Sacrifice vs Enough Time

[DeletedUser397]

While, I have plenty of drive and ambition, I don’t seem to have enough time or energy to make things happen. I work 9am-6:30pm, and by the time I’m done with dinner/household chores, I finally have free time at 9pm. At that point I feel drained and lack energy, which leads to easily being distracted and losing focus.

I feel like I have to compromise my sleep to get things done, which has plenty of downsides – catching colds easily, getting by on caffeine all-day, not performing as sharply at work, and potential long-term health problems. I’ve actually been trying to sleep more lately to avoid the aforementioned issues, which unfortunately means I have less time for my business projects. It’s a catch-22.

I’m thinking perhaps I should save money for 6-8 months and then quit my job to focus full force on my business? Or, are there other ways to balance day job and a side business (and quitting when you finally match or beat your job income)? Otherwise, if some sleep sacrifice or other must be made, how do you stay energized, and what keeps you going during the day / nights, etc.?

Any tips or advice are appreciated.

 

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[biophase]

What keeps you going late at night is your hatred towards your day job.

 

[werbl]

Can you afford to trim your work hours a bit? Maybe by an hour or two each day, or even going part-time? If that's a possibility, I think that a near-term financial sacrifice would be worth it to free up extra hours each week to pursue your goals.

I think quitting your job right away would be too risky. It could work, but when starting a new business everything seems to take longer thank you think. Plus there's unexpected costs and possibly unexpected life events. A job even with minimal hours is probably a good safety net until your business is making a solid profit.

I've tried sacrificing sleep but that never worked for me. If I'm exhausted nothing ever gets 100% of my attention.

 

[Darkside]

What about weekends?

 

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[BeachBoy]

in the same boat.

although the words in MJ's book are very convincing, I will not let go my job for my project.

But I am taking my vacation days to work on it (plus many evening and weekend hours). I need to balance personal life.

when you need to install shelving in the garage, even though it's not towards the project, you still need to do it... and when it's nice outside well you need to spend some good time. I will not sacrifice my relationship for a project.

The vacation days was my best solution. I'm also working on a 4-day workweek so I can do the same number of office job and get a free day to work on my project.

 

[James Fake]

Can you schedule four 10-hour days instead? or three 12-hour days?

Of course... you can always save up, quit, get a part-time job, and then go..

 

[FastNAwesome]

I’ve actually been trying to sleep more lately to avoid the aforementioned issues, which unfortunately means I have less time for my business projects. It’s a catch-22.

Been there, done that. It's a catch, and it stays a catch, and I found that no amount of strong will or time management gimmicks helps it.

I’m thinking perhaps I should save money for 6-8 months and then quit my job to focus full force on my business?

It's your call, but...hell yeah!

I've had a well paid job, and even on purpose found one in a walking distance from my house. Then, when you're home, you need to eat, chill a little, and then only have a few hours - if you wanna wake up normal tomorrow.

So I've been going on like this for 9 months until I realized my dreams ain't gonna happen that way. So I've quit, sold my car, and been through some very rough months, but had enough time to work on my thing, and to sleep. And to work out, and to go out with friends. So that alone made the struggle worth it.

But I was safe. How? I divided the total amount in my pocket with minimal daily spend to keep life decent and braincells working (this calculation included rent and utilities - everything).

It turned out that I have about 60 days available without need to work. (so if you read carefully, at this point you realize what junk of a car I had)

So, I said to myself - for the next 50 days - forget about jobs, just focus on your business, and relax, you'll have food on the table. And if you don't do anything in that time, you have 10 days left - more than enough, to start flipping burgers (they accept almost everyone) or selling insurances (they accept absolutely everyone) and survive until you're ready again.

This worked like a charm for me, especially in aspect of letting go jobs. Many people here agree with MJ that job is slowlane, they want to get away from it, but...not just yet. And once you taste entrepreneurship, you can become repulsed by jobs.

Once you really get to feel what it's like and what you've been missing out on. Just being able to sleep all I want and go where I want even between 9-5 makes me feel so good. It's already a sort of wealth.

Maybe you'd need to adjust these figures, if you need more than 50 days, but I think the above calculation is a good recipe to stay safe, start swimming, and really feel how much job was holding you back.

Again, not advice for everyone. I knew what I want and took my chances, and failure was an option, for which I had plan (flip burgers).

 

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[santa]

Some good ideas already.
I would add, yes some people do sacrifice their sleep. My opinion is for me personally I would do all I can not to jeopadise this as much as I could and look to sacrifice in other ways.
Saving up and taking time off is definately one way.
Changing jobs is another

hustle, what time on average do you go to bed and what time on average do you get up? How many hours is your optimum a night?


