
Ask HN: How do you manage your time? - pdev
How do you manage your time across personal, work, social life, other projects etc.?
======
ian0
1) Get up really early on weekdays.

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.

~~~
beatgammit
Hey, that's pretty much my exact schedule. I've found it works _way_ better
than staying up late. And I try to get the gym in the morning, which is
awesome since there's pretty much nobody there at 5 (they all seem to show up
around 6).

------
neuroticfish
Triage.

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.

~~~
beatgammit
Some things that helped me, since I was recently in that boat:

\- 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.

------
jakequist
I started tracking how my mood changed over time.

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!

