3 ms·

step 1) stop watching TV completely (get rid of the TV completely from your household, your life) only after you completed step 1) step 2) prioritize your p

by franze 14y ago

step 1) stop watching TV completely (get rid of the TV completely from your household, your life) only after you completed step 1) step 2) prioritize your projects step 3) complete(!!!) the first one step 4) GO TO step 2) i was twenty when my first son was born, 30 when my second son was born. the first two years after the births were the most productive in my life. it's not about what you can,should,ought-to,... do, but what you do (and what you finish). update: i'm kinda shocked at a lot of comments here. stop your "hobby" projects (they are not a hobby, they are an opportunity) and freelancing... invest more time in your kids. i mean, come on, life (including business life) is not over when you have kids, it's just the beginning. you just need to prioritize better. (p.s.: this is written from bolivia, where i'm currently staying, after 6 month of south america traveling (with family), while running a successful consulting business and working and coding on various side projects. it's all about prioritization.

thedillio 14y ago
I totally agree. I too am shocked to see so many "quit your side projects" comments. The trick is prioritization, like the old saying goes: "anyone with more than 3 priorities has no priorities." I have a 6 month old that I am very involved with. The first few months was difficult by default due to the chaos. But now that my wife and I are in a routine (and he is sleeping through the night), I am getting a lot done. Perhaps not as much "work" as before but what it has allowed me to do is get rid of everything that doesn't really matter and focus only on the things that do (ie, it makes me happy, it makes me money, self improvement, etc). Mornings I typically get up with him and spend an hour or so playing with him, feeding him, etc. My wife looks after him during the day. When I get home from work I devote my entire attention to him and my wife. I take care of bath time. We split the feeding time before bed. Sometimes we spend time all together then, other times we each do the tasks at hand while the other feeds. After he is in bed we either spend time together and then work, or vice versa. A couple nights a week it is date time where we watch our favorite shows together or whatever and there is no work. Am I busy? Hell yeah. But I make an effort to be effective with my time. I use the web app Rescue Time to track my productivity. It at least quantifies my time at the computer. Also, As far as freelancing, before I cut it out altogether, I simply raised my rates. This gave me less freelance jobs but allowed me to earn more per hour. Wasnt making quite as much however I was a whole lot happier. My point is that I agree that you need to put your family first, but feel you can live your dreams AND be a good parent if you simply remove everything that is not important.

by franze 14y ago

thedillio 14y ago

I totally agree. I too am shocked to see so many "quit your side projects" comments. The trick is prioritization, like the old saying goes: "anyone with more than 3 priorities has no priorities." I have a 6 month old that I am very involved with. The first few months was difficult by default due to the chaos. But now that my wife and I are in a routine (and he is sleeping through the night), I am getting a lot done. Perhaps not as much "work" as before but what it has allowed me to do is get rid of everything that doesn't really matter and focus only on the things that do (ie, it makes me happy, it makes me money, self improvement, etc). Mornings I typically get up with him and spend an hour or so playing with him, feeding him, etc. My wife looks after him during the day. When I get home from work I devote my entire attention to him and my wife. I take care of bath time. We split the feeding time before bed. Sometimes we spend time all together then, other times we each do the tasks at hand while the other feeds. After he is in bed we either spend time together and then work, or vice versa. A couple nights a week it is date time where we watch our favorite shows together or whatever and there is no work. Am I busy? Hell yeah. But I make an effort to be effective with my time. I use the web app Rescue Time to track my productivity. It at least quantifies my time at the computer. Also, As far as freelancing, before I cut it out altogether, I simply raised my rates. This gave me less freelance jobs but allowed me to earn more per hour. Wasnt making quite as much however I was a whole lot happier. My point is that I agree that you need to put your family first, but feel you can live your dreams AND be a good parent if you simply remove everything that is not important.