Ask HN: How to find the energy for side projects after day job?

I’m not successful in a side hustle, but I do study or practice skills after work, and it took me a long time to escape from being too tired to do anything. These things helped me: - Stay dressed for “work.” Basically, I don’t change into my pajamas until I’m done studying. Even in covid times, I usually have work clothes I wear during the day. Maybe not a button down, but definitely not something as comfy as my lounge clothes. - Have a ridiculously low bar for getting started. For me, something like “I will watch 2 minutes of lecture,” is low enough that it feels trivial. 90% of the time, I finish up what I’d normally plan. There are some days where just making that low bar feels exhausting, but the fact I did it helps me keep momentum for the next day. Forgive yourself if the low bar is all you achieve some days. Other days, you’ll be on top of the world. - Being exhausted a lot is touted as normal in our culture. This is how you know you’re “adulting good.” Don’t buy in to it and figure out if there may be an underlying cause. Maybe you drink caffeine too late. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier. I personally found out I was iron deficient and getting some more iron in my diet was like getting a new lease on life. I had assumed I was okay because being tired and needing coffee is so prevalent. I bet a lot of people are like me and not realize something is off, so I just want to mention it.

My very first side hustle was a sports blog. In blogging, especially about sports, the content needs to be there when people wake up, head to work, and first arrive at work. That’s the peak reading time (at least when I was doing this). That meant, I had no choice but to get up super early and work to get my writing out before I headed to my day job.

That constraint stuck with me. I cannot work on side hustles after work. I always work on them before. My second successful side hustle, Graphite Docs, started that way. It eventually became a full-time gig for me. I shut it down last year, started another company, left that, contracted, then eventually got a day job again.

And now, I work on yet another side project in the mornings before starting my day job. Perligo (https://perligo.io), a digital critique group platform for creative writers, is mostly a passion project for me, but even still, I don’t think I could muster the energy to work on it after my day job.

So, that’s a long-winded way of saying try working on your side hustle before work instead of after :)

For me, it's a mix of passion, potential business, and call of duty (if I may say it like this). I started working on this open-source project three years ago. I needed a tool like this, but also, I wanted to learn aside from my day job. The project has been growing since then, and now, I know that I can create a business around it. I also get a lot of support or feature requests. So I kind of feel like I have to continue working on it (that's the "duty" part :) ). Finally, I am very passionate about development, which helps a lot. These are probably the three things that motivate me to work on this project.

Still, having a family with two kids, working during the evenings is not easy at all. What I tried was to set realistic, small goals. One feature at a time, one task after the other. Not trying to overdo it (most of the time). I also know that having only one to two productive hours in the evening, I need to be extra focused and avoid phony work. I try to ask myself "why?", for each task. What is my goal? How does doing this specific task serves it? Thus, I manage to avoid working on useless things or procrastinating. With more or less success.

Having said all this, I still nearly burned out last September. Next month I will go full time on the project. It's a big bet, and it's partly about reclaiming my sanity and my free time. So, your question is definitely not an easy one to answer!

(My side project: https://mockoon.com)

I don't do a side hustle, but I do have side projects (for my own edification). Things that help:

- If it's work related, i.e. my math studies related to my astrophysics related work project, try to flow into it after work. I'm probably already in the right mental frame and have the motivation (something in the project was stymying me or piqued my curiosity).

- If it's not work related, take a break, preferably something physical. I used to run after work, now I row and do some bodyweight exercises + yoga (I'll run again once it's not below freezing with ice on the sidewalks). This exhausts me physically, but creates a complete break from my work. After a shower, I feel refreshed, and can get to whatever it is I want to do.

I definitely think some people have it easier or harder. I score pretty high in conscientiousness (as in the Big Five, you can test yourself on https://openpsychometrics.org/) and I never had problems working myself off to unhealthy levels.

Because this is what you're looking into doing. If I were you I'd take the signal from your body as a message to stop doing what you're doing, work normal hours, renegotiate your contract to work less for your employer and more for yourself.

If you're still willing to do that and trying to diagnose: Could it be age / family related? I used to work 12-16hrs a day when trying to start my startup. When I went contracting I had to check my hours not to work too much and I was very active on my side projects.

I all changed when I had kids. 5 years of bad sleeping and stress took their toll: I started having health problems and I barely have the energy to work.

The point being: maybe you need to fix some other parts of your life in order to have more energy?

Check your sleep, amount of physical activity, happiness.

I've been working on a side project for more than a year with the full-time job. I've set a rule for myself to set aside min 10mins to an hour per day for the side project. No matter what, even I'm extreme busy, at-least I go through the code and fix the minor bug or something. The day will not pass without touching my side project :)

That's how I was able to maintain it and keep focus on it. Just sharing my thoughts.

I would say make sure they are different kinds of work.

