[Markku]

After dumping my TV some years ago, there are still some problems with time. Working, commuting, exercising and eating seem to take about 15 hours in total. Now with 7-8 hours of sleep it leaves approximately 1 hour for hacking or time with other people. A bit too little, no?

Sometimes it might be possible to combine commuting and exercising, but at the moment it's not worth it, since commuting and meditation, as well as commuting and reading, are possible with public transport.

One thing I can recommend is to get a cross-trainer or exercise bike and watch some interesting stuff while exercising. Recently I've been reviewing open courseware, Clojure webcasts etc. Saves time.

I would say working less for money is the single biggest thing people can do to be more productive, or to have more time.

[lsc]

>I would say working less for money is the single biggest thing people can do to be more productive, or to have more time.

moving closer to work has similar effects on your free time without cutting in to your free money.

but yeah, I agree. It's hard to have time to work on your stuff if you work 40 hours a week, especially if you need some family or social time. working part time helps a lot, if you can pull it off. Again, though, be mindful of the commute and reduce the number of days a week you work rather than reducing the number of hours a day you work.

[Markku]

I've been considering a 4 x 10 hours week.

But really, commuting is impossible to avoid if you work in consulting, where your customer changes from time to time. You can't expect to move as often. My work used to be only 10 minute walk away ...

[eru]

> moving closer to work has similar effects on your free time without cutting in to your free money.

Depends on house prices. I remember a study about those prices around London, and they found a nice relation between duration of commute vs house price. (I did some calculations, and assuming a reasonable hourly wage and interest rate (to convert the house price into a rent): each minute was bought at less than what you'd get for working that minute.)

[latch]

Something's not adding up for me...even if you are working 10 hours a day, that means you are spending 5 hours commuting, exercising and eating? 1 hour commute each way, 2 hours exercise and 1 hour for eating?

[Markku]

A simplified example day:

  07:15-08 Wakeup, shower and breakfast
  08-09 Commute+reading
  09-19 At work, includes lunch and snack
  19-20 Exercise
  20-20:30 Grocery shopping
  20:30-21:30 Commute+reading
  21:30-22 Dinner
  22-23:30 Hacking
  23:30 To sleep (slightly late)

This routine gives a small amount of extra working hours to use for time off later. Cutting work to 8 hours gives 2 hours of which 1 usually goes to a longer exercise and 1 is retained as free time. So these days get 2-2.5 hours free.

How does that work out for you?

[syllogism]

You commute too long. That's where those missing 2 hours are going. My example's extreme, but:

  8:30 Wakeup, shower, breakfast
  9:00-9:50 Browse the net, email
  9:50-10:00 Walk to work
  10:00-18:00 Work
  18:00-20:00 Buy groceries, cook, eat, do dishes
  20:00-21:30 Relax in some way. May include tv, movies,  exercise. Sometimes extra hacking.
  21:30-01:00 Hack (may include leftover work)

[Markku]

You seem to stay up quite late. Unsustainable for me. Also making and eating breakfast takes for me at least 30 minutes at the moment.

Three years ago I had exactly the same 10 minute walk to work and then I did have more time available. However have to consider that:

1) Consultant usually works at client's location and client may change often, though I'm a counter-example of that myself. Moving often is not worth it. I consider my current location pretty optimal. A more central location creates more stress and costs way too much. I would believe it's more effective to just decide to work less hours every week for reduced pay but I'm not yet strong enough to commit to it :)

2) I do not spend any time travelling to shop, to exercise location or to do fun stuff. My travel time maximum is 2 hours every day - the shops, bars, movies, etc. are along the same route and do not increase time spent travelling in a day at all.

3) Car would not improve the situation. In fact it would be slower due to traffic. Or I would have to leave at 06 from home, way too early. And the tradeoff of money to time is ridiculous with so few other uses for a car. And there's the maintenance.

Thanks for the example. Maybe somebody else can chime in too.

[fabjan]

Wow, I'm so happy I stopped commuting and got a job in my home town. I went from being away from home 7-19 to being away from home 7.30-17.30

Now, I don't exercise but I spend 2x30 minutes bicycling to and from work.

[dennisgorelik]

1 hour bicycling every day is a very solid exercise.

[swombat]

1) 10 hours at work? Cut that to a healthier and more sustainable 9 including lunch hour - less if your lunch break is shorter.

2) grocery shopping every day? Order it online or do it once a week (or both) - another daily half hour gained.

3) daily exercise is laudable, but maybe you don't need a whole hour every day. Half hour after waking up should be more than enough - unless you're doing weight lifting for muscle gain, in which case you should only go 3 times a week.

That's a couple of hours a day recovered there.

[Markku]

1) I don't work 10 hours every day, 8 hours twice a week at least. Like this I'm saving a couple hours every week to have some time off later. Year ago I was at -50 hours but now I'm at over +50 already. A small reserve is good. I never work overtime for money.

4 x 10 might be nice to have a longer weekend. Have to think about it since now 5 days are mostly spent working, exercising, eating and sleeping :)

2) Well that was an example day. Instead of the shopping it might be cleaning, cooking or other housework that takes half an hour to an hour. I shop two or three times a week. I also don't cook every day but cook for two or three days at a time.

I don't own a car, bike or skis because the maintenance would take time :)

3) I keep a rest day once a week and on weekends I might do two kinds of exercise in a day. Still 6-7 times a week is fine counting the occasional extra walk back from shop. That totals it to 6-10 hours a week on physical activity.

I don't spend any time going to exercise since all the equipment is either at work (gym, pool), at home (cross-trainer, weights) or I go running.

[latch]

Your commute is long, but at least you get to read. Our schedules are similar. My morning commute is 15 minutes. I walk home at night, which takes about 45 minutes..i count that as part of my exercise time, and I also pick up quick groceries.

I guess I should add long commutes to my list of productivity hacks.

[Markku]

Yeah I sometimes get off the bus earlier and walk home to combine the two. I'm considering running sometime too but have to get the gear with me. And sometimes I walk home from a shop for the same exercise.

In the winter I mostly slept/meditated in the bus but now I have enough energy to read. I found out that coding is practically impossible in the bus because of the sun.

[afterburner]

Shop once a week, half hour commute, 8.5 hour day, cut exercise down to half hour or combine with watching TV/listening to audiobook. You gain 3 hours.