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Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#11
post #4

Don't build in the evening. In the evening, wind down the day, have a beer and plan out how you're going to use two hours in the morning tomorrow most effectively. Set one clear goal. Then... 1) Go to sleep 2) Wake up early (I recommend 6am) 3) Do the work you thought up last night I find myself remarkably productive in this cycle. If you've planned well, you'll whiz through the tasks. Focus on "doing one thing" each…

@fookyong Do you have kids?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#12
Make sure you exercise and are healthy. I find once I've taken care of this, I am so much more likely to have focused, productive time on projects.

A good summary of other things that can be done to improve and simplify your life is at zenhabits: http://zenhabits.net/brief-guide/

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#13
post #4

Don't build in the evening. In the evening, wind down the day, have a beer and plan out how you're going to use two hours in the morning tomorrow most effectively. Set one clear goal. Then... 1) Go to sleep 2) Wake up early (I recommend 6am) 3) Do the work you thought up last night I find myself remarkably productive in this cycle. If you've planned well, you'll whiz through the tasks. Focus on "doing one thing" each…

most certainly the "DO ONE THING" part. very small milestones. the constant progress motivates you.

do one thing. no more. no less. there should be quick 30 minute days where you don't get burned out. save the hard parts for sunday.

also that thing about 'don't pretend to work'... don't sit at your computer with the IDE open, but just dicking around on gmail or the web... either work or don't. don't fool yourself.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#14
post #8
post #4

Don't build in the evening. In the evening, wind down the day, have a beer and plan out how you're going to use two hours in the morning tomorrow most effectively. Set one clear goal. Then... 1) Go to sleep 2) Wake up early (I recommend 6am) 3) Do the work you thought up last night I find myself remarkably productive in this cycle. If you've planned well, you'll whiz through the tasks. Focus on "doing one thing" each…

I do like, and have done, the idea. But don't you find yourself dragging in the mid-to-late afternoon at your daytime job?

I imagine that happens with a lot of people already, whether or not they're sneaking in 1-2 hours as soon as they get up.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#16
post #4

Don't build in the evening. In the evening, wind down the day, have a beer and plan out how you're going to use two hours in the morning tomorrow most effectively. Set one clear goal. Then... 1) Go to sleep 2) Wake up early (I recommend 6am) 3) Do the work you thought up last night I find myself remarkably productive in this cycle. If you've planned well, you'll whiz through the tasks. Focus on "doing one thing" each…

I work on fun/speculative stuff in the mornings too!

It really helps motivate me to skip that extra hour of sleep when my eyes first crack open, if I've got something interesting to go work or play with. And slowly but surely, stuff actually gets done. :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#17
"Consistency is the authors best friend"

That's something my Dad (a writer himself) told me when I wanted to write a book when I was young. And it's true for business as well! When I wrote just a little bit regularly (a page or two a day) I got a _lot_ done in a month, but then I started just writing in batches, marathon sessions here and there, and nothing really got done plus I lost wind pretty quickly.

Now I'm working a day job and writing code for another startup idea and regularity helps me, this time I plan to stick with the consistency, rather than degrade into spurts, so that I finish this (unlike the book).

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#18
I wake up at 5 am every morning and code until 10 am on my startup then do work from 10 until 6. I also spend the last 2 hours before bed planning and doing any other startup task to make the 5 hours I spend in the morning working more productive.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find time to code/build your business in the evening?

#20
At the risk of repeating what fookyong said, have a very clear goal of what you want to do. Then start executing one or two or three items daily.

For me I just finished my mvp for http://democratic.ly in 3 weeks. I worked on it after 4pm on weekdays and during the weekend. If I was organized or had more programming skills it could have been much less time to MVP. But from the start I had a very clear goal.

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