[sokoloff]

The only way I could get anything like deep work (and it was a much shallower version still) was to get up before the kids.

I used to be a big time night owl, with hours of productive coding possible after 11PM. After kids, that was impossible as you described. Now, I get up at 5:30-6:00 without an alarm after many years of dragging myself through the day after setting an alarm.

I found it much easier to drag myself through dinner, bath, and bedtime reading and then go to bed myself than to do all that and then try to do my computer work.