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Comment by throwaway26960 | Hacker News Reader

Changing my schedule so that my 7 hours of free time is before work rather than after work. Previously I was burnt out from work and when I got home I would do nothing but browse the internet. Also turning off the cell phone during my free time and only using a computer for productive purposes rather than website consumption. In the past couple of months on this schedule, I have read 13 books, practiced 150 Mandarin characters 200 times each, learned how to play guitar from sheet music in the first and second position, learned the major scales/chords on piano, practiced drawing every day, painted 4 paintings, journaled every day, and am taking an improv class.

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This is good advice, if you have that control over your schedule.

What I've found, for me, is that going from home to the gym (running, BJJ, strength & conditioning, depending on the day), I come out of it physically tired, but mentally refreshed. The next few hours I can focus on other tasks pretty effectively. Part of it is the physical activity is, for me, meditative (which is itself refreshing), but also that it's totally different from what I'd just spent 8 hours doing, and was intending to spend the next 3+ hours doing.

I wish I could do this, but I have kids. They rule my schedule

That's ok they'll wake you up 7 hours before work.

So now are you burnt out when you get to work?

Only if those tasks burn you out. If you want to learn a language, music, drawing, etc., then spending a few hours on them each morning before work oughtn't wear you out. That is, you're doing them because you enjoy them. If they become tedious, they're not work, you likely don't have a deadline, you change up that routine. Drop the music for a bit if you find yourself too frustrated by some piece or element of playing the instrument, but you still have that time, so fill it with leisure reading of a novel for a few weeks, return to the music refreshed.

I should follow your advice. I'm too addicted to Reddit.

Did you notice a dip in your job performance?

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