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Did you expect more free time? Judging by the parents I know, 2 hours of free time for yourself every day is not bad.

oweiler 4y ago
The problem is not having two hours of spare time, it's that you feel so drained at the end of the day that you don't have the energy left to to anything meaningful.
- TimPC 4y ago
  For a long time for me the problem wasn’t the amount of time for myself so much as that it wasn’t blockable time. 15 minutes 8 times a day is very different from one two-hour chunk.
  - Cerium 4y ago
    I used to wonder why many older people in the office would find a productive use of the 10 minutes between meetings while younger people would just grab a drink or get distracted. Now I'm a parent and I have learned that you can do something in 10 minutes.
    - TimPC 4y ago
      You can certainly do many things in 15 minutes but for most hobbies, partaking in that hobby requires a longer block of time.
HWR_14 4y ago
> 2 hours of free time for yourself every day is not bad. Two hours of free time to yourself is horrible. The fact that it's expected doesn't change that it's a horrible answer. We need to reduce the amount of time we spend at work. Ironically, the best way to do that is to spend your early years working 24/7 to try to get wealthy enough that you can spend 4 hours a day doing meaningful work.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  Two hours of free uninterrupted time is actually pretty good. One can accomplish fairly significant things with that if they're disciplined and don't spend that time goofing off. I doubt most parents get two hours of free time though.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    Spending time "goofing off" is invaluable. People need time for that too. There's no point in being mindlessly productive at all times.
    - BeetleB 4y ago
      Two hours a day gives you plenty of time to goof off during the week. If you need to goof off every day then you are likely compensating for things that should be addressed. Saying as someone whose been there
      - HWR_14 4y ago
        Maybe you are using "goof off" differently than I am, but I see no reason not to goof off every day. But you actually said "2 hours is plenty to get stuff done if you don't goof off". Now you're changing it to "2 hours a day gives you plenty of time to goof off."
        BeetleB 4y ago
        You misinterpret. 2 hours a day is 14 hours a week. What I'm saying is that goofing off for 2-4 hours a week still gives you 10-12 hours a week to get a lot done. But if you need to goof off for an hour per day (as many do feel they need to), then there are likely underlying reasons - problems in your life causing distraction, procrastination, etc. If you can address those reasons, you'll get more time to do fun work. The book The Now Habit addresses similar themes.
- gota 4y ago
DannyBee 4y ago
For a lot of people (IMHO), it's one of those "walking the path is different than knowing the path" kind of things. 2 hours also seems like a lot more than it is, in part because people severely underestimate how much "free" time they had before. For example, they think they are working from 9-5, but really, most people do lots of little things during that time - browse reddit, whatever. That time also now can get eaten by kid stuff - scheduling, signups, etc, especially if you have 2+ kids. It's also rare that it's a single block of 2 hours.
Yhippa 4y ago
I didn't expect more free time. I will say that a lot of people told me what it would be like but it was hard for me to believe how hard it is to be a new parent until it actually happens.

The problem is not having two hours of spare time, it's that you feel so drained at the end of the day that you don't have the energy left to to anything meaningful.

TimPC 4y ago
For a long time for me the problem wasn’t the amount of time for myself so much as that it wasn’t blockable time. 15 minutes 8 times a day is very different from one two-hour chunk.
- Cerium 4y ago
  I used to wonder why many older people in the office would find a productive use of the 10 minutes between meetings while younger people would just grab a drink or get distracted. Now I'm a parent and I have learned that you can do something in 10 minutes.
  - TimPC 4y ago
    You can certainly do many things in 15 minutes but for most hobbies, partaking in that hobby requires a longer block of time.

HWR_14 4y ago

> 2 hours of free time for yourself every day is not bad. Two hours of free time to yourself is horrible. The fact that it's expected doesn't change that it's a horrible answer. We need to reduce the amount of time we spend at work. Ironically, the best way to do that is to spend your early years working 24/7 to try to get wealthy enough that you can spend 4 hours a day doing meaningful work.

BeetleB 4y ago
Two hours of free uninterrupted time is actually pretty good. One can accomplish fairly significant things with that if they're disciplined and don't spend that time goofing off. I doubt most parents get two hours of free time though.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  Spending time "goofing off" is invaluable. People need time for that too. There's no point in being mindlessly productive at all times.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    Two hours a day gives you plenty of time to goof off during the week. If you need to goof off every day then you are likely compensating for things that should be addressed. Saying as someone whose been there
    - HWR_14 4y ago
      Maybe you are using "goof off" differently than I am, but I see no reason not to goof off every day. But you actually said "2 hours is plenty to get stuff done if you don't goof off". Now you're changing it to "2 hours a day gives you plenty of time to goof off."
      - BeetleB 4y ago
        You misinterpret. 2 hours a day is 14 hours a week. What I'm saying is that goofing off for 2-4 hours a week still gives you 10-12 hours a week to get a lot done. But if you need to goof off for an hour per day (as many do feel they need to), then there are likely underlying reasons - problems in your life causing distraction, procrastination, etc. If you can address those reasons, you'll get more time to do fun work. The book The Now Habit addresses similar themes.
gota 4y ago

DannyBee 4y ago

For a lot of people (IMHO), it's one of those "walking the path is different than knowing the path" kind of things. 2 hours also seems like a lot more than it is, in part because people severely underestimate how much "free" time they had before. For example, they think they are working from 9-5, but really, most people do lots of little things during that time - browse reddit, whatever. That time also now can get eaten by kid stuff - scheduling, signups, etc, especially if you have 2+ kids. It's also rare that it's a single block of 2 hours.

Yhippa 4y ago

I didn't expect more free time. I will say that a lot of people told me what it would be like but it was hard for me to believe how hard it is to be a new parent until it actually happens.