How do you stay productive after work hours?

If you assume that your energy capacity is roughly constant, then the only way to have more energy after work, is to spend less energy at work.

Some people subscribe to the idea that you can generate more energy through discipline or enthusiasm. In my experience, it's like dipping into your reserve tank. It works in short bursts but actually requires more effort to replenish (see burnout).

The older I get the more I'm starting to resent this idea of "being productive". Lions sleep 3/4 of the day, are they productive? Something something about the nature of play and learning in kids and this relentless focus on being productive..

The most helpful advice around this actually came from a therapist. One of the things I started with in therapy was stress at work.

You can just get your work done. You don’t have to give 100% for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Some days it’s ok to be at 50%, and not feel guilty about it.

Sometimes I spend a few hours at work just learning stuff. I still get everything I committed to done.

At a certain point, I realized I was at the level that I spent years grinding to get to.

Once you’re there, recognize it. You can be a valuable person on the team whose input is important. A long time ago my dad once said “Get paid for what you know”. That had a profound impact on me.

If you’re still working on getting to your comfortable work/life balance, then by all means keep going. But keep checking to see if you already made it to where you want to be, or if you took on too much.

I’ve found success with a “first fruits”[0] approach: If I want to code as a hobby, I code for myself first thing in the morning instead of after work when I don’t have the energy or desire anymore.

[0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Fruits

It's a cliche, but do what you enjoy!

After coding for 8+ hours the last thing I want to do is keep sitting at my computer coding other things.

My current hobbies are:

  - Practicing guitar
  - Making stuff (woodworking, lately. I just made a nice bedside shelf with a drawer)

Some ideas:

Method A: Take a nap on the way home, or at home

Method B: Say "no" more at work, thus leaving gas in the tank

Method C: Be not-strictly-mentally productive after work, e.g. stream-of-consciousness writing, improvised music on an instrument you know well, etc.

Method D: Redefine productivity to fit the specification of whatever your "after work energy" is

Method E: Leave super clear side-project instructions and learning planned ahead of time, for weeknight you, as a gift from the weekend you (put a handle on it)

All of these have worked for me at some point or another. Good luck.

When I worked at a FAANG company I estimated that I needed to work around 60 hours a week to meet expectations. Nobody ever really talked about baselines like this because it makes the company look bad. Doesn't really help with imposter syndrome either. One of the founders mentioned a similar baseline during a fireside chat and I didn't feel so bad after that.

So, you could see what your baseline is, talk to peers (not HR), and see how the math falls out with whatever you want to spend your remaining time on.

> I see people report learning stuff, working on side projects, etc etc on HN. How?

1. people on the internet are full of shit

2. Demis Hassabis (DeepMind) takes a 3 hour break from work to, quote: "have dinner and spend time with family". Then has another work/thinking session. Give it a try. That's what I'm trying to do

I used to be at FAANG. What helped me? Leaving Google and going to a startup. I work now for slightly less money, but my stress levels and my free time are much better! I have several fun multimedia OSS projects I want to release publicly soon. One will be on here!

And FYI FAANG isn't the endgame if you're unhappy. I got sick with IBS FAANG was so hyper-stressful, and I had to take disability. It was terrible. Don't let it get that bad, you might not ever go back. As a matter-of-fact, there's an IBS article trending on HN right now...

What helped me? Nature walks, new hobbies, finding new friends, joining a meetup group, learning about photography, learning about birds of my state, a bicycle, having a couple social nights a week to recharge any extrovert tendencies, joining a boardgame group, moving back to my home state.

You can increase the size of your battery via exercise. Do you exercise?

There are also some freaks of nature who just can. Trying to catch them is a fools errand I've realized.

If you don't have any mental energy left that's your body telling you to rest. Best to take that advice. Meet some friends, spent some time with family, have a nice cold glass of beer, that sort of thing. Dial down work if you want more time for side projects.

Find ways to take breaks at work. For me, having a calendar meeting/reminder in the afternoon that is 15 mins to force myself to go for a walk.

Some random thoughts:

Energy is an illusion. What most people really mean by it is "mood." Am I in the mood, or not?

But mood is a terrible way to regulate your work. It is too easily affected by fatigue, the weather (particularly the amount of sunlight you get), the people around you, etc.

Therefore, I do 3 simple things.

1. Take a break after work. Relax. Chat with the kids. Whatever.

2. Start working whether I feel like it or not. Ideally, start at the same time every evening. (Usually, after I've been at it a while, I feel pretty good, no matter how I felt when I started. Your experience may or may not be similar)

3. Set a target. In my case, it's 1,000 words a day. I don't often hit it but this isn't life or death either. Having a goal and working toward it is what matters.

Bonus: Don't get stressed out if you miss one night because you feel lousy. These things happen. But try to stick to it anyway.

If you find you're never doing the work you think you should be doing, don't get stressed out then either. Just ask yourself how much it really matters to you. Maybe you aren't as dedicated to the particular thing as you think. Maybe try something else. See what happens.

