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Ask HN: scheduling with work, side project, and self-learning?

7 points by zxcvvcxz ↗ HN
To those of you who manage to get so much done -

What are some of your strategies for scheduling appropriate time for working on a side project as well as some extra-curricular learning?

Scheduling work is easy - I have to show up 40hrs/week.

What I do with the remaining hours is sort of hard to figure out. (Un)fortunately, I have 4 textbooks I'm trying to go through, as well as a programming project that I can faithfully say to myself "this might not suck".

I don't really have deadlines except self-imposed, e.g. I want a project prototype done in the next 3 months and I want to finish all of these textbooks within the next 6 months (dense engineering books). My biggest problem is that I tend to just "do what I feel like", meaning I'll randomly switch between my tasks. But I feel like this isn't really ideal for someone who (eventually) will have more serious deadlines and responsibilities. Hence the need for scheduling.

How do you guys do it?

7 comments

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jmonegro
For so many things in your plate, I'd suggest you split it by days, rather than doing a bit of everything every day.

I'll asume you work Monday thru Friday, so that's a big constant. You could either do Work + Learning on the weekdays, and work on your side project on the weekends, or the reverse.

Since the subjects you're learning are quite dense, you might benefit from studying an hour or two every day. Or it might be best to leave those for the weekend if you're bent on finishing your prototype in a short timeframe.

I suppose the real answer here is trial and error. Everyone is different, but you could try two or three different combinations and figure out which is best for you.

zxcvvcxz
Yeah I've been thinking that I might have to resort to a day-by-day separation. I've been quite resistant to that idea, never before have I not been able to do everything I wanted within a day... This is my first real job/internship so I guess this is how it has to be. No more college safety net for the time being.
tsurantino
One suggestion I'd make is organize your deadlines by what gives you the most tangible results - for example visual results (ie, your prototype shows visible milestones).

This will give you a kind of pat-on-the-back moment that motivates you to keep going to your end-goal.

This is harder with textbooks, so hopefully they have good exercises or are somehow tangible relevant.

kevinconroy
My schedule:

* 6 am - 8 am: Wake up. Check email. Some coding on side projects. You could read textbooks over coffee/breakfast here.

* 8 am - 5 pm: Day job

* 5 - 9pm: Family time

* 9 - midnight: Side projects, freelance, and any leftovers from day job that exceed the normal 40 hours.

coreygoodie
Hey schedule buddy.

Basically, make a list of everything you're reading and working on. Then prioritize. Then block things off when you're most productive. For me, it's reading in the AM and then coding side-projects at night.

I'd also suggest building some of that project management experience and creating some sort of project plan/burn down chart for yourself. I do this all the time for fitness-related activities, and seeing numbers in excel (x lines of code written, y chapters read) really keeps me motivated.

breathesalt
I'm in an uncannily similar situation as yours but with a part-time job. Find a job that is aligned with your ulterior goals and that provides you the time to complete them. Let's say you want to finish a machine learning textbook, then find a job that gives you enough freedom to apply that at work. Applying what you learn, at work, not only reinforces your learning but pushes you to reach your long-term learning goals. As for the prototype, the problems it's designed to solve ought to be compelling enough.
hoodwink
I'm going through this same exact problem. The biggest challenge, for me, is preventing my extracurricular activities from bleeding into my consciousness during the day job and creating a huge distraction. By definition, if I'm doing something EC in my precious spare time, it's because I find it interesting and/or fulfilling. Therefore, it's kind of hard to direct my thoughts anywhere else when I need them focused on my work activities.

I'd be curious for any feedback you or others might have. The solution that is partially working for me is to wake up early and do "pre-work" EC activities. I'm not an early morning person, so this is somewhat of a lifestyle shift. I find that getting a solid 1.5 to 2 hours in the morning to fire off emails on the side project or work on some coding/thought challenges enables me to focus at work more.