Basically, I need a system where I can get my gaming/entertainment in and still get some coding done. I think I've tried a few, but it has been awhile. Something like "game 1 hour for every 1-2 hours of coding" or something daft like that. If I'm going to get anywhere other than where I'm at, I need to crackdown and get a schedule that works. So I want to know what entertainment to productivity ratio/schedule you use. Productivity doesn't include paid job work unless you also do that as a hobby on the side.

It's hard to really assign a fixed schedule like that, but if you insist on trying it, I know some people use a system where they just have a minimum amount of work that they must accomplish per day on a project.

To use writing a novel as an example, some people force themselves to write at least 1000 words a day. No skipping a day and doubling up the next, and if you write more than 1000 words, it doesn't count toward the next day.

If you can stick to something like that, then supposedly that gets you into a mode where you're more productive on the whole and tend to improve your skills. Forcing yourself to work even when you're not in the mood I guess is supposed to keep your interest in the long run.

It's hard to assign a metric like that to programming stuff though. Lines of code aren't a good measure at all, and time spent might likewise not mean very much. Perhaps you should set aside 1-2 hours every day to work on the project? Regardless of how much other stuff you did that day, if you've got the 1-2 hours, devote it to working on the project.

I'll admit that my willpower is weak though, so such a system has never really worked for me. I'm much more fluid, wasting time (i.e. gaming / internet / TV) for about 90% of my time away from work and doing "productive" stuff in the rest of the time on some days, and on others where I'm very motivated it may be the other way around. I've also never finished any programming project that took more than a few days, but that's for a variety of reasons.

Working out time-based schedules like this has never worked for me. It is typically just too hard to define, and I know I will eventually break it anyway. I may write some code or read some on a code-related book, then check and reply to a couple of threads (3 - 15 minutes) and then go back to the code/book.

Our brains crave novelty, and to that end, entertainment. If you are at a point where you feel like you need to make a schedule like this, your brain will eventually just convince you that it is ok to spend more time on the entertainment until the whole schedule is just a wash. If you are uncomfortable with the amount of time you are spending being productive, you need to consider what choices you are making to get yourself into that position. That way you are attacking it from the root instead of just trying to manage the side-effects.

Stop playing games....maybe?

If you really have that much ambition to work on games rather than playing them, then I don't know what to tell you. I play games when I get time, maybe 1 day a week. My schedule is just straight coding.

Forget the Schedule. Just start at the same time every day and stay on task no matter what for an hour. Usually I find even if I reaaaaaaallllyyy didn't want to do it, once I start, I'll get on a roll and continue happily working for next 3-4 hours (till I need moar coffee). But if after an hour of staying on task no matter what I've had enough I'll stop do something else for a while then come back an do another hour.

This way you have the flexibility to continue working while on a roll, but don't feel guilty when you give up and try again later - If after an hour you are still stuck its time to take a break anyway.

Isaac Asimov found he enjoyed very small spaces and locked himself in a room for 10 hours a day every day to write. As soon as his time is up, he left and spent it freely on whatever he felt like, which after 10 hours, was probably not writing.

Carl Jung set a clock and made sure he only sat down for 1/2 periods. He would sit for 1/2 an hour and leave. When the time was up, he left whatever he was until he was prepared to spend another 1/2 an hour.

Both of these people were wildly productive. Asimov has published a book in nine out of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System. Jung is probably has the most books of any major psychologist. Both people felt no guilt for doing leisure activities. Each one has a very good trick to making them work.

The Asimov way, where you schedule a time period to work, and then forget about it. (Usually 4 hours in 1 ~ 2 hour blocks is more reasonable than the inhuman Asimov)

The Jung's way. Making a schedule which makes you feel satisfied doing both activities. Find out how long it takes before you get bored of work, and stop just slightly before that. Then return to it before you reach that channel surfing feeling(where you don't want to not watch TV, but you don't wanna get up).

Both are very good, because they allow a person to be very productive without burning them out with extremely long crunch times.

just figure it out before you end up working in corporate office like me for 10 hours out of the day. don't squander your free time while you have it.

just figure it out before you end up working in corporate office like me for 10 hours out of the day. don't squander your free time while you have it.

Ive been doing the following Which Ive been doing since 2003

I try and do a set number of hours a day (yesterday 2 but usually 2-4), weekends more.
I have a counter on the desktop set for 60:00minutes + counts down when I work, if I take a shit etc, I stop the counter. So it only tracks the hours I work :)
Each project has a box of a 100hours, which I delete when Ive completed an hour on it

If u do the time, youll end up with something