I've built lots of little side projects (see http://jgc.org/labs.html) and I have lots of other commitments (like a full time job and I'm not wealthy) and I can tell you a few things that have worked for me:
1. No TV. About four years ago I got rid of my TV. It started as an accident and turned into a habit. Now I watch movies either via a streaming service or DVD. I also watch some TV series (typically I will watch one series at a time, finish it and then move on so there might be one evening a week where I will watch, say, an episode of Downton Abbey). The key here is that I never plonk myself down in front of a TV and channel hop and I'm ruthless about the quality of what I am watching.
2. Null route reddit, Facebook, etc. I realized I was wasting a lot of time on sites that have no actual value other than as a pure distraction. I simply null routed them in my broadband router.
3. Slow down. Some of my projects take forever because I don't have time. I stopped worrying about it and gain satisfaction when I do finish things. Just the other day I was making a nightlight out of a candy can, an old perfume bottle, an old wall wart and some LEDs as a gift for a small child. I realized that I'd started it when $SIBLING was pregnant.
4. Make time in a relationship. It's also important to tell your spouse or whatever that you are going to spend time doing something away from them. That way you can carve out some space (might be just an hour a week) where you do what you want.
5. Parallelize. I tend to make lots of things simultaneously. That way when I've got a spare 20 minutes I can do something on one of them. For example, on the nightlight I recall a couple of months ago realizing I didn't need to go to bed right then and I could spend 15 minutes hot gluing some parts of it together.
PS One more thing... I think some 'distractions' become less important as you get older. In my experience, it's more important when you are younger to know about the latest TV shows, movies, memes etc. than as you get older. You may 'need' to know about them for some forms of social acceptance. As I am no longer young I don't feel the need to 'fit in' as much and so when someone says "Did you see X Factor last night?", I just go "No" and we talk about something else.
PPS And by observing others in the 'maker movement' who have children their solution seems to be to involve their children in the things they want to do. Chris Anderson is a good example of this, his kids seem to always be involved in his projects. I saw a talk where he was discussing 3D printing techniques and a number of his examples were of things he'd made with his kids for them.
For some time I've been convinced that a key skill for negotiating life in this century will be avoiding useless distraction. This has probably always been true, but the distractions seem to have ramped-up in the last 10-15 years. People who are unable to avoid being continually distracted will increasingly stressed, dissatisfied, and unsuccessful.
There is probably money to be made in coaching this skill.
This is what I love about HN - I throw my hands in the air at the whole world, and suddenly people I respect are giving me a fix.
Just the things I was looking for. I suspect we all really know many of these - especially TV!
The one I would not have guessed is accepting the pace. Things take the time they take, given everything else in your life. A friend has just got me to restart an OSS project based on us agreeing slower, more realistic output from each other.
Just pottering along and celebrating the wins - I could get to like that.
As for makers involving children - I can see that being the most rewarding portion - just this afternoon I picked up my 3 year old from pre-school and we wondered into the churchyard. He needed an item beginning with S, and so we stripped some bark for twining, tied a cross piece to a stick and added leaves for hair.
He had a stickman to take in tomorrow.
I did too much of the making, but he enjoyed it I think. Its a start.
Years ago when offered a raise at a previous job I asked for less working hours instead. So nowadays I get paid to work 32 hours a week, but still work a normal 40-hour work week. That gives me 8 hours / week at the office for hobby software projects, and more than enough time in the evenings and weekends to spend time with family and friends.
That's a very interesting approach to career progression, I like it! Wonder how well such a request would be received in most occupations? A higher wage is nice, but more free time is infinitely more valuable.
1. No TV. About four years ago I got rid of my TV. It started as an accident and turned into a habit. Now I watch movies either via a streaming service or DVD. I also watch some TV series (typically I will watch one series at a time, finish it and then move on so there might be one evening a week where I will watch, say, an episode of Downton Abbey). The key here is that I never plonk myself down in front of a TV and channel hop and I'm ruthless about the quality of what I am watching.
2. Null route reddit, Facebook, etc. I realized I was wasting a lot of time on sites that have no actual value other than as a pure distraction. I simply null routed them in my broadband router.
3. Slow down. Some of my projects take forever because I don't have time. I stopped worrying about it and gain satisfaction when I do finish things. Just the other day I was making a nightlight out of a candy can, an old perfume bottle, an old wall wart and some LEDs as a gift for a small child. I realized that I'd started it when $SIBLING was pregnant.
4. Make time in a relationship. It's also important to tell your spouse or whatever that you are going to spend time doing something away from them. That way you can carve out some space (might be just an hour a week) where you do what you want.
5. Parallelize. I tend to make lots of things simultaneously. That way when I've got a spare 20 minutes I can do something on one of them. For example, on the nightlight I recall a couple of months ago realizing I didn't need to go to bed right then and I could spend 15 minutes hot gluing some parts of it together.
PS One more thing... I think some 'distractions' become less important as you get older. In my experience, it's more important when you are younger to know about the latest TV shows, movies, memes etc. than as you get older. You may 'need' to know about them for some forms of social acceptance. As I am no longer young I don't feel the need to 'fit in' as much and so when someone says "Did you see X Factor last night?", I just go "No" and we talk about something else.
PPS And by observing others in the 'maker movement' who have children their solution seems to be to involve their children in the things they want to do. Chris Anderson is a good example of this, his kids seem to always be involved in his projects. I saw a talk where he was discussing 3D printing techniques and a number of his examples were of things he'd made with his kids for them.