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Start freelancing, then raise your rates and use my little calculator [1] to "make time", then work on side projects. Also: as someone who did a lot of side-projects over the last few years, my advice is "start a side product" instead (if you want to end up living out of it, that is). [1] https://www.wisecashhq.com/goodies/bootstrapper-calculator
Uhhhh http://cl.ly/image/3l1h251S060B
> 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.
[1] http://andrewoneverything.com/post/43544648479/i-dont-have-e...
I always find there's a lot more time available than people realize. If you cut down your time wasted, it really ads up. I like to think of it this way: There's 24 hours in a day, I spend 6-8 asleep. Where are the other 16 to 18 hours going? If I spend 10 hours a day working, that's 6 to 8 hours evaporating. If I can capture just an hour a day to work on something fun, it really adds up.
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.
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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…
5+ is a great time when they can actually survive by and entertain themselves; And, going to school during the day relieves pressure too.
My side project schedule is about the same except starting a little later. I also try to work on things during tiny breaks (5-20 min) e.g. the bus, a waiting room, etc; Most of this time is sketching some diagram/UI/schema. But I find it very frustrating.
The issues I have had to solve to get to a point where I am finally working on things I want to work on are different from what a lot of people here would have to solve. At times, I have tried to talk about those things here (under a previous handle) in hopes of helping out those who are still frustrated but I mostly felt shut out here.
So, I wonder a lot at how much value it really has to share "what worked for me" (I don't just mean for me personally, I mean posts of that sort) because, on the one hand, there is often something useful to learn but, on the other, very often, many of the people reading it are still frustrated and it still does not solve their own problem of "finding the time" (or whatever). While some folks may nod their heads and agree, often, those voicing agreement are the people for whom this is mostly a solved problem already. People who are still wondering how on earth to find the time for themselves, in their own unique lives with their own set of personal challenges, rarely get some big epiphany from these discussions and finally get cracking. Thus the people who are asking are usually not really getting "answers" -- ie solutions. Instead, they may be getting it reinforced that they are losers, it doesn't work for them, it cannot work them, etc.
And that kind of bothers me. I feel it tends to reinforce a "them that has, gets" type of reality.
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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.
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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.…