Time management

[Timonk]

There are so many things I wanna do as a hobby. I'm still young and I can pick up shit before I get too old. I wanna do programming (learning rn), Draw, Music (guitar, maybe piano and
maybe violin), own a cat n train it and shit and be a good cat dad (not enough space so I don't own one) maybe a little bit of cooking, maybe pick up a martial art, become challenger in league while handling studying and the household alone (I have probably forgotten some hobbies I have wanted to do recently)
It's kind of sudden that I want to do these because I haven't felt this need in the last 19 years of my life for some reason (except programming)

Obviously if I wanted to get good at any of these in the next 10 years it would be very time consuming and I would would have to take out a timeframe within the day to do that stuff

So I get overwhelmed because I have to choose 1 or 2 of these and only do the essentials + gaming and relax all day and it causes a certain kind of sadness within me


So I guess this is a thread about your time management strategies so maybe indecisive folks like me may copy some part of it.

[wesoda25]

I've only ever been interested in a choice few things, so I have no advice when it comes to the sort of decision paralysis involved with competing interests.

Assuming you do focus on a manageable number, I find it extremely important to remove distractions and create an environment for yourself where you can actually pursue your hobbies. Early on this is really important because you haven't established any sort of habit or routine or wealth of knowledge/experience to keep you going. I'm saying a lot of words here, but for me personally it boils down to making my life boring as fuck so that by comparison my hobbies are one of the more interesting and enjoyable parts of my day. As such, I regularly pursue them. That's really all I got, it's what works for me but it might be different for you.

[Bepis]

So I'm a teensy bit on the spectrum and chock full of ADHD, so time management fucking sucks. Honestly I think the only reason why I function well enough in the normal world is due to military service. My advice comes from that frame of mind. I have learned to incrementalize most things I do during the day. It's like eating an elephant - you do it bite by bite. Most times when people say "I want to do (x) thing, but (y) reasons are in the way" I just advise to fuck the reasons against it and push forward; people can typically accomplish anything they want to, it's just bullshit mental blocks that shut someone down. I've seen more people quit while they're ahead than crashing and burning. There are things like physical demands, etc that can absolutely prevent success but I'm considering those outliers to the conversation at hand.

Figure out what your objective is, what the end state of said objective is, then work backwards (mitigating risk if necessary). Could be something as simple as getting to work on time, or driving cross country. There is nothing wrong with having a calendar or alarms/timers to ensure you're on track with whatever you're trying to accomplish. Whatever you're trying to do, don't give up - these hobbies, passions, etc, can take years to develop; I started painting around 2007 and only recently do I feel that I'm doing well with it. Come up with a plan - "I'm going to work on (bullshit Timonk likes) for an hour, once my phone alarm goes off I'm done for a bit". Casinos around me tend to work their dealers for 50 minutes, then rest for 10 as studies have shown their concentration fades quickly after that timeframe. As an example I've put my weekday schedule in a spoiler at the bottom. Not everything has an alarm, but most do.

There's nothing wrong with feeling like there isn't enough time in the day, your life is likely busier than the past decade of your life. It's part of getting older. You won't be able to accomplish everything and anything, but that's kinda life. Find something that motivates you, or something that you're motivated to accomplish and you'll do fine - but never begrudge yourself for failures or what you perceive as a failure (again, it's part of life).

I really have no idea if I've answered your question adequately, I hope the advice I've shotgunned in your direction is of some help.

tl;dr you like that shit? do that shit, you'll learn to love that shit

Spoiler:

Schedule

23:30 Wake Up, hit alarm every 5 mins
23:45 Dress/hygiene
00:00 Depart for work
00:20 Arrive at work, pre shift tasks
00:40 Shift Turnover (Work begins)
{Misc work bullshit, there's timers there but fuck writing it all out}
09:00 Depart for home
09:20 Arrive home, family socialization
10:00 Bong hit, house maintenance. Cleaning, mowing if needed etc
11:00 Bong hit. Hobby time
12:00 Bong hit/lunch. Socialization.
12:30 Hobby time
14:30 Misc tasks. Painting/dog walk, anything other than PC
15:30 Bong hit. Sleep

[Nabski]

Wait are you saying you are 19?
And you've been here since 2018?
Mods can we get a retroactive underage ban for 3 years please thank you.

I'm 34. You've got time to slowly learn things, because you can't rush practice. You wanna learn a hobby? Just do it. You don't need to hardcore time management it. Just every now and then cut some video gaming time and do a thing. If you aren't finding that thing more fun than video games then that's probably not the hobby for you. If you find a game that's just an absolute time black hole (MMOs/League/Anything with match times 30+ minutes that you play multiple matches in a row) then keep an eye on how long you're playing it or just get up to do the classic 1 push-up every time you die to become bulked/better at drawing hands.

[Timberpoes]

Option one is: Work hard. Play hard. Sleep while you're dead.

Option two is: Just take things steadily. I'm 35 and since I was in my early 20s I've learned a few programming languages, gotten a master's degree, changed careers like half a dozen times, picked up so many hobbies and gained so much knowledge.

The best part about picking up multiple hobbies is that if you drop them and go back later, the learning curve is MASSIVELY reduced and it often takes you no time at all to get back to where you were. So I guess I'm saying enjoy the journey, cuz the destination is rarely as fun as the path you took to get there.