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

I work in a shared office building, and I take a laptop with a self-contained test environment into my day job. I then spend lunch working in a quiet room elsewhere in the building with no internet connection.

It works well for me because I'm awake and thinking about tech problems anyway thanks to the morning, and an hour with no distractions is enough to make small gains.

I've agreed with the good lady that I will work in the evenings between Monday and Thursday, which normally gives me three-four hours a night, after the kids have gone to bed. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are for the family with the odd exception, which has the added benefit of giving me some thinking time. I have 30 days holiday a year and use 10 of those days for working on my own stuff; effectively a working holiday but its very useful.

I'm in the same situation as you. First off, my business is my hobby, so instead of watching TV or playing video games, I try to get something done on my application.

I choose small pieces of work to do that can fit in about an hour. My wife does writing/school in the evenings, so we often sit together and work. If I don't have the mental attention to write code, I work on other things.

Funny enough, I've been very productive while taking my oldest kid to karate. I've built a surprising amount of my application at the dojo :)

I start my day job early (at the office around 7) so that I can get back home and spend more time with the family until bedtime.

I've also learned to accept that my progress might be slow some weeks because I've made the decision to put my family first.

Late in the evening and early in the morning are great times to work.

But neither necessarily coincides with your peak creative period.

The muse comes on her schedule and sleep is just something in the way.

When she's absent, you're just tacking more time onto a long day.

This will likely get lost in the ether, but I'm presuming you work a day job. I do the same, and now I'm going back to school to get a Masters degree. Funny thing about it, though, is that somehow my drive to learn and build has grown. I'm not saying I have more time, or that I don't feel burnt out. I just feel less burnt out about building applications. That said, my job has me on sort of an educational documentation rotation wherein I haven't had the chance to write code in awhile so that may also be why.

My point is, focus on everything else and somehow, the time will manifest itself. Whether it happens because you're avoiding something else, or just because you're not used to doing nothing (like I used to do, and still do, a lot) in your downtime. Just be sure you aren't avoiding the family. :)