Discuss this article or ask me any questions you may have.
5
Great insight. I cleaned up my home screen on my phone after reading your article. Now I just have Pocket, Medium, Nuzzel, Inbox, and Quip.
4
Really good article. Especially the moment when you describe the priority of body over mind. I wish I knew this when I was younger. I did not put enough emphasis on body and now I suffer the consequences. I am also very much influenced by the environment. If the place is noisy or packed with people I just cannot do anything but browse the Internet.
4
I really enjoyed this article - so much better than any of the productivity BS that's currently being peddled on Medium. Thank you!
I've been tracking hours using RescueTime, but thinking of switching to Qbserve as it looks pleasant to use and doesn't send my data to a server. I am currently averaging around 30 productive hours a week. I'm looking forward to trying out the techniques described in the article to increase this to 40 productive hours a week. Mainly I am looking to make some extra time for my side projects, and an extra 10 hours a week will go a long way to make them happen.
4
Wow. That was a big insight.
I always try to get something done for my side projects after work. But often don't find the motivation to do so. What would be your advise?
4
Thanks!
I had a similar problem when I was freelancing 3 years ago. My solution was to picture the result more often. Not fantasizing about financial success (I did it on my very first personal projects and it made the failures painful!) but thinking about what you can learn in the process and how your project can help the world.
The idea behind this is to make long-term rewards more "real" in the mind, so it's easier to find motivation for working on them.
1
An almost, "Think and Grow Rich" approach: picture what you want to be and what it looks like, daily, and you'll achieve it.
3
Thanks for that post! I have found a lot of useful points in it. I have quit my job and those days I'm building plans for my "after-job life". Do you have any hard borders in your schedule when you simply stop working? Like close your laptop after 18:00, for example.
3
Thank you! For client projects – yes, I stop at 20-21. My own projects are only limited with sleep around 1 AM because sometimes I feel very productive and creative in the late evening.
3
If there is an average of 4.3 weeks in a month you should strive for only 170 hours of work for your job. Spend the next 30 on personal projects / development.
3
"Learning something new from saved articles in Pocket is a great way to spend time when you have nothing better to do"
Love this! When I am bored I just browse medium and I pick up some articles to read later on Pocket.
Thanks for the article.
Pd: I am uninstalling Overwatch right know.
2
Thanks!
I'm very vulnerable to PvP games like LoL, DotA, TF2 — I can't play just one match in the evening, it always ends in an all-nighter.
So I started to slowly increase the gaps between sessions: from two times a week to once a month. Eventually I just quit them altogether.
2
I am also vulnerable to PvP games, what I try to do is play a full day and then quit for a week, but sometimes I don't do it and I ended played more than I should. I am going to try to increase the gaps between sessions as you said.
I really liked the articled. I shared on twitter and fb.
0
If I'm being honest, I don't think quitting games altogether is a goal worth attaining. Playing games isn't a bad thing. I've started on Guild Wars 2 recently I love it. I love the social aspects and it's introduced me to some lovely people.
You just have to be sensible with how much you play and when.
3
More like competitive online games. I'm always happy to play something like Animal Crossing with my friends.
3
Good call. Those PUBG, Overwatch, etc, style games are crazy addictive: "I'll win the next one" ... 3am ... "OK just one more".
2
I think this is the wrong path to take for anyone. You shouldn't be striving to figure out how you can work more hours. Your goal should be to figure out how you can do the same amount of work, in less time. Work/Life balance is why I do this to begin with. While also being happy with the work i'm producing. Making my own way in life is also very important to me. I hate relying on someone else for a paycheck.
Instead your goal should be to figure out how to get down to 120 hours a month and make the same hourly. I produce far better work around the 120hr mark. Anything more than that is really just ass time.
That way I can spend the rest of the time either doing passion projects or hanging with my family.
Anyway, whatever works for you I guess, but I think it's a really bad idea to work more hours. Doesn't necessarily translate to more work accomplished and I usually end up needing to refactor the next day anyway cause I wrote tired code.
3
I consider the time spent on passion projects productive. :)
2
What do you do for breaks? If you're logging close to 200 hours a month with 6h per day, then that includes weekends. I discovered that I need at least one free day a week in order to stay productive in the long run.
3
I don't do breaks and instead rest by switching tasks. For example, after 5 days of working on complex code, I can spend 2 days on marketing research which usually means going through hundreds of sites and filling data in a spreadsheet. This way my "programmer" part of the brain is relaxing.
One day off is totally fine though, I think I will rearrange my workflow in future to have it and maybe reduce the total number to 180 hours. Now I don't feel much benefit from getting it – the ideas are still in my head during the weekend, I just don't work on them.
1
This article resembles me a lot to “a day in the life” articles people at Imgur post. It would be interesting to have Indie Hacker articles that cover the lifestyle of the people creating an startup.
