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Where do you find the time for side projects?

justinjackson.ca

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Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#61

Post by mijustin »

latj wrote: post #50
Zikes wrote: post #2

> The short answer is: I work on side-projects whenever I have a spare moment. I sacrifice other things (watching TV, reading the newspaper, playing video games) so that I can do creative work. This is the real answer. You do not find time, you make it.

I dont know if I buy it completely. When you have a full time job and 4 kids you dont play video games, watch tv, etc... you just constantly do things that have to be done. Either his kids are older or he has someone else doing most of the parent work.

Hey, OP here.

Yup: you're right. There's constantly stuff that needs to be done. My kids are between 4-11. So we're out of diapers and potty training (which is huge).

I just keep finding spaces where I can create: early mornings, late at night, or during my lunch hour.

I answered this below, but basically every weekday between 5:30pm-8:30pm is family time (dinner, chores, bedtime routine). After that, I might try to build something if I have energy. Otherwise, I try to go to sleep. Weekends: wake up early and work on projects in the morning. Rest of the day is usually family activities.

None of this is perfect. I definitely don't have a perfect routine, and I definitely have that "hard life stuff" too: http://justinjackson.ca/real-life/

Edit: I should mention that I get a lot of work done in "fits of inspiration." Meaning: if I can't sleep, and it's 1am I'll work until 4am if I'm energized.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#62

Post by Swizec »

cpprototypes wrote: post #31
Zikes wrote: post #2

> The short answer is: I work on side-projects whenever I have a spare moment. I sacrifice other things (watching TV, reading the newspaper, playing video games) so that I can do creative work. This is the real answer. You do not find time, you make it.

Time is important, but another factor is mental energy. I have only a certain amount of mental energy for each day. Things like TV, reading, and exercising are good when I'm in a low mental energy state. If I have a hard day at work, it doesn't matter how much free time I have since I just won't have the mental energy left to work on a side project.

The funny thing about mental energy is that it can be managed. I've experiment with this a lot and have found that a somewhat tightly regime of exercising, sleeping, eating (and more importantly watching what I eat), and ever so slightly calibrated caffeine intake, have enabled me to pretty much keep being productive all day.

The biggest effect I've discovered is that you can only do one type of work for about 6 or max 8 hours a day. Then you need to switch to something else for the rest of the day. For instance, if your day is spent programming, then at the very least your side project should be in a different language. Better yet, if it can be something other than programming.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#63

Post by semerda »

wvenable wrote: post #58
evanspa wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I have 2 kids, ages 6 and 9, and there's always something to do (help with homework, help with piano, take to soccer, make a cake from scratch together, etc). When everyone's asleep, that's when I work on my side projects. If I'm lucky, I get 2-3 solid hours before my body physically shuts down. I made a decision years ago to do away with tv, video games, etc during "me time," and instead work on projects / cat…

My problem is that by time I get to that point, my brain is done for the day. After 8 hours of work, an hour of commute, dinner, kids, etc I don't have enough energy to do side projects.

You may be getting emotionally & physically drained by your job? Working with wrong type of people and/or long distance travel will do that to one. Also try taking (or increasing dosage) of fish oil tablets for the brain. And if you are not getting enough exercise or good food you will also physically be drained. Contrary to many beliefs Exercise gives energy and allows you to rest well at night.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#64

Post by rdudek »

wvenable wrote: post #58
evanspa wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I have 2 kids, ages 6 and 9, and there's always something to do (help with homework, help with piano, take to soccer, make a cake from scratch together, etc). When everyone's asleep, that's when I work on my side projects. If I'm lucky, I get 2-3 solid hours before my body physically shuts down. I made a decision years ago to do away with tv, video games, etc during "me time," and instead work on projects / cat…

My problem is that by time I get to that point, my brain is done for the day. After 8 hours of work, an hour of commute, dinner, kids, etc I don't have enough energy to do side projects.

