After Hours: #200mg of Productivity with John

 

Let’s start with your side hustle—or hustles—what do you put time into after hours?

Most of my time is dominated by my career commitments, but after work hours I enjoy regularly spending time on exercise, soccer, books, content creation, programming, and some other projects.

That’s a lot of different projects! How do you stay motivated after you’ve had a long day, or if you just don’t feel like you have any energy left in the tank?

I prioritize the basics—sleep, nutrition, and exercise. The benefits from devoting time and resources to those are overwhelmingly positive and they help maintain my mental wellbeing throughout the day, even after work.

That being said, no one is perfect. There have been times where I’ve coasted into the evening or weekend with low energy, and due to those moments I guard my time and how I spend it carefully. I choose projects that give me energy, rather than just take it.

The basics are called that for a reason—they are essential. Beyond those, and expectations, are there any habits or practices that have been crucial to you finding time and energy for your passion projects?

I think that finding time for projects requires making them a priority. And setting priorities isn’t just about choosing what you spend your time on, it’s also how you spend that time. We can choose a way to work that makes any time spent enjoyable, energizing, and effective. Or at least, that’s what I’ve found to be true.

For me, that means being very purposeful about my work environment. My ideal environment looks like any quiet, comfortable room. Nothing special, maybe a library or coffee shop, but I only spend time in that space to do focused work. No social media, no aimless tasks, no major deviations from my plan.

Given the importance you place on using your time wisely, how do you schedule your days?

My best strategy for scheduling has been to do a hard reset on my default schedule. First, I minimize commitments that I don’t enjoy, and I am not afraid to renegotiate commitments and expectations.

Then, I reserve time for projects. Every Sunday, I fill the gaps in my weekly calendar with time for specific projects. My calendar is chock-full and often quite detailed. But there’s plenty of time for life, commitments, and projects.

See an additional NoDoz After Hours Story from Lauren.

See an additional NoDoz After Hours Story from Nick

 

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