Another option could be to go to bed early.9/10pm and get up say an hour earlier and use that as your personal time for your projects etc

 

[xindexer]

I think we can all relate to this scenario, because this is how modern-day life is set up. It's the system by which the workforce is governed. To break out of it, you need to carve out time and use it wisely and efficiently.

You have a "big idea" that you want to pursue, but not enough time to work on it (and accomplish anything!).

Here's part of a solution for you:
1. In the evening, have a legal pad and pen in front of you. Turn off the TV. Commit 15 minutes to write down the very next piece of the puzzle - the next item you need or want to accomplish as you step towards your ultimate goal. Don't write out an entire step-by-step process, just the next thing - and make it something you can do within one hour of time.

2. Set your alarm early enough to give yourself one hour of time before you must get ready for your job.

3. Lay out any supplies you need on your desk/table, as well as your legal pad.

Go to bed. The next morning, do what you have to do - and do it quickly and efficiently.

I do this in my own life, and it's the only way I can ever get anything done. My current project is a fairly complex website that I hope to launch. I have all the pieces of it mapped out. I know what the parts are that I must create. But there's no way I can devote three or four solid weeks of coding time. So what do I do? I get up early (before the kids and wife are awake, and before I have to start my job) and I have my laptop waiting for me and I have my day's assignment from the night before. I make some coffee, do some tai-chi, and I try to not to waste time working. I do what I can, then I stop and go on with my day.

It's tedious, and it will take me a long time to get this thing built and working 100%, but it's probably the only way I can ever get anything done. Like you, I'm too tired after work in the evening, and I "have" to spend time with my family in the evening anyway. Same story on weekends.

So this is the only solution I can suggest to you. Good luck, by the way - I hope you're successful.

 

[The Intrepid]

28 minute naps are your friend. Seriously.

 

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[acrystal]

quitting to pursue a dream

I guess I don't hate my day job. I have pretty much always been happy to be where I was at even if it was slowlane. The few times that I did have a day job that sucked I managed to find something else or turn the situation around. I don't think that just quitting is a good idea in this economy if you have a stable income. Then again if you're just flipping burgers, I guess that you can always find that again. I work on my side project my eliminating: TV shows that I don't need to watch or letting them run in the background while I program. People, especially negative people that waste my time in the name of friendship. Eliminating alcohol, gaming, eating out tons of food, all the stuff that just wastes time. Spending excessive hours social networking Going out and watching other people live their dreams and make money. I was always a doer, not a watcher. I never wanted to be a fan, groupie, or peasant. Nor am I overly impressed with stars and rich people unless they are exceptionally kind or helpful. I want to make millions, but I'm not going to force it or obsess over it. It will happen naturally by just living and being happy in the moment. If you look at your life there are probably tons of activities and old useless habits that can be eliminated, and replaced by useful processes. Reduce day job to 6-8 hours/day, use lunch hours and breaks to fuss over your other businesses or website. Whether you spend 10 or 50 years unhappy, slinging hash in whatever form, waiting to be a millionaire then your life is a drag. If you enjoy the journey every day and make choices that both feel good and make progress toward your goal, then it really doesn't make a difference how long it takes... I use books and helpful hints as inspiration; not a rigid doctrine. I think people who blindly follow anything are setting themselves up for failure, especially if they misinterpret some of then advice, leave out steps, and then wonder what happened.

 

[TommyBoy]

it doesn't sound like you live life by your user name "HustleEveryDay"...
Don't get burned out. Personally, I'd prefer to work several months then take several weeks to work on my project. That's my current situation. Since I decided on a business idea, I worked for one year, then took about three months for one project which a good portfolio piece, but that's about it. Then I worked for another two months and started my next project.
I believe it's easier to get motivated when you're on your own then working for someone else. It's about that feeling you get in the morning.

Don't jeopardize your health. It also depends on the type of work. If it's a very analytical job such as programming, it's a lot easier to get burned out so the need for stress relief is imminent. Whereas other non-intensive jobs could leave you feeling fine after work for your own business.

As Xinexer stated, prepartion is indeed important so you won't waste time thinking on what should be done next.
Write out a daily itinerary which may take 5 minutes, but will save you 15-30min between deciding on tasks. I also read a helpful book called "Getting Things Done".

Now go hustle! (in a good way)

 

[speedyexe]

I also read a helpful book called "Getting Things Done".

