How do you manage your learning while being busy with a full time job?

Question

I'm a curious person and I have thirst for knowledge and learning. There are tons of stuff that I've always wanted to learn. When I was a BSc student, I remember I used to learn actively and I used to do self-defined projects. But after graduation and getting employed things have changed. Let's say I want to learn a new programming language by doing a self-defined project or some math like abstract algebra. The problem is that when I come back home from a software engineering job I like to chill or socialize. I like to watch a comedy. Not even drama or documentary. Only comedy. something that boosts your tiredness. I don't call it laziness. It's just that you are mentally tired and like to socialize or chill. So I will have only weekends and some of these stuff should be done daily otherwise it takes months to finish (like studying a math book). As a result of this it's been a couple of years that I have not done any self-defined projects or I have not learned anything outside of my daily job although that I feel the thirst for knowledge and learning.Have you faced this problem? How do you deal with it?

shyam0520 · Accepted Answer

The motivation-sapping aspects of your day job are great practice for entrepreneurship if you use them that way. Is your boss unreasonable or difficult? Someday you'll be dealing with difficult customers, co-founders or investors. Learn to keep your cool, communicate effectively, and succeed despite that obstacle. Do some of your work seem tedious or inconsequential? When you run your own business, you'll be responsible for everything. Initially, you'll be highly motivated, but months or years down the line some aspects of the job will seem tedious or inconsequential too. Learn how to deal with it now and you'll be ready. Also, for better learning, you need to find a mentor who can show you a path, before you start your learning experiences start finding a mentor who can understand your goals and guide you accordingly. GETAPY Mentoring Platform can help you in finding the right mentors to manage your learning even when you're working fulltime. http://getapy.com/

brudgers · Answer

[random remarks from the internet]Student/non-student is a high impedance mental model. High impedance when it comes to life-long learning because the student is always directed toward short term goals. Not just tonight's homework, the test next week and the required course. On the scale of adult life, even a four year degree is short.But so much can be learned in four years. Years are the scale of life-long learning. Life-long learning means that sometimes life is going to get in the way. It will get in the way inevitably because we change as we grow and we didn't stop growing when we walked across the stage in a funny cap and baggy clothes.With a bit of average luck there are sixty or seventy years of learning left and that's time to learn deeply and create things that elicit "How the hell did I do that?" when looking back five or ten years later. Good luck.

thorin · Answer

If you aren't learning interesting and useful things in your current job maybe re-think it. Most people don't want to work >8 hours a day on technology related stuff and you definitely won't have time to sell/solve business problems if you're doing that all the time. Sure it's nice to learn new stuff, but better if there is a reason behind it and short sprints / clear goals

kleer001 · Answer

Yes, I too have been sucked in by the void of easily consumed entertainment. It's a trap.To get out of it I first realized it was crap and cut down my consumption by a factor of 10. Not cut out entirely, but raised the bar of what I'd be willing to consume. Secondly I started waking up earlier (and going to be earlier). That gave me space before work to have a fresh brain and work on my own stuff. A hour a day in the morning can make a lot of difference in a personal project.

hitsurume · Answer

Some suggestions:1) Don't go home, you have a habit of going home and "chillin", so just don't self study there.2) Stay at your office and self-study there after work. You're already in the environment where you generally "work", so just add on hours afterwards.3) Enroll in a physical class, like a community college class where you're forced to attend class and actively participate.