How to find time to learn after work (2017)
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How to find time to learn after work (2017)
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Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#2I prefer to be present in the moment.
I'm slowly leaving my phone behind and just trying to be present. Actually experience reality and not get my brain busy all the time.
Because of that I'd say, just don't try to be productive at all times. That "downtime" you're trying to cram another podcast into is actually necessary.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#3>"For example, I’m commuting every day 2×45 minutes to my workplace and back home. I need 5 minutes to get to the train station with my bike, 10 minutes to wait for the (connecting) trains, 25 minutes actually on the trains, 5 minutes to get from the train to my working place"
There's a big one right there. Time lost due to commute times are actually much longer than the door-to-door time.
It's not just the 90 min that you're loosing with the commute, it's also the context switching before and after the commute: checking the weather outside to select the right clothing, getting dressed with the right attire that fits(unless you forgot to do the laundry), grooming and looking sharp before you go out (gotta brush off the dried dirt of the shoes from yesterday's rain), walking around your campus/building between your office and coffe-machine/water cooler to hydrate, setting up your laptop/desk to get in the zone, walking around looking for meeting rooms, all this adds up on top of those 90 min to more like 120 minutes or even more.
That's 2h/day, or, if we assume 8h work and 8h sleep, that's 25% of your leisure time left lost for nothing, just to go to work and back. Just let that sink in. 25%! A quarter! One fourth! Even though in practice it's worse than that as 8h of work doesn't include the mandatory unpaid (in my corner of Europe) 30min-1h lunch break, so you're not left with much leisure time between work and sleep.
And for me, 25 minutes on the train are not enough time for to get in the zone to actually study and learn something. By the time I get in the zone, I already need to start packing my stuff and get ready to board off the train. Trying to cram study into a short train ride brings me more stress than it's worth so I'd probably end up scrolling on HN/reddit in that short time on the train.
With WFH I can save a huge amount of time by bypassing all these dead times that don't benefit me and nor do they benefit the company I work for. It's just time wasted that's unproductive to both parties. I can quickly jump into work after I wake up, and I can quickly jump off work when I'm done and dive directly into my hobbies.
I wish companies would understand this and not see WFH as a tool or justification for slacking off, forcings everyone commute every day to waste everyone's time justifying some mystical "team bonding" that happens in the office that boosts everyone's productivity.
/rant over
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#4For me, energy is more of a problem than time. I'm so exhausted in the evening it's hard to make progress with learning or technical projects.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#5>"For example, I’m commuting every day 2×45 minutes to my workplace and back home. I need 5 minutes to get to the train station with my bike, 10 minutes to wait for the (connecting) trains, 25 minutes actually on the trains, 5 minutes to get from the train to my working place" There's a big one right there. Time lost due to commute times are actually much longer than the door-to-door time. It's not just the 90 min th…
I'm happy to see more people taking into account overhead in commuting. It drives me crazy when people consider commute time as the time it takes in front of the wheel.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#6I prefer to be present in the moment. I'm slowly leaving my phone behind and just trying to be present. Actually experience reality and not get my brain busy all the time. Because of that I'd say, just don't try to be productive at all times. That "downtime" you're trying to cram another podcast into is actually necessary.
This is my most important lesson in the past few years. There is value in _not_ learning, building, doing all the time.
I like to work and study, but doing either of it for more than 8hrs is not sustainable for me. I expect to be writing the modern-day equivalent of Fortran when I'm 60. All the young bucks will look down on me for not advancing in my career, but I think I'll be happy. That's all I need.
Everyone has their own balance point. John Carmack can work 12hr days and improve at various subjects continually, so his balance point lies somewhere else. Don't try to be Carmack if you're not and you can still live a fulfilling life :).
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#7I prefer to be present in the moment. I'm slowly leaving my phone behind and just trying to be present. Actually experience reality and not get my brain busy all the time. Because of that I'd say, just don't try to be productive at all times. That "downtime" you're trying to cram another podcast into is actually necessary.
I think that's an important bit here. It's like "optimizing" sleep with the meaning of getting as little as possible of it. No. Sleep is good. Optimizing sleep is getting the proper amount your brain needs.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#8Interesting observation.
I too often find myself in this oscillation between soaking up new knowledge and actually using it. This cycle between passive/active consumption is intriguing but might have its drawbacks IMHO.
There are moments when I question if I should be buried in learning new topics instead of tinkering with what I already know. Learning is invaluable, no doubt—certainly better than mindlessly scrolling through TikTok.
But it does beg one question: What's the point of incessant learning if we're not applying it in any meaningful way?
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#9I prefer to be present in the moment. I'm slowly leaving my phone behind and just trying to be present. Actually experience reality and not get my brain busy all the time. Because of that I'd say, just don't try to be productive at all times. That "downtime" you're trying to cram another podcast into is actually necessary.
This is my most important lesson in the past few years. There is value in _not_ learning, building, doing all the time. I like to work and study, but doing either of it for more than 8hrs is not sustainable for me. I expect to be writing the modern-day equivalent of Fortran when I'm 60. All the young bucks will look down on me for not advancing in my career, but I think I'll be happy. That's all I need. Everyone has…
> I think I'll be happy. That's all I need
My thoughts exactly. When I'm about to die, I suppose this is all that will matter.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#10>"For example, I’m commuting every day 2×45 minutes to my workplace and back home. I need 5 minutes to get to the train station with my bike, 10 minutes to wait for the (connecting) trains, 25 minutes actually on the trains, 5 minutes to get from the train to my working place" There's a big one right there. Time lost due to commute times are actually much longer than the door-to-door time. It's not just the 90 min th…
On the (few) occasions when I go into the city for a customer meeting, the commuter rail takes "only" something over an hour but, really, we're talking something over two hours from getting up to walking into the office when one includes driving to the station with some slack, paying for parking, and then walking to the office/taking local subway. (Just driving takes about the same 2 hours.) A colleague of mine who lives in a different city and subscribes to the philosophy of if you don't miss one or two flights a year you're leaving too much slack jokes that he can get to our downtown office almost as quickly as I can--and he's not really off by much.