Ask HN: What to do after the workday?

I mostly enjoy my day at work. There are people to talk to and somewhat interesting projects to work on. However, when I go back home, all I see is the home computer and the television. Yes.. I could go on with those, but I feel there's more. What is that? Please help!

I had this dilemma not too long ago. You need to find your purpose in life. You're starting to feel that working for someone else just isn't giving you that satisfaction. I'm still in my early 20s, but I feel like I can relate and provide some insight. I was working at a decent job, enjoyed working with my coworkers, days went by without too much stress. I would come home everyday and wouldn't have any serious motivation to do anything productive for some reason, despite having a burning desire. I would go to sleep, wake up, and go back to work. Before I knew it, 2 years went by as I worked at that company and I was getting let go. I started looking back and began to notice that outside of work, I haven't really accomplished too much with my life. I spent about a week sitting in my apartment thinking what I was going to do with my life. Those were dark times. One day it just snapped, I decided to take a very serious plunge into the music business. Me, being in my early 20s, I made a very rash decision and drove to Atlanta and met a lot of new friends and that really broke the ice for me getting into music. I ended up staying there for a few months, and I have a finished product that I can market from that escapade. The issue was now that I was completely broke after that venture, so I ended up coming back home and got a new programming job fairly quickly and that's where I'm at right now. Nowadays, I DON'T go home immediately after work to help remedy the problem of losing all motivation to be productive. I go to the gym for about an hour every other day and then take a shower. Afterwards, I hop into a coffee shop, open my laptop and start reading like there's no tomorrow for a few hours, and then go home. The books I read are books that I know will help my business so I see it as a good investment of my time while I save money to pursue my goals outside of work.

My advice is hit the gym. It gets you out of the house, gets you healthier, and probably makes you better-looking too. Doesn't need to be a "gym" per se either--an athletic hobby like rock-climbing or basketball works as well.

I have a rule of thumb. From a stress rating of 0-10, your days should ideally be 8 stress or 0.

Growth = stress + rest

The more elite people can take on a lot more stress. 0 doesn't necessarily mean watching Netflix; for me that's more stressful than playing with spreadsheets or commenting on HN.

What most people do is stick around 3-5 stress level (the comfort zone) or constantly at 6 (trying my best). It's a recipe for mediocrity as you never push yourself hard enough to improve.

If you've had a slow day at work, then push yourself. If you're not sure what to do, pick up a book. Something like this is nice to start: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19087418

You can practice typing faster. Learn keyboard shortcuts; they're probably the biggest leverage I have in programming now. Learn speed reading or how to get to 90% comprehension. These are all fun things to do, yet enough to tire you out.

But don't do this every night. Find things that actually replenish you, not some mindless semi-productive activity. I personally love playing with my kids, watching superhero movies, reading web fiction or TV tropes, or idle games that involve wikis and spreadsheets. You find your thing.

I good judge is how I feel in the morning. If I'm physically or mentally sore, I need to focus on rest that day. If I can naturally wake before 6, it's a day to push myself.

Get the heart pumping - go for a run/walk, life weights, play basketball...something to make your body feel good after sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day. Depending where you live, get 20-30 mins of sun, does wonders for the feel-goods. Find a hobby you enjoy that’s not on the computer, if only to spend at least an hour a day away from a screen. Find some meetups to meet some people, talking with people outside of a work environment is good for your social skill upkeep.