Those with a 9-5, how much work do you do? What do you do?

[InstantNoodles]

A full time job is obviously going to limit what you can do.

I do my best to use my lunch breaks (an hour long) to work on stuff. I bring my laptop to work and go to a employee lounge on another floor. Good for writing content articles and such.

I'm fortunate that I can take business calls during the day. I just go to a meeting room and talk (critical when I bought my first real estate property a few months ago.)

It's hard when I get home not to waste my time though. Very very hard. I've tried getting up early in the morning but I'm usually too groggy to do anything.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I feel if I work 1.5-2 hours towards my goal every workday, I should be satisfied. I've read about people doing 4+ hours a night on entrepreneurial projects, with a family. I reason to myself that this is either unsustainable or they're making it up.

I've heard of people just working on the weekend though.

What do you do?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Vigilante]

I remember when I worked in corporate America. Most employees worked 40-60 hours a week, but probably only half of that was productive. When I was consulting, I could do more in 2-3 hours than most employees did for a full day's work, because I didn't have all the bullshit interruptions that an average corporate worker had. If I had a regular job, I would be doing what ever I could possibly do if the situation was even there to try and get some of my job as "working from home" vs. needing to be at the office.

If you could work at home for your current employer just one day a week, you would find some extra time within the course of that day to work on some other stuff AND you would be even more productive for your employer. What if every Monday and Friday, you could work from home?

That's not going to be possible for everyone on the forum. However, it is possible for some. If you are a trusted employee and a hard worker, and work at a job that it would be possible to do remotely, it would be worth investigating and asking if it were possible. If the company wants to keep you, they might accomodate you. I don't consider it cheating your employer as long as you are meeting their objectives. I am more into outcomes than activity anyway.

This works the best if you are already the best employee they have ever had. If you are a mediocre employee, when you are self employed your boss might think you are a shitty employee also.

 

[Shdreams]

I work 7-5 everyday Pick up my son from daycare, Get home for 6. After dinner,bath,wife time etc I'm left with about 1.5-2 hours a night. She works Saturdays So I'm always prepared for my sons naps to get some stuff done. I'm still in the Learning, Taking notes, creating value stage. So it doesn't affect customers.But when it does! My time on my projects will need a major shift.

 

[AndrewNC]

've tried getting up early in the morning but I'm usually too groggy to do anything.

Do this for a month straight and then come back and let us know how much easier mornings are.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[InstantNoodles]

I woke up at 4-5 am for about 2 months. It was hard. Even after doing it for so long, it was hard to keep consistent with my social life (I would often stay up to 2AM on the weekends.).

I'm not a morning person, definitely a night person. It just wasn't for me.

 

[LibertyForMe]

I am trying to go to bed every night at 10:15. Then I get up at 6:30, and that gives me around an hour or an hour and 15 mins before I have to leave for work to be there at 8. Currently I am using that hour to do some reading and prayer and stuff, but in about 30 to 60 days, I am going to being shifting the time earlier. I eventually want to hit 5am. That would give me 2 solid hours of focused work time before work each morning.

When I get home from work, I usually have time for about an hour or a hour and a half of work.

I find that I have trouble focusing at night, because my brain is all used up, so that is why I am focusing on going to bed earlier so I can wake up earlier.

@snowbank really gave me some good advice. First, he told me not to try and start more than one new habit at a time. He told me that instead of my habit being to go to bed at 10:15pm, my habit could be to write down my schedule for the next day as well as the main things I need to get done. He said for me to make this the very last thing I do each night. So if I write my goals and schedule at 10pm, and it is the last thing I do, I will go to bed by 10:15, and when I wake I will already have my day planned out.

I thought it was really great advice, so I have been doing it the last week or however long since he told me and it has been really helping.

 

[Determined2012]

Waking up early with an intentional plan can reshape your life for the better if you actually DO the things you planned to do. Waking up early (5am myself) has helped me get more done between 5a - 9a. than I seem to get done the rest of my day. Hal Elrod has a night ritual he talks about as well to accompany the morning.