Great insight. I cleaned up my home screen on my phone after reading your article. Now I just have Pocket, Medium, Nuzzel, Inbox, and Quip.
Really good article. Especially the moment when you describe the priority of body over mind. I wish I knew this when I was younger. I did not put enough emphasis on body and now I suffer the consequences. I am also very much influenced by the environment. If the place is noisy or packed with people I just cannot do anything but browse the Internet.
I really enjoyed this article - so much better than any of the productivity BS that's currently being peddled on Medium. Thank you!
I've been tracking hours using RescueTime, but thinking of switching to Qbserve as it looks pleasant to use and doesn't send my data to a server. I am currently averaging around 30 productive hours a week. I'm looking forward to trying out the techniques described in the article to increase this to 40 productive hours a week. Mainly I am looking to make some extra time for my side projects, and an extra 10 hours a week will go a long way to make them happen.
Wow. That was a big insight.
I always try to get something done for my side projects after work. But often don't find the motivation to do so. What would be your advise?
Thanks!
I had a similar problem when I was freelancing 3 years ago. My solution was to picture the result more often. Not fantasizing about financial success (I did it on my very first personal projects and it made the failures painful!) but thinking about what you can learn in the process and how your project can help the world.
The idea behind this is to make long-term rewards more "real" in the mind, so it's easier to find motivation for working on them.
An almost, "Think and Grow Rich" approach: picture what you want to be and what it looks like, daily, and you'll achieve it.
Thanks for that post! I have found a lot of useful points in it. I have quit my job and those days I'm building plans for my "after-job life". Do you have any hard borders in your schedule when you simply stop working? Like close your laptop after 18:00, for example.
Thank you! For client projects – yes, I stop at 20-21. My own projects are only limited with sleep around 1 AM because sometimes I feel very productive and creative in the late evening.
If there is an average of 4.3 weeks in a month you should strive for only 170 hours of work for your job. Spend the next 30 on personal projects / development.
"Learning something new from saved articles in Pocket is a great way to spend time when you have nothing better to do"
Love this! When I am bored I just browse medium and I pick up some articles to read later on Pocket.
Thanks for the article.
Pd: I am uninstalling Overwatch right know.
Thanks!
I'm very vulnerable to PvP games like LoL, DotA, TF2 — I can't play just one match in the evening, it always ends in an all-nighter.
So I started to slowly increase the gaps between sessions: from two times a week to once a month. Eventually I just quit them altogether.
I am also vulnerable to PvP games, what I try to do is play a full day and then quit for a week, but sometimes I don't do it and I ended played more than I should. I am going to try to increase the gaps between sessions as you said.
I really liked the articled. I shared on twitter and fb.
If I'm being honest, I don't think quitting games altogether is a goal worth attaining. Playing games isn't a bad thing. I've started on Guild Wars 2 recently I love it. I love the social aspects and it's introduced me to some lovely people.
You just have to be sensible with how much you play and when.
More like competitive online games. I'm always happy to play something like Animal Crossing with my friends.
Good call. Those PUBG, Overwatch, etc, style games are crazy addictive: "I'll win the next one" ... 3am ... "OK just one more".
I think this is the wrong path to take for anyone. You shouldn't be striving to figure out how you can work more hours. Your goal should be to figure out how you can do the same amount of work, in less time. Work/Life balance is why I do this to begin with. While also being happy with the work i'm producing. Making my own way in life is also very important to me. I hate relying on someone else for a paycheck.
Instead your goal should be to figure out how to get down to 120 hours a month and make the same hourly. I produce far better work around the 120hr mark. Anything more than that is really just ass time.
That way I can spend the rest of the time either doing passion projects or hanging with my family.
Anyway, whatever works for you I guess, but I think it's a really bad idea to work more hours. Doesn't necessarily translate to more work accomplished and I usually end up needing to refactor the next day anyway cause I wrote tired code.
I consider the time spent on passion projects productive. :)
What do you do for breaks? If you're logging close to 200 hours a month with 6h per day, then that includes weekends. I discovered that I need at least one free day a week in order to stay productive in the long run.
I don't do breaks and instead rest by switching tasks. For example, after 5 days of working on complex code, I can spend 2 days on marketing research which usually means going through hundreds of sites and filling data in a spreadsheet. This way my "programmer" part of the brain is relaxing.
One day off is totally fine though, I think I will rearrange my workflow in future to have it and maybe reduce the total number to 180 hours. Now I don't feel much benefit from getting it – the ideas are still in my head during the weekend, I just don't work on them.
This article resembles me a lot to “a day in the life” articles people at Imgur post. It would be interesting to have Indie Hacker articles that cover the lifestyle of the people creating an startup.
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/LfrH2
This comment was deleted 9 months ago.
This comment was deleted a year ago.