Ask HN: How do you manage your time?
How do you manage your time across personal, work, social life, other projects etc.?
I wake up at 5 and start work at ~5.30. Nobody else is around until 8-9. During that time I try to work on a small list of tasks ive created the previous eve, or over breakfast. The "thinking" tasks. When the "real" working day begins I just go with the flow, meetings, helping people, routine work etc. While still feeling Ive made progress. I also skive off at 3 or 4 so I have the entire eve with my children, and my playstation. Or for a quick beer with friends. In bed by 9pm and time for a book.
2) Get up really early on weekends
Before everyone else is up and running I have time to focus on hobbies, side projects or (occasionally) a little bit more work. Then the rest of the day is relaxed. Again, the feeling that youve made some progress. Its a really old tip, "early bird gets the worm" and all that. But it works.
PS as neuroticfish says, triage is important. Half the stuff we do is worthless in the long term. Take the time to figure out what things that are really important.
I basically have to give up priorities to focus on others. I've recently given up hobbies like gaming (tabletop and computer) for less time consuming hobbies like the guitar (one lesson a week and about 20 minutes of practice each night). My friends will get attention one weekend and my girlfriend another. Rather than go out for food with my coworkers, I typically read a book during my lunch hour. I have very little energy after work so if I can't bring myself to clean or read I'll dump some more time into guitar practice between aimless web browsing sessions. I have the motivation to work on a project for a few days every few months or so but I just can't ever get anything done. If I had more motivation I could probably make some life changes that would help me better manage my time, but at 30 years old I haven't come close to cracking that code and I've become complacent enough to stop caring.
- exercise - I started biking to work (took lots of willpower), and I got a ton more energy - go to bed earlier - most of my wasted time was in the evening, so I started going to bed earlier, which meant waking up earlier, so by the time I was mentally and physically ready to just veg, I was sleepy enough to just go to bed - try short, focused work sessions (I like the pomodoro technique) - get everything done early so you're less stressed - should snowball into getting even more stuff done, which frees you up for other time
Honestly, of the above, my best recommendation is biking to work, because it accomplishes several things:
- feel successful before even doing work (save money, get exercise, etc) - builds stamina (well, any exercise will) - turns something boring and soul sucking (commuting) into something fun and productive - makes you look and feel hardcore (my coworkers were impressed that I bike commuted)
But remember, willpower is a finite resource, but you can increase it by training yourself. Make a positive change and track it (I used a spreadsheet for bike committing), which should snowball into the willpower needed to make other changes.
For example, I noticed I was more likely to be introverted during the morning. But I was more likely to be outgoing and social during the afternoon.
I then arranged my schedule to match my mood cycle. So I'll code during the morning and talk to people in the afternoon.
It works great and I feel like I have an endless supply of energy (with a few caveats, of course).
Good luck!