I have tried to implement it, but so far haven't been able to stick to it. Sticking to waking up at 5a is so easy because you can't wait to get up and get that stuff done that you wrote down. I think I need a ritual for the rest of my day. Working from home leaves plenty of opportunity to veer off into unimportant time waster things.

Waking up early is the 2nd best thing I have done for myself in my adult life. The first best thing I did was read the Millionaire Fastlane .

Instant noodle, don't let your social life trump your goals. If you are already financially free and or living your dream life disregard.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[luniac]

I got a 6am-2pm shift... after 1.5 years im STILL not used to waking up at 5 am... it just sucks...

Im a litigation support analyst making 32k and i never asked for a raise and would refuse one if they actually offered, i keep my error count on jobs just low enough not to get fired, ive been on the bottom of the "productivity" list for a year now. As much as i wanna talk shit my boss is a pretty cool dude generally speaking, hes a black tall fat ~30 year old guy, geeky type, and as long as the jobs get done he don't give a F*ck who does what.

I often get to spend hours at a time working on my game at work, got the admin password so was able to install all the software i need. These days when i go to work I like to pretend I'm going to my app job lol. Yea sometimes It's super busy and i dont get a chance to do shit, but its been rare.

 

[James Fake]

I get 4-5 hours of sleep per day throughout the week. I work 9-5 Monday thru Friday. Workout 5-6:30.. Chill a bit, run errands, etc... then work from 10pm to 3-4am sleep til 7:30am and start over.

I've also been in a super hustle mode as I've re-strategizing my Amazon product line and also building (almost finished!) a web app.

 

[Mr.B]

If I had a regular job, I would be doing what ever I could possibly do if the situation was even there to try and get some of my job as "working from home" vs. needing to be at the office.

This is exactly what I did. Negotiated four days a week working from home + a flexible schedule (so I didn't even have to be available between 9-5). Then, as I was efficient, I would get most of my work done and one day at home + my one day in the office - leaving the rest of my time to use as I wished. My boss was happy with the amount and quality of work that I got done and this arrangement worked well for years. Before that, I used to work on my own projects before my day job started, when on the train, on my lunch breaks and also at night after my family went to sleep.

I woke up at 4-5 am for about 2 months. It was hard. Even after doing it for so long, it was hard to keep consistent with my social life (I would often stay up to 2AM on the weekends.).

It's about priorities. Your social life isn't just keeping you up until 2am on weekends, it also makes it hard for you to do anything the next day as well (assuming you've been out drinking). Think about it, from 6pm Friday to 2am Saturday is 8 hours you could spend on your business. Then you could work from 10am to 6pm on Saturday (another 8 hours), then maybe go out for a few quiet ones with friends and have a day off on Sunday if you're into that.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. I used to be like you and use them to complain about not having enough time.

Nowadays, I just do the work.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Wuz]

Not everything is bad. When you have a job you have less time.

When you have less time , you know that you can´t spend your day doing useless tasks, and so there is less procrastination.

It allows you to clear the clutter, eliminate the fluff and get important things done.

Too much time available make us lazy.

 

[AntEmpire]

I work 8:30 to 5, m-f. My commute is about an hour there and back, so I often don't get home until 6-ish.

Sometimes I'm forced to work late through no fault of my own. My work is heavily dependent on others: others giving me projects and information. There's no way around it either. I'm just a coordinator. Without their pieces I can 't move to point B and they love being late. This is exactly why I'm interviewing for a new job next week.

Sometimes I can do work during my lunch break (I only get 30 mins). I average about 2-3 hours after work on my business. Weekends are where the bulk of my work gets done. I tried doing the get up early thing but like others have said it just didn't work out for me. I was so tired most days I was falling asleep on my feet. I find that staying up late works better for me. If that makes me lazy compared to other people then fine. I average about 20 hours a week on my business and I'm satisfied with that.

 

[CommonCents]

I tell my employees they can work half days. They can pick which 12 out of 24 hours to work

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ilrein]

I tell my employees they can work half days. They can pick which 12 out of 24 hours to work

Commend plz.

I'm 9 to 4:30, and I live 10 minutes from the office. Oh, and I do web development here, so I'm not totally hating my job or wasting my time either.

Damn, I'm so lucky.