Hi
Is it this book David Allen - Getting Things Done ?

 

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[NewWorldOrder]

My 2 cents.

1) Slowly train yourself to sleep one less hour a night.

2) Eat light dinners. A heavy dinner will make you want to go sit down somewhere.

3) Scale down your side project. Because you only have so much time to work on your idea on the side, and it appears that you're the only one working on it, the project should be of the type that it can fit into the small segments of time you have.

4) Using the money you earn from your day job, pay other people to handle your chores for you. Time > Money.

 

[ClintonSkakun]

I've worked 12 hour nightshifts for around 10 months now. On the side I've managed to be a web developer part time as well as start a bike rental network (The Worldwide Bike Rental Network - Rent2Bike.com) and sign up over 115 bike rentals and developed nearly every aspect of the site from ground up(besides a few things).

You've just got to hustle day in day out and push it harder than you thought. I rarely take weekends or holidays off, sleep when I feel I need to in order to focus and just go further than most people would. Some days I crash but you gotta get up and keep going. There's no other way if you want to make it. People complain about being tired. You have to get used to making being really tired a way of life. It's not easy, or even healthy, but if it's the only way you have no other choice.

Have a focus: what do I want to get done this year, this month, this week, today?
Have a day planner: What tasks need to get done within the next little while that I've need to check off?

 

[Strewth&Dodgy]

Hi there,

1) Maybe you just need more direction to start with, after all there isn't any point staying up an extra half an hour if you don't know exactly how to spend the time.

Also I'm doing the following which may or may not be practical for you:

2) Experiment with polyphasic sleep. In one of the posts above it says naps are your friend and this is true. I researched online but eventually have adapted my own shedule which includes an afternoon nap. Also I found that even without the nap if I got up at 3-4 am my mind was instantly more focused. I put this down in part to biorhythms and partly due to the lack of distractions at the early part of the day.

3) Diet. Exercise. In the last 8 or so months I've cut out caffiene, aspartame and in particular Coke/cola to which I had a major addiction to but it was playing havoc with my body chemistry. I've instructed all my family and friends to throw something at me if they see me about to have a sip....it took me years to quit the stuff and one sip and I have trouble stopping. I did an elimination diet and found dairy products clogged my thinking. I tried raw foods and found I could go with only two hours sleep a night although I don't have the kind of discipline to keep it up longer than a month. Probably it is unballanced long term anyway. The point is diet and exercise help. Exercise reduces anxiety and generally helps you remain on top of everything with greater ease.

 

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[deepestblue]

Think outside of the box. Many really do need an extended period of time to incubate and bring their idea to the marketplace. Do what you can to create this time for yourself while retaining the financial security you presently have, or figure out a way to get by with less financial security than you currently have which would give you the time to bring your idea to the marketplace.

 

[TommyBoy]

Hi
Is it this book David Allen - Getting Things Done ?

Yes it is.

 

[DeletedUser397]

Thank you all for the great ideas and suggestions...

What keeps you going late at night is your hatred towards your day job.

Unfortunately (while fortunately at the same time), I don't hate my day job. It's really hard to hate considering all the stability/pay/benefits it offers… but the one thing I do hate is of course that it takes away my time and energy from my business project.

I think quitting your job right away would be too risky. It could work, but when starting a new business everything seems to take longer thank you think. Plus there's unexpected costs and possibly unexpected life events. A job even with minimal hours is probably a good safety net until your business is making a solid profit.

True, good point. The idea of saving up for 6-8 months and quitting isn't really something I'd want as Plan A, but rather as a Plan B. Because my project also requires a patent and other resources that require some hefty capital in themselves… and if that risk doesn't pan out (which is always a possibility), I would really need some sort of safety net like you say, for the unexpected, definitely. Being able to minimize or somehow work around my job hours would be ideal.

What about weekends?

I have to admit, my weekends probably go to more waste than I'd like, as I spend them mostly sleeping in, and don't keep as tight of a schedule as I do on weekdays. This is definitely a part of the week I could make a whole lot more use of.
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Can you afford to trim your work hours a bit? Maybe by an hour or two each day, or even going part-time? If that's a possibility, I think that a near-term financial sacrifice would be worth it to free up extra hours each week to pursue your goals.

Unfortunately can't cut hours, but...

Can you schedule four 10-hour days instead? or three 12-hour days?