Doing is better than not doing. But beating yourself hope for completely human failings is probably not the best way to get yourself to do better.

Step 1, quit the FAANG and find something less demanding / more fullfilling.

Step 2, you are broke and try different side project until one finally works enough to give you 500 more a month.

Step 3, you working harder than ever earning less than you did at your FAANG

Or

Take break from your FAANG job, travel, eat and live. Make friends in remote places and create a third world startup where you ipo into a semi-retired life or fail and go back to a FAANG

If it's something you care about, carve out a block you can sustain that you're just going to do every day. Nobody ever asks "how do I find time to brush my teeth every day?"

But it's possible these things aren't that important. I don't generally gave that much desire to do side projects. Why do even more of the same thing I do at work when so many other things are there to do?

You could try working before work

Otherwise, depending on your schedule, I find waiting until after supper and having relaxed for a few hours makes a big difference

Quit your bullshit job and start working for the right things. Bingo, energy left

My advice would be to either find projects/things you really enjoy & are excited to work on, or try streaming your adventures and side projects on Twitch in the Software & Game Dev category. Ideally, both!

This has helped me to stay active working on things and learning stuff outside of my work hours.

I'll risk looking like I'm shamelessly self promoting myself, but here's my stream for an example of how you might go about it:

https://www.twitch.tv/aroreretini

I've been doing this for 5 years now and have met a small but wonderful bunch of folks, learnt a large amount across several different disciplines and generally enjoyed it all thoroughly.

Note, for me and others like me, the goal isn't to 'blow up' or get big on Twitch or elsewhere, but rather just to plod along learning & building in public as a means to stay active and focused.

If you'd like to explore this kind of thing, feel free to fire me a DM or email.

Good luck!

The traditional way was to drink heavily. After 40 years in industry, I'd recommend enjoying your life after work hours...

I feel like this is a boring answer but for me, I had to make a habit of it, and then it didn't feel so hard any more. I started doing a master's degree in my free time: when I started I barely had the energy to do anything outside of work, but now I feel like setting aside time for coursework is pretty natural.

For me I find I usually fall into a 2/2/2 pattern for forming habits*: The first two days are super hard, after about two weeks it starts to feel doable, after two months the habit is pretty set and I don't have to worry as much about falling off the bus.

* This entire pattern is probably a placebo but that's fine by me

Of course, your energy is not infinite. If you are trying to work crazy hours and fit in other taxing activities, you are going to fail at some point.

Pick a less demanding job in a less efficient organisation.

I am in FAANG as well. Usually I just want to do something fun. Something that tickle my fancy like:

- How L2-L3 software works (things that make Tailscale/Zerotier work; TUN/TAP interface, etc.)

- How distributed database works in complete details.

- Learning Korean & Mandarin.

- And definitely not Leetcoding because it's boring AF.

After I have a kid, a lot of my spare energy pool is drained already so I cannot just waste it on boring/tedious stuff.

First of all I don’t spend more than 8h on my day job. No ifs no buts. If I had a 9h work day plus commute then I’d have no energy for anything else. I’m done with my work day at 5 so I can do something else.

Second: if I don’t want to do I side project then I don’t. If it’s not done for fun then it isn’t a hobby, it’s a chore. It’s work.

Simple hard unpopular truth : performance enhancing drugs. The adderalls et al. du jour.

Workouts, meditation and whatnot will save your health, physical and mental but only uppers will gift you those extra hours of productivity.

Unless you are one of those vanishingly rare people who can just focus for 8 hours, take a break and focus again.

Being a morning person I just crash and get back to things once I have slept and recovered. Starting the day a bit earlier than others yields some time for myself and my own goals that is like evening time for others but in many ways more quiet and less contested.

Between family and work I have very little time to myself so I try to squeeze in some reading time to feel productive.

Like some others have commented after a day of work the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a screen.

One of the things that I heard a lot and confirm, is that you need to do a side project that has nothing to do with the stuff that you are doing at work, especially it needs to motivate you as well.

Courage to you.

Someone other than me have used modafinil for these sorts of things.

Start working 80% time, and spend more of your limited mental energy on your own fulfilling endeavors of choice.

If you insist, look into active recovery. A mentally engaging activity that’s completely unrelated to tech.

If you really want it do it before work. But you already make so much money just enjoy it

Get up early.

Relax and enjoy leisure!

Uhh why? You are at FAANG, you made it, what else do you need to do? Why not relax instead?

Are you struggling to keep your head above water? If so, why not just focus on work? If not, then why don't you just spend less time working and more time doing what you want?

I believe people have limited capacity, trying to stretch yourself will result in burn out. If you can afford it, allocate some of the capacity you are dedicating to work to the non-work things you are interested in. If you can't, then just focus on work until you can

Jeez...stop this fetish of copying what others do on HN. You've no idea what their work situation is. May be they've a week or two of downtime before their next project. I suggest you relax instead and do your favorite leisure activity - reading, playing with kids, music, whatever...Please don't live up to others' expectations esp. HN.

Why would you work when you rent being paid?