[dgb23]

There’s this special feeling when you can sit down later in the evening to tinker for a couple of hours, or read a challenging/inspiring book in peace.

But when I don’t have time and frankly energy, then I still try to do _some_ minutes of this kind of thing daily.

I feel like there‘s a big difference between 0min and 15min for anything (also includes exercise, meditation etc.), and while it’s great to have more time, there are diminishing returns beyond 30/45min.

[franciscop]

When I push myself to do these things, it loses all meaning. I do fun programming because it's fun, when I tried pushing myself like this virtually always I ended up more tired (for a miryad of reasons). And if I need to push myself, I'd rather just learn more Japanese, or do some exercise, or something else. But when I have like 1-2 weeks holiday, I will for sure sneak a few full coding days in there, and that is liberating.

[dgb23]

I agree with this. But there‘s a big difference between building a habit of doing some intellectual or creative activity regularly and pushing yourself to do a specific thing.

Before having built a more regular habit I was often in a sort of excitement-burnout loop. That doesn’t work well for me.

[smm11]

Yep, beyond 30 minutes or so I'll just switch rooms and watch a hockey or baseball game. I'm at the "done that" phase now. Not much excites me in the computer space.