I had the same problem. Few things that I did was once my 18 month old is asleep, during the week, wifey will be studying for her pharmacy stuff while I work on side projects. This gives me couple of hours a day to work out a few things.

The 2nd thing I did to increase my motivation to actually do anything was to buy a big dry erase board and post my goals for this year. It's out in the living room, fully visible to anyone. That way I don't look like a fool for not doing anything :)

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#65

Post by mikkel »

agentultra wrote: post #14
mijustin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats on shipping! Could you share a link to the book? I'd love to see it. BTW: My next book is specifically aimed at helping developers with marketing - http://justinjackson.ca/marketingfordevelopers/

http://dungeonmastersdelight.com/ Thanks for taking a peek. Let me know what you think of the site. If it's something that really interests you, get in touch. I really like to get reviews/feedback. :)

This looks really cool.

However, my first inclination was to close the tab because I didn't get it.

I love playing board games (Dominions, Pandemic, etc) and have always wanted to try D&D. Am I your target audience?

Then I found your value prop at the bottom of the page:

"Dungeon Masters Delight is a series of books that aims to collect useful hacks and tricks for the discerning dungeon master. It aims to fill in the gaps of literature concerning running and developing tabletop role playing games. "

I've put together some changes here

http://imgur.com/xcI4xn6

I used http://www.webedit.io to do this review.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#66

Post by ozh »

Manage your own 20% at work. Depending on your environment (colleagues, management expectations, your personal levels of productivity), this can be doable. Not necessarily 20% (that's a lot), can be 10, or even 5, but that's still something.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#68

Post by megablast »

Zikes wrote: post #2

> The short answer is: I work on side-projects whenever I have a spare moment. I sacrifice other things (watching TV, reading the newspaper, playing video games) so that I can do creative work. This is the real answer. You do not find time, you make it.

I found I have so much more time when I have lived without a tv. Recently in Australia they cut of analog broadcasts, and I just haven't gone out to get a digital box.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#69

Post by wvenable »

semerda wrote: post #63
wvenable wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem is that by time I get to that point, my brain is done for the day. After 8 hours of work, an hour of commute, dinner, kids, etc I don't have enough energy to do side projects.

You may be getting emotionally & physically drained by your job? Working with wrong type of people and/or long distance travel will do that to one. Also try taking (or increasing dosage) of fish oil tablets for the brain. And if you are not getting enough exercise or good food you will also physically be drained. Contrary to many beliefs Exercise gives energy and allows you to rest well at night.

I like my job and the people I work with. And it's a good job, mentally demanding but reasonably so. If I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs all day, I might have more energy for side projects. Having a 7-hour-a-day job that requires the same skills as my side project tends to dull my motivation.

I'm definitely trying to get more exercise as at this point I feel that might be the best way to approach the problem.

Re: Where do you find the time for side projects?

#70

Post by kourt »

Swizec wrote: post #62
cpprototypes wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time is important, but another factor is mental energy. I have only a certain amount of mental energy for each day. Things like TV, reading, and exercising are good when I'm in a low mental energy state. If I have a hard day at work, it doesn't matter how much free time I have since I just won't have the mental energy left to work on a side project.

The funny thing about mental energy is that it can be managed. I've experiment with this a lot and have found that a somewhat tightly regime of exercising, sleeping, eating (and more importantly watching what I eat), and ever so slightly calibrated caffeine intake, have enabled me to pretty much keep being productive all day. The biggest effect I've discovered is that you can only do one type of work for about 6 or m…

And therein lies the rub.

I'm also reminded of the studies that document that routinely exceeding a 40 hour week causes reduced productivity (IGDA "Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work"), and that 40 hours was based on assembly-line work and the corresponding number for creative work is probably 35 hours max leads me to think it's just not possible to have a side project without interfering with your main job to some degree.

So yes, I've gladly given up TV and movies and gaming, but that still doesn't seem to make a side project feasible, which is really sad.

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