struggling to be productive after work
about a month ago i started doing electrical work (4 10s, Monday-Thursday). prior to this i had been working out 3 times a week and getting a lot of stuff done around the house. i still have a few hours of free time in the evenings, how do i not spend it dicking around on my phone?
I suffer from this problem.
I'm okay until I shower. I like hot showers, and a hot shower kills my productivity. I'm not sure if it's the relaxation, or a little Pavlovian maybe.
After I get done w all my service work I get home, get out of my overalls and boots and change into an old pair of shorts, an old tshirt and then I do stuff for a few hours. It seems to help keep me slightly motivated enough to clean up my place, start some laundry etc. I can almost guarantee if I come home, hit the shower, i will invariably get out, get dressed and sit my ass on my recliner and that's it. I'm fkn donezo.
you should consider why you feel the need to do more work after already doing ten hours of work, and then idk dick around with some woodworking tools instead of the phone
There's a lot of just training your brain. Being like: "this is the time we do X" and then just doing it. I'm stealing a bit from the classic writer's book, Bird by Bird, but I found it works well for me. Lamott suggests just picking a time that works best for you for writing in her case and just doing it during that time, even if you just stare at a blank word processor (the book is old, OK haha). Eventually, you will carve a groove.
I'm sure this doesn't work for everyone, but it has worked for me. I decided that right after work, before my child gets home from school, that's my writing time. It took a little while, but now when 4:00 PM rolls around, I'm writing. Almost every time.
This is a mood, OP. I'm in the same boat. I get up around 7:30a, do the work thing, hit the gym, home, dinner, and boom, it's 9:00p. I've got about 3 hours to myself, but it gets split up between chores and then possibly leisure. The weekends are a lot of make-up chores from the week and meal prep for the week to come. What little time I have left is split between trying to relax, do professional development, and creative pursuits.
All that being said, I want to be creative. Make something that people care about even if it's only 10 people. I've been tinkering around with game dev for years at this point without much progress. I never feel like I have enough time to get stuck in and I run into the issue where I don't have, and lack the skill to create, art assets. Oddly enough, the only time my brain seems really ready to work on that stuff is when I'm exhausted and am about to go to bed. If I could only activate that earlier in the day.
maybe go to sleep as soon as you get home and do stuff later/in the mornings. save something caffeinated for when you get back. put the phone away somewhere after work. have a "i'm off work" routine like exercising or showering to get into a different mindset.
I generally assume that I can only do creative things (writing for me) in the morning before I go to work. After work, the best I can do is chores and maybe some reading and guitar.
I would be waking up at midnight basically to give myself two hours before work, but I think I’m gonna give this a try. It’s the one piece of advice in the thread I’ve clicked with so far.
A few weeks ago, I had a stent where I was waking up about an hour before my alarm went off. The first day I just couldn’t get back to bed and laid there for an hour, so the second day I just got up. Figured I would fill the time with coffee and hexbear, but then I got in the mood for journaling. Looking back on it, that was a couple pretty good days.
Meal-prep or even TV dinners. You basically want an immediate energy boost to restart your inertia.
I feel you. I did a stretch of 50 hour weeks and lost the energy or mental fortitude for books, music (even just listening to it), and cooking for myself. At least I've still been biking/running.
Echoing a bit of what moonlake said, "What do you wish to do in this time?"
I've recently put up notes around my living space to remind me of what I want out of my life, what I want for myself, as reminders that I want to be doing the hard things to acheive those goals.
I don't know how it's going to work out long term, so ymmv.
I usually run or walk if I'm spending too much time on my phone to reset. I also need tips to spend less time on my phone though.
Same, I am considering buying a timer lockbox for my phone because I always just shut off the screen time apps
Maybe try scheduling time without your phone?
Eg at 5pm, the phone goes in a draw.
You might be bored at first but try to become comfortable being bored.
Try a meditation practice. Mindfulness is popular.
What do you wish to do in this time? I keep thinking about what I should do instead of what I want to do. I'm trying to focus more on what I actually want to do.
It's okay to not be productive all day, 10 hours is a lot and realistically it will be hard to be super productive after that. My advice is just that instead of scrolling, you can do something that is a bit more "productive", such as watching a movie. Both of them are consuming media but at least you will remember the movie, as opposed to a bunch of short videos that you will instantly forget.