Try very hard not spending 18hs a day in front of the computer. It's really hard to do that when you switch to remote. Go out, shave, shower every day. Try to keep you healthy.
Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
11–20 of 74 posts
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#12Learn Clojure via Overtone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Mf...
I personally have to either wake up early, wake up and exercise, or start working outside my apartment (e.g. eat lunch out and take my computer) in order to not fall into slacking off all day. Assuming I don't fall into one of my slacking off patterns (e.g HN/Reddit/Twitter tech "news" all day), I've never had trouble staying engaged. I think of it as working every day but sometimes I get paid for working on other people's projects and others I get to enjoy working on my own. My personal priority list of things to do puts sleep and waking up without an alarm as the top priority.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#13Take 20 min a day to meditate
I kinda like your advice !
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#14Speaking as a musician, it will cost you a bit of money up front, but finding a top notch teacher and taking a few lessons might be a great way to kick off the new phase of your life. Of course I'm saying this while having procrastinated on doing the same for myself. Find a teacher who could provide you with a frank assessment of your technique, and identify gaps in your abilities that might hold you back from fully engaging in your local music scene at a desirable level.
Also, a check-up on your technique might be a good idea in order to avoid injuring yourself once you do start in with those 5 hours a day. Naturally some instruments are more physically demanding than others, but any instrument can hurt you if you don't consider ergonomic technique.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#15I don't know how much money you have, but I would invest it into an income asset like a rental property or dividend paying equity. You will need an income stream if you want to live work-free for any length of time. Otherwise, I would buy a house or condo or find a situation where you can live "rent-free". Also pay cash for an older car. Those are your major expenses. Generally, I would live within your means, and cook your own food. Avoid travel and entertainment expenses, especially bars. Have fun!
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#16I've been working from home for about 5 years. If you want to be productive, the key point is to make a very clear distinction between work and leisure. On a normal job this is clear enough - the clothes, the physical setting, the timetable, all converge to trigger your professional mindset. Not so at home.
Organize a little corner of your house for working. Even if it's just a desk and a bookshelf. Keep it reserved for your work hours/activities only. If you can schedule certain activities outside the house, eg a shared workspace, even better.
Give yourself working hours and respect them - preferably for a whole week, but at least for the next day. If you have several activities, divide up your time between them in advance. If possible, set daily or weekly goals for the activities you are engaged in.
Dress for work, even if you are at home - not necessarily a suit, but put on some decent clothes and shoes, and brush your hair, make yourself presentable. Go out for a short brisk walk before starting work, to simulate your commute; possibly repeat at lunchtime (more relaxed) and in the evening.
Do not snack between meals - VERY important. Avoid sweets, fizzy drinks, pastries, as you are less physically active than before. Schedule exercise every day.
Create at least one "event" every day which takes place outside the house and involves other people. This will give a focus to your day. Make sure you get enough human contact. You'd be surprised how important work is in this respect, even if you have no friends there.
Edit: be very strict about your use of the internet. Reading news is not working. More generally, honestly evaluate how you use your time relative to the objectives you have set yourself for that day.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#17Get a good kitchen set and starting making your own meals. Spend two weeks where you make every meal you eat, so you break the habit of eating out. Also continue to surround yourself with fantastic people, it will keep you from getting depressed. Exercise (jogging, especially) is a very economical and beneficial pastime. Start that as soon as possible.
To add to cooking idea, challenge yourself to eat "simply" – i.e with cheap carbohydrate heavy ingredients such as rice, pasta, potatoes as a substantial portion of your calories.
Use meat sparingly (it's expensive!) to make things more exciting, and always put onions, garlic and [all kinds peppers[1], zucchini, fennel (the bottom parts), herbs[2]].
All of those ingredients last in the fridge and can be "revived", or cooked when they're starting to go bad. If you're new to feeding yourself all of your meals and having food in the fridge all the time, the tendency to buy fresh products that rot in the fridge is high. These ingredients let you cheat a bit.
Olive oil and salt and pepper should be liberally applied to all of this.
Finally, on the the health front, you'll probably cook more than you need – this can cause overeating. I usually portion food into a storage container before I start eating, forcing me to control portions. When you start cooking all of your food and controlling your portions, you realize more what your body needs and honestly how little it actually requires for sustenance. Rich world countries eat such an incredible amount of food.
My two cents! This is a personal thing, so your mileage may vary, but hope it's a bit helpful.
[1]: I live near a substantial hispanic population, so all sorts of interesting peppers exist that can change meals completely for very little cost and effort. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum
[2]: Depending on your market and the season, herbs can be relatively affordable or completely absurd. I only buy it if it's fairly priced, can be a real gouger.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#18Since you're interested in Bitcoin, educate yourself on economics. There's a good reading list on /r/economics.
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#19You should use https://habitrpg.com/
Take everything you want to do every day, cut the time in half, then cut the time in half again, and add it as a "Daily."
* [x] 1 hour of music
* [x] 30m of CodeAcademy Python
* [x] 20m exercise
The key is to keep is so absurdly short that you will have no trouble doing them in a day. BUT, by doing them every day, you will accomplish much more than if you had overcommitted.
Using HabitRPG instead of a daily to-do list ads a gaming aspect to it. Skip enough days, and your character dies and loses a level. It's a lot of fun.
I'm currently using it to get myself to do a little Duolingo for spanish, floss every day, and try to stop drinking soda (habits section).
Re: Ask HN: Will soon have lots of time and little money – how to spend it?
#20I've been working from home for about 5 years. If you want to be productive, the key point is to make a very clear distinction between work and leisure. On a normal job this is clear enough - the clothes, the physical setting, the timetable, all converge to trigger your professional mindset. Not so at home. Organize a little corner of your house for working. Even if it's just a desk and a bookshelf. Keep it reserved…
A million upvotes for snacks. I work primarily from home now and they absolutely destroy you. Make sure you get out and do some exercise too!