[trustfundbaby]

I went from the stay-up-till-the-sun-comes-up hacker lifestyle to getting a fulltime gig ... all of a sudden all of my old habits were in conflict. I was too exhausted after my commute to hit the gym in the evening like I used to, and I was not finding time to work on my freelance/personal projects.

So I made a drastic shift in my schedule ... now I'm up at 6am ... at the gym by 6:15am ... back home by 7:45 ... at work by 8:30pm ... out by 5:30 - 6 (at the latest) ... I get home and screw around for an hour and a half ... then from 7:30/8pm I get 4 solid hours of work in and hit the sack at 12am sharp.

Its completely changed my life and made working 60 hour weeks not seem so intimidating. Working out in the morning also makes it so that if I have a long night, I can get up and go with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep without a problem, where before I'd be dragging for at least half the day.

The problem is that my schedule is very regimented and the slightest thing (or very rough week of work for example) can throw everything out of whack ... but I've been learning to plan ahead so that I can adjust accordingly (not schedule side work during a particular stretch, or plan on not working particular days).

Its been 3 months and it requires a lot of discipline (which I really need) but I'm very much enjoying it, plus I value my time sooo much more now.

Highly recommended.