How do you decompress / stay productive in the evenings?

[LurkingMustache]

Hello,

Question for you Mustachians.  I am avidly interested in side hustles outside of my 8-5.  I make pretty good money (and save the majority of it), but I want to do other things.  Typically I'm up by 4am and usually use the time between 4-7 to do real estate stuff and other side hustles. 

What I have a huge problem with is the evenings.  After work I just hit a wall, work is stressful and takes a lot of my energy.  I have a hard time 'resetting' and being ready to go in the evenings.  Do any of you have good rituals to 'reset' in the evenings and clear your head from your regular job to pursue other things? 

Seems like kind of a basic question and "be more disciplined" may be a good answer...  But I find that I have a hard time finding a good habit to enforce that has radically changed the way I spend my evenings. 

Thanks!

[scottish]

I prefer to exercise.   Sometimes I come here though.

[Bracken_Joy]

Nah, you only get so many hours of "flow" per day. Then you're tapped. Exercise can be a good one. Cooking and meal prep and puttering on the house are always good. Reading books NOT related to your work field can be an excellent reset to your brain, so you don't always feel "on". I think the important thing is that you are somewhat active in the task, not being passively entertained like with TV.

[mm1970]

Reading, cooking, meal prep, crocheting.

[Raenia]

I second the exercise suggestion, as well as cooking, cleaning, puttering etc.  Basically anything that keeps me up and moving.  The minute I sit down to get on the computer, the rest of the evening is a lost cause productivity-wise.  Reading is good for decompressing, but only if I'm not planning on getting any more work done that night.

[Retire-Canada]

Mon - Thurs I work 10hrs a day at my main gig. I don't find I have a lot of energy left on those days to do much other than come home and chill with the GF. We make dinner and watch a TV show then get to bed early. I like to get a solid 9hrs sleep. During the peak of