I have time, what I don't have is energy. I just can't do anything useful after work.
How to find time to learn after work (2017)
151–160 of 189 posts
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#152Companies should devote actual work time for studying, because relying on personal time is not just unethical, but inefficient. It's way cheaper to pay people to study in-house than paying for outside training or bootcamps. Not everyone can (or want) to study this way, but devoted focused time give you far more benefits than one hour a day randomly whenever you can squeeze it. You can read most books (even technical…
Totally agreed. This was my policy with my staff. I straight up told them they can and should take a couple hours a week (tried to start small to make it achievable) on personal development, whether that's reading books, taking courses, etc. I'd even try and brainstorm with them on ways to spend the time. Funny thing is, with one or two exceptions, few did it because they always felt something else was more urgent du…
The advantage of going to conferences, taking in-person courses, etc. (in addition to the hallway track) isn't so much that they're efficient--they're not really--or that they're something of a (relatively) cheap perk that a lot of employees appreciate, but that they really do immerse you in something that you might otherwise do glancingly "when you get around to it."
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another commenter also made a very good point: you've gotta let off the gas a bit. If everyone is going flat out, the surrounding pressures will cause people to prioritize being responsive to those pressures. But that requires a fundamental change in organizational productivity culture and means this kind of policy probably needs to be implemented -- and critically, measured -- at the corporate level so people collec…
Yep, and this is another way in which it reminds me of vacation policies. People have trouble imagining when they'll be able to take time off when the foot is always on the gas. So even if managers are truly bought in to the idea that time off is actually critical to a productive workforce (and I think most leadership I've worked for actually does buy this), it's still easy to create an environment where that doesn't…
I think a lot of employees also convince themselves that if they unplug for a long vacation (which used to be pretty much inevitable), their career will be hosed or the company will fall apart.
I took a number of month long vacations before there was much in the way of internet and I had people come up to me and basically be in astonishment that I could do that.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#154I’ve found that if I really want to learn something, I just get up an hour early, makes some coffee/tea and get to it. It’s the only thing I can control with any certainty. The quiet time while everyone is asleep provides a distraction free environment. I also like giving my most productive/energetic time to my own projects/learning, as opposed to work, but that is just me. After work time is for dinner, family, and…
I envy those who can wake up on schedule.
In my natural state, I wake up randomly between 09:00 to 12:00; the only way I can wake up earlier, or at specific time, is if someone else forces me out of bed, and makes sure I don't fall back asleep within the next 15 minutes. I've been like this for as long as I remember. So even without kids and their adjustable schedules (ready to get up as early as 04:00, but waiting for us to wake up until ~06:30), to get in that morning hour of learning, I'd have to ask my wife to wake me that hour earlier - which already defeats the point of having alone time.
And even if, my brain never really wakes up until ~12:00 - 13:00 anyway.
Having your biological clock stuck in an opposite timezone to everyone else sucks, but you only learn how bad once you start a family.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haha First thing I thought when I read this. Waking up early to have some free focus time is what I _used_ to do. Now I can sometimes squeeze some late nights but not as productive cause I am half dead by then.
Children are fun, but they will get in the way of productivity. Get up early, they learn that at get up as well. Trying to work in the evening, I'm getting to old to work past 20:00. Sadly my most productive time, the time where I feel like doing the most work, is between 13:30 and 18:00, which has a pretty big overlap with "picking up kids, getting dinner ready and other household chores".
> Sadly my most productive time, the time where I feel like doing the most work, is between 13:30 and 18:00, which has a pretty big overlap with "picking up kids, getting dinner ready and other household chores".
Me too, I almost blurted out something like this to wife today - that I can't help it, my best hours seem to be between ~13:00 and 19:00, which is exactly the time that's torpedoed by a series of distractors like "dinner", "picking kids up from facilities", and everything else that's going on. By the time we're clear of all that, I'm too mentally or emotionally drained to do or enjoy anything.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if you don't miss one or two flights a year you're leaving too much slack Boy do I envy people who can live their life this way. I sure can't.
I don't. It sounds like constant stress.
I think you can only do that if you're not stressed by it and otherwise not afraid of the consequences.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#157I 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 like to work and study, but doing either of it for more than 8hrs is not sustainable for me.
So, if you're working a proper full-time job, it means you're incapable of learning or working on anything other than your $dayjob for 5 days a week.
I think this is the root for the "productivity drive" - you spend yourself out at work so you can survive, and then... there's the rest of your life, that you would also like to live, not just experience. For many (myself included) it's kind of a trap. Productivity here literally means autonomy - the things I do or build or learn after work are literally... my life.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#158I’ve found that if I really want to learn something, I just get up an hour early, makes some coffee/tea and get to it. It’s the only thing I can control with any certainty. The quiet time while everyone is asleep provides a distraction free environment. I also like giving my most productive/energetic time to my own projects/learning, as opposed to work, but that is just me. After work time is for dinner, family, and…
Spot on advice. I am not a morning person whatsoever, but investing time in myself during the mornings before work is how I gradually switched from accounting into software engineering. When the 2020 lockdown happened, I of course no longer had to commute to work. Rather than using the time gained for more sleep, I took advantage of the opportunity and doubled my morning learning time. Now that I’m a software engineer, I use that time to continue refining my craft because there’s plenty more for me to learn!
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was in classes that averaged 30 chilren per class. I haven't gotten any individual instruction/teaching, and did just fine until high school math kicked in (bear in mind, this was Polish high-school math, and in a class that focuses on math), when I got lost and needed help of a tutor. But the other 98-99% of my school time, I was completely fine on my own. Also, I don't think I was any kind of exception.
Not sure what your point is? Ignore the child because Badpun was fine? It honestly sounds like you're arguing against "Interact with your child, help them if you think they need it", which seems.. odd. You could perhaps be arguing that parents are wrong usually, and should go against their intuition on helping the child - but that's also a mixed bag.
I'm arguing that school's difficult level is set up for children to manage on their own just fine. Also, managing on their own means learning grit, figuring out what to do when you're stuck, learning how to find information etc. If a parent is hand-holding their child through their school experience, they may be taking away a chance to develop these skills in their kid.
Re: How to find time to learn after work (2017)
#160> Read 3 books: 12 hours Definitely not technical books.
I thought the same. I’m only 60 pages of a history book with tons of references to sources and it took me about 3 hours to go through that.