…this is a really good idea! I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. I'm a salaried employee, so I don't know if I'd be allowed to work 4 10-hr days, but I'm pretty sure I can work something out to work 4 9-hr days and then a half-day on Friday, or work 1 day from home, or something like that. Definitely going to talk with my manager about this to see if they'll allow it.
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I divided the total amount in my pocket with minimal daily spend to keep life decent and braincells working (this calculation included rent and utilities - everything).
...
It turned out that I have about 60 days available without need to work.
…
Maybe you'd need to adjust these figures, if you need more than 50 days, but I think the above calculation is a good recipe to stay safe, start swimming, and really feel how much job was holding you back.

Nice, I certainly like this calculation, and I'm going to use it.
------------

Here's part of a solution for you:

1. In the evening, have a legal pad and pen in front of you. Turn off the TV. Commit 15 minutes to write down the very next piece of the puzzle - the next item you need or want to accomplish as you step towards your ultimate goal. Don't write out an entire step-by-step process, just the next thing - and make it something you can do within one hour of time.

2. Set your alarm early enough to give yourself one hour of time before you must get ready for your job.

3. Lay out any supplies you need on your desk/table, as well as your legal pad.

Go to bed. The next morning, do what you have to do - and do it quickly and efficiently.

Thanks this seems similar to what santa suggested. I will try this out. Come to think of it, back when I was in school, I would do something similar to this - I'd get up an hour earlier before an exam to do last-minute cramming, and that 1hr generally felt more efficient than staying up later at night for 3-4hrs while being half-asleep and getting distracted etc. I think it also depends on bodily sleep cycles, but I think I tend to work better at certain hours of the morning, so this just may be a good plan.
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it doesn't sound like you live life by your user name "HustleEveryDay"...
Don't get burned out. Personally, I'd prefer to work several months then take several weeks to work on my project. That's my current situation.
...
I believe it's easier to get motivated when you're on your own then working for someone else. It's about that feeling you get in the morning.

Don't jeopardize your health. It also depends on the type of work. If it's a very analytical job such as programming, it's a lot easier to get burned out so the need for stress relief is imminent.
...
As Xinexer stated, prepartion is indeed important so you won't waste time thinking on what should be done next.
Write out a daily itinerary which may take 5 minutes, but will save you 15-30min between deciding on tasks. I also read a helpful book called "Getting Things Done".

Now go hustle! (in a good way)

Lol, my username is more of a reminder to myself of how I feel I should be living on a daily basis… just trying to ingrain that correct philosophy in my mind everytime I login/post etc. Yeah, being able to take a few months for my project would be ideal. I'm a programmer actually by day, and the project I'm working on also involves a lot of programming as well. So I'm sitting at the computer for 8-9hrs during the day, and when I come home the last thing I want to do is another 3-4hrs of programming… although I really want to do it, it's just hard to muster up that extra energy at the end of the day and still think creatively. I think probably if the day job is the same as the type of business you're trying to do on the side it's more exhausting, because it ends up feeling like a 15hr day.

I will check out that book, thanks for the recommendation.
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2) Eat light dinners. A heavy dinner will make you want to go sit down somewhere.

3) Scale down your side project. Because you only have so much time to work on your idea on the side, and it appears that you're the only one working on it, the project should be of the type that it can fit into the small segments of time you have.

4) Using the money you earn from your day job, pay other people to handle your chores for you. Time > Money.

Great points, I do notice when I eat bigger meals I tend to want to sleep a lot more. Lighter dinners it will be. Scaling down my project into smaller chunks is definitely a good point also. It's something I've been trying to figure out how to do. Sometimes I just feel like I need several hours at a time to sit and code but there has to be a way to break things into smaller sections. Yes, and paying someone to do chores is certainly a good idea as well, especially yard work, which drains my energy on the weekends…
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...

Thanks, your post really inspired me for some reason.
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1) Maybe you just need more direction to start with, after all there isn't any point staying up an extra half an hour if you don't know exactly how to spend the time.
...
2) Experiment with polyphasic sleep. In one of the posts above it says naps are your friend and this is true...

3) Diet. Exercise.
...
The point is diet and exercise help. Exercise reduces anxiety and generally helps you remain on top of everything with greater ease.

Very good suggestions. I've not been that focused despite staying up late, and like you say I need to be more specific on how I'm using that time. Along with xindexer's suggestion of writing down in advance what I need to accomplish in that time, I think this is something good to keep in mind as well.

------------
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Thanks a lot for all the suggestions, ideas, and feedback all around. I'm definitely going to try out some of this stuff, to see how I can better adjust my schedule. Really appreciate the tips and advice

 

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[ClintonSkakun]

Lol, have you ever tried crack rock? Hear it gives you lots of energy.