[voidfunc]

Curious question, how do you folks find energy to read more text after spending hours a day reading code on a screen? I find my ability to concentrate on it totally shot.

I can't concentrate on a book by the time I'm done working. It's probably been a decade now since I read a book.

[addcn]

I used to think the reason I couldn’t read anymore was because the day drained me.

A friend suggested trying to read 3 days into a 1 week vacation. I couldn’t.

And from that moment I realized it was a muscle like anything else. Consuming media that requires active participation and work, that you are not rewarded for (professional learning) takes practice.

I come home tired most days but I still manage to crank out time to read.

Maybe it won’t work for you the way it worked for me, but give it a try. You might be surprised.

[cyberlurker]

Buy a small, popular book on a topic that interests you. A physical one. Dedicate ten minutes to it before bed. If you are like most people you will fall asleep but at least read a few paragraphs before you do. And it is better than blue light from your phone.

Some nights I cant fall asleep quick so I finish books that way.

[hbogert]

It's rather personal what works for you or not. What helped for me was the accessibility of a good 10inch ereader. And strangely another ingredient was a very bad sleeping baby, which only slept in his own bed if I lay next to him on the ground. That period between 19:00 and 20:00 was perfect for me.

Trying to read just before trying to go to sleep never worked for me, my brain shuts off completely as soon as I lie and bed with w book after 2200, yet if just stay up I don't sleep before 00:00.

Also, it helps to read something by people who can write. For example I never thought I'd read business related books, yet after it being mentioned so often here on HN I read the innovator's dilemma, loved it! His style of clear paragraphs and constant examples really works well for me.

[yodsanklai]

Audiobooks help a bit, at least for non-technical stuff.

[nso95]

Read in the morning? Read during lunch?

[rdl]

90% of the books I read are audiobooks. My eyes get tired before brain does.

[sethgrisham]

Reading just 15-30 minutes before bed works really well for me, and if I'm not too tired, I'll read a bit longer. I can usually average a book a month this way.

[tayo42]

How much time do you spend here? Or on your phone or watching TV. Replace that with reading

[WhiteBlueSkies]

It's impossible if they do that they cut time for other more crucial things in the long term like meditation and exercising. You only get a limited amount of time in the day.

Becoming a super nerd is unnatural.

[Jtsummers]

Why impossible? I sleep about 6 hours a night (I can stay in bed longer than that, but I wake up after 6 max), work for about 8 hours, live near-ish the office or work remotely (call it 1 hour total commute, but since I can work remotely my average is lower), 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes to get ready before heading to work. That's only 16 hours total, leaving me with 8 more hours in the day. That's a lot of time if I'm not wasting it on HN like right now.

A good workout can be done in 30 minutes, though I prefer about 90 total (core/weights, rowing, running in the non-winter seasons, about 30 minutes of each). Dinner, about 30 minutes to cook and 30 minutes to eat, another 15 max to clean (mostly done while I'm cooking so really usually just 1 minute to put plates in the dishwasher). So that's 2.75, leaving me with 5.25 hours for spending time with my wife, wasting time on HN, reading, or working on side projects.

And that's just the weekdays. Weekends I get 9 hours back since I'm not commuting and working, though some of that goes to yard and house work so realistically call it 7 extra free hours as an average.