. To avoid the after-hours productivity slump, I try not to let work get "slow" by taking on new projects, asking other teams what problems they're encountering, and finding new tools to add to my arsenal. That being said, there are still days that seem to crawl by and very little is left to be done. Those are the days that drain me mentally and physically. Some of the people I've worked with have talked about how they spend their workdays pretending to work while actually playing mobile games or whatever and how it makes the day go by faster. I'm genuinely fascinated by what I perceive to be their complacency and lack of ambition. As background, this is my first role at an organization I'm not a founder of and I started there three years ago at the age of 27. Starting at age 14 I had my website network which was racking up $500+ a month in server bills, so the entrepreneurial lifestyle (rollercoaster ride) is my definition of normal. As a first-time employee, I've had some embarrassing moments while learning the rules and etiquette which is probably common sense to everyone else.
ss3000 7y ago
I would argue that _most_ full time jobs probably require too much of us than we should be willing to accept, regardless of if we have energy left over to do anything else outside of those hours. 40 hours per week is more than half of most people's waking hours. That's a terrifying amount of my life to have to spend on something I don't _absolutely love_ doing, and I sincerely hope I can find a way out of it sooner rather than later.

akvadrako 7y ago

Then don’t work so much. One can live comfortably doing freelance programming for 3 months a year and spending the rest of the time on creative projects.