Ask HN: How would you plan your days when you are unemployed?

by Venkatesh10on 10/2/2024, 7:55 PMwith 17 comments

As the title says, What would your average day look like improving or exploring various aspects of life from Health, Skills, Physical, Growth and more?

by vlodon 10/2/2024, 8:10 PM

Work on a project and pretend you're still employed.

Use Trello (or equivalent) to project manage yourself i.e. set deadlines, do extra to hit targets, do releases etc.

I think it's very easy to punt things.

by nitwit005on 10/2/2024, 8:17 PM

I just made sure I took a daily walk and made healthier meals.

Planning sounds like pointless stress. Are you going to schedule every hour of your retirement?

by cranberryturkeyon 10/2/2024, 7:57 PM

I wake up at 4am -- light a cigar and brew a cup of coffee. I sit in the garage and watch the neighborhood wakeup.

At about 11am I take a 3 hour nap.

by yen223on 10/3/2024, 1:07 AM

I haven't had traditional employment in months. I've been working on my project instead (see my profile).

Here's some random points:

- I follow "office hours". Monday-Friday 9am-5pm is creative work time. My rule is I try to do things I would only do in the office, i.e. work, chat, HN on the side, lunch, etc. How well I stick to this is ... debatable.

- Time management is easier and harder. Easier because there's no more Jira or sprints or all that busy-work, harder because I now have to manage my own time. I found that setting hard deadlines for subgoals (e.g. launch the app on May 5, whether it's "ready" or not) works really well for me.

- Growth-wise: There's about a billion things that needs to be solved when working on my project. I figure out what the next problem is and try to learn enough to solve it. That's where my growth has come from.

- I have personal fitness goals. I make it a point to go for a run, outdoors, at least three times a week. This rule forces me to go outside every so often, otherwise it's too easy for me to stay indoors all day.