I sort of enjoyed my second job working at Lowe's. Standing and helping people get the products they needed for their project was a nice change from sitting at a desk and staring at a screen all day. Pretty soon the $10/hr and 60hr (combined) weeks make it so it's not worth it.

Now I'm a beekeeper in my spare time. I sell honey and candles. I also sell other craft items. That's not really worth it either, but it could be good for a retirement job.

It is true that time is not your only resource to allocate, and one would need to manage energy as well to handle a side project. The nice thing about energy is that it's not as rigid as time, and you can expand your energy budget by improving your overall health. The common advice is to improve your sleep, diet, exercise routine and social life. They all require some time investment, but it seems like you have some to spare.

I don't cheat myself anymore that I can be productive after normal working hours.

My body doesn't want to sit any longer than it already does. And it isn't healthy either. Also mind is not as flexible.

Possible solution for any body issues might be frequent exercise and for mind -- working in the morning as suggested in other comments.

I'm working on my project for around 6-7 months already. First couple of months of work was done mostly during weekends and after hours. But recently I had a 2 week Christmas break which I used to work on my side project full-time. This made me realise how much more productive and creative I'm when I can single-focus on one thing for couple of days in the row. I've redesigned my whole app, it looks and works much better. So in result, a little over one week of work had similar effect to 6 months of working after hours.

So perhaps a good solution is just to take days off to focus entirely on your product and use your after hours and weekends to actually rest.

I think that if you have to "find time" to do these things with a busy schedule, you'll always struggle. I'm not sure you can force it. The best side projects (or any hobby, for that matter) are things you can't wait to get to after work. Figure out what that is.

I don't force myself to do my side projects. I have to find them enjoyable to take them on. And if they're enjoyable, I need little energy to do them.

I used to ask the same question a few months ago, and you know what I realized? there is no way to do it. Well, not in my case. I'm a very responsible and hard-working person. So, I usually work as hard as I can during the day. In the evening I'm too tired even to play with my children and spend time with my family. So I threw out any ideas about side projects... Until I thought: if I can't work for myself in the evenings, I should do it in the mornings. So, I tried to set up my alarm at 6 am and get up 2 hours before my usually day starts. And it changed everything to me. With these 2 extra hours I can do such a lot of things. I'm super-motivated and productive in the mornings. So, I'm working for my projects or hobby every morning (even weekends) and it really works for me. The only thing you need to do this, is discipline to go to bed early in the evening. And it is way easier than to look for extra energy for a night work. I don't know, if it will work for you. But in my case, it was the best decision I could make. Good luck, wish you to achieve all your goals.

I "pay myself first". I get up early and get at least 1 hour in on my side project. Sometimes I wake up earlier and so be it - 2 hours some days. I also make sure I know the very next thing I need to work on before that morning work session, that way I'm not just staring at the project reviewing which way to go in my pre-coffee brain.

I tried for many years to do the site project after work. I could never muster the energy after working a full day. I always said I'll do it tomorrow.

What helped was going to bed early and getting up early. If you can get over the snooze temptation and get dressed, I had a lot energy to actually work on a project.

I go the other direction - I do my work on side projects first thing in the morning, and then work my day job.

Having a partner for your side project helps a lot, in the same way having a gym buddy helps with working out. I generally need my projects to be rewarding unto themselves, that is, the act of working on them should be fulfilling. If the end goal is the only motivation, it is really easy to lose interest during the long slog and do something else.

The other big thing is separating work time from the rest of my life. I have a set routine. I start and end at basically the same times every day.

Finally, I keep track of todo items for my project. When I am not feeling motivated, it is a lot easier to say I’ll do this one small todo task here or that one task there, which makes things manageable.

The projects needs to excite you in some way. After work, you should look forward to building your own thing. If you are not, then why do the project?

One day an idea will give you the energy to work on it, you just haven't found it yet.

Perhabs you could Take an one hours lunch break and use 30 minutes for your side project. This could help you to be more motivated in the evening.

I work 16 hours a day mostly.

I got burned out once in a december day till January, with my previous employer constantly requiring me to be on ( even had my laptop with me when I went to the swimming pool).

Honestly, if i feel low on motivation i start with looping my issues, take a low/easy one and start with that one. Getting started seems to be the trick, so a small 5 minute task helps.

I hear ya, after my work day I find it very hard to do much more than chill. I am most productive in the morning, and try and find 1 hour before starting my day. I also recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear - as he has helped me try and build a habit I enjoy around my side projects.

You buy it. Your energy and time is limited. If it doesn’t exist, you hire a developer. Then you market it like your life depends on it. No success then repeat.

Alternative is save lots of money, quit job and try to stay alive. I like living dangerously :^)

Proper time management, allocate the time and then do it at the allocated time. Don't think about your energy level, it's all mental. Sit in your work area, promise to do nothing else or the work you have decided to do.

I use a task tracking system. (gitlab issues)

I force myself to finish 3 tasks each day, no matter what.

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