Ask HN: Staying Sharp

Here's the (relatively brief) story:

I went to university at a top 20 school in physics and mathematics, and paid my own way by working part-time doing web development. After being in a few research internship positions (CDF-FNAL and some biophysics work), I realized that, while I thoroughly enjoyed higher level physics, I had developed a passion for web application development. Consequently, when I was presented with a very enticing offer in July 2008, I decided to start working full time and do my last four classes (I only had non-science related electives remaining) over the next year or so.

As it turns out, the decision I made was a fortuitous one, due to the economic meltdown that occurred only a few months after I went from part-time work/full-time school to full-time work/part-time school. Moreover, I do enjoy my job, and the ego boost of knowing that every day my hard work is put to use by tens of thousands of people (which is, in all honesty, one of the reasons I became so passionate about web applications in the first place).

But I've started realizing that my mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. As someone who was consistently challenged and put to the test in academia, I'm finding that I don't actually have any day-to-day challenges to push me and keep my scientific mind exercised. With my day job, regular open source contributions, girlfriend and social life, I don't have too much free time either.

My question is then: How do my fellow HN'ers keep their minds sharp? Should I read more publications & papers? Should I try and do more scientifically oriented open source work? Or is this just something I'm going to have to accept and deal with?

An insatiable appetite for learning sure is a hard thing to satisfy. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Sit in on some classes at a nearby university? Watch Feynman's lectures again?

Indeed. Given that we are not immortal and have finite time, we have to make sacrifices somewhere. I have a friend who has opted to sacrifice his health, social life and romantic life for his intellectual and career ambitions. It's always an option but I don't like what I see.

"Sit in on some classes at a nearby university?"

I assume you mean without paying for the course? how does one go about doing this?

I sometimes have the strong urge to sit in a class - to feel like a student. I never knew you could just go and sit in a class? I also read similar HN suggestion on a post some time back. I want to try this out fwiw.

It most definitely isn't just something you have to accept and deal with. Staying sharp takes effort, but it's worth it. And you don't need to upset your work/life balance or carve out massive portions of your week to do this. You do, however, need to make some time for yourself and your brain even if it's just an hour in the morning while you have your coffee.

The most important thing I could tell you is to read your ass off. Get a good list of RSS feeds for blogs and magazines in your field and read through them all regularly. Routinely look for newly published books in your field of interest and read them. Get involved in discussion boards for the same so that you can have conversations, and even debates, on the issues you want to stay on top of so that you're not in a mental vacuum - and so that you are challenged by others in your field. Keep talking about it, thinking about it, writing about it (I forget who said "you don't know what you know until you write" but it's true)...