 

[Luffy]

Lucky me, I can work while chilling with my family, I'm trying to learn computer language atm like html and stuff to learn how to create my own website.

 

[Kuda]

I get 4-5 hours of sleep per day throughout the week. I work 9-5 Monday thru Friday. Workout 5-6:30.. Chill a bit, run errands, etc... then work from 10pm to 3-4am sleep til 7:30am and start over.

I've also been in a super hustle mode as I've re-strategizing my Amazon product line and also building (almost finished!) a web app.

You must drink alot of coffee throughout the day

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[James Fake]

You must drink alot of coffee throughout the day

I use "smart drugs" called nootropics. Mostly piracetam and phenyl-piracetam right now..

 

[luniac]

I use "smart drugs" called nootropics. Mostly piracetam and phenyl-piracetam right now..

what about modafinil?

 

[Mr.B]

What about meditation? Or healthy eating? Or exercise? Or getting a sufficient amount of sleep? Or developing self-discipline?

I think it's short sighted and possibly dangerous to mess with our neurotransmitters through the use of these nootropics. Do you know that piracetam is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for any medical use? It is not even permitted to be sold as a dietary supplement in many countries. Do you know what the long term impact of taking this stuff is? I know limitless was a cool movie, but c'mon, is this really the best choice?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[James Fake]

What about meditation? Or healthy eating? Or exercise? Or getting a sufficient amount of sleep? Or developing self-discipline?

No meditation.. but double check, double check, not check, and double check. I'm good.. I'm no dummy; I do plenty of research on stuff especially health/fitness.. hell I'm 6'0 190 10-11% body fat depending on season and run a legit 4.5 at 30 years old; that doesn't come natural, I achieve and maintain that cause I know what the hell I'm doing.

I suggest you do a bit more thorough research into nootropics, then you be the judge afterwards (and reading one blog post doesn't count). And seriously.. a Limitless reference? really bruh... No one is trying to do this cause of a movie. I do this because at the leap frog rate I'm going at now; I'll have an Aventador by late 2016.

Besides that; I use nootropics in bi-weekly sprints during programming or heavy hustle mode so it's not like I use it beyond a month at most.. (which I'm about to come out off and launching an app and blog in 2-3 weeks)

 

[James Fake]

what about modafinil?

Nah, haven't tried. I've use adderall occasionally but I find those to be too "heavy" for the long haul.

 

[mt_myke]

Nah, haven't tried. I've use adderall occasionally but I find those to be too "heavy"..

Adderall is literally amphetamine. It blows my mind that people are OK giving their kids this stuff when they freak out about "meth", which is nearly the same thing.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[James Fake]

Adderall is literally amphetamine. It blows my mind that people are OK giving their kids this stuff when they freak out about "meth", which is nearly the same thing.

True. I think parents who just give their children adderrall are lazy and "skipping the process". Meaning they are too lazy to get up and play with them, take them places for experiences/learning by doing, etc. to exert them of all their energy. All kids in a way are ADHD. They are suppose to be; they are kids: young, curious, and trying to learn/experience as much as possible. Without this; they wouldn't explore and learn during the most developmental & receptive times of their brains growth.

The kids with "ADHD" when locked onto something that keeps their interest can show absolutely amazing results and mastery of that subject. I am "ADD" but when I lock onto something; I obsessively learn/master it until I accomplish it to the point I'm in the top 15% percentile of that skill.

 

[Mr.B]

No meditation.. but double check, double check, not check, and double check. I'm good.. I'm no dummy; I do plenty of research on stuff especially health/fitness.. hell I'm 6'0 190 10-11% body fat depending on season and run a legit 4.5 at 30 years old; that doesn't come natural, I achieve and maintain that cause I know what the hell I'm doing.

I suggest you do a bit more thorough research into nootropics, then you be the judge afterwards (and reading one blog post doesn't count). And seriously.. a Limitless reference? really bruh... No one is trying to do this cause of a movie. I do this because at the leap frog rate I'm going at now; I'll have an Aventador by late 2016.

Besides that; I use nootropics in bi-weekly sprints during programming or heavy hustle mode so it's not like I use it beyond a month at most.. (which I'm about to come out off and launching an app and blog in 2-3 weeks)

I'm glad it is working for you @JamesF. I didn't mean to imply that you don't know what you are doing are far as health and fitness goes, you are clearly a lot fitter than I am. Honestly, I'd think that anyone who was really into health/fitness would steer away from taking substances like these, but that's just my opinion.

BTW, I did do quite a bit of research into Nootropics a couple of years back after hearing some good things about them from a friend, however, I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the lack of proper research that had been done into these substances. My friend experimented with a number of them over a six month period before noticing some negative side effects. I doubt he researched them very thoroughly though, and his side effects may have been a result of other RCs he takes on a semi regular basis.

Anyway, you are obviously happy with the choices you are making and I hope it continues to work well for you and that you enjoy your Aventador... All the best.

 

[Jam Wheel]

Im about to go back to a corporate gig that is 9-5 but after a year on the sidelines (move, looking for a new job) I am looking forward to the time constraints a bit (not to mention income is nice). I am sort of kicking myself for not getting my side hustles into place over the last year, but we had a massive amount of insecurity (both unemployed, work visa challenges, no real home until 4 weeks ago, living on a friend's floor) I am trying to cut myself some slack. At the very least I figured out some paths for myself, read the book, plotted the future.

Am I looking forward to going back into the workforce? Not really, but I will learn skills at this gig (high paying) that will eventually allow me to go freelance myself paying almost double. I am also guessing that the corporate gig I am headed into is going to be juuuussstt a bit more relaxed than I am used to in the US, so I should be able to get things moving. Also, people here don't start work until like 9.30 in the morning which, to someone used to starting at 7.30, seems insane. That leaves me plenty of time either in the mornings or in the evenings to work on my side projects. I am also used to a schedule where I do the bulk of my weekly cooking on the weekends so we just have to pull a ready dinner out of the fridge or freezer.

I'd like to point out to people that there are some folks in the self-publishing thread who have written successful books whilst on the train commute or at lunch time. The time is there to be found, the will needs to be there too!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Milkanic]

1.) I wake up at 5:30 and get 2 hours of 'me time' before work.
2.) I work from home for a large Saas so my day job is an education in itself.

 

[DrPenguin]

I'd like to point out to people that there are some folks in the self-publishing thread who have written successful books whilst on the train commute or at lunch time. The time is there to be found, the will needs to be there too!

Anthony Trollope - one of the most prolific novelists of the Victorian era - woke while it was still dark every day and wrote from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. He wrote with a watch in front of him and tried to hit the target of 250 words every 15 minutes. If he finished a novel before 8:30, he took a fresh sheet of paper and began the next one. Once he finished writing, he attended his day job at the postal service.

He produced 49 novels in 35 years of having a full-time job.

Oh, and he designed those red postboxes that you see in England…

It can be done.

To anyone doubting that great things can be achieved while working a nine-to-five job, have a scan of this article: Is the Key to Becoming a Great Writer Having a Day Job?

 

[ilrein]

@Jam Wheel what's the job?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GuestUser140]

I remember when I worked in corporate America. Most employees worked 40-60 hours a week, but probably only half of that was productive. When I was consulting, I could do more in 2-3 hours than most employees did for a full day's work.

Makes you think about most people working til 65. How many years of real work would they have done?

If you could work at home for your current employer ...
This works the best if you are already the best employee they have ever had. If you are a mediocre employee, when you are self employed your boss might think you are a shitty employee also.

For the guy asking the question: there's a pretty detailed plan in the 4 Hour Workweek.

 

[mt_myke]

Makes you think about most people working til 65. How many years of real work would they have done?

I don't remember the study, but after all the firings during the financial crisis they analyzed what impact people's jobs/work had on the company. They found many white collar employees did nothing useful, entire departments were eliminated with no obvious impact.

We just don't need that many workers because there's not that much work to really be done. Yet we are collectively still stuck in an industrial era mindset where you need people to show up for long hours, every day. The result is everyone faking it. The 40-hour full-time job is simply a compromise between workers doing nothing and the race to the bottom of per-hour/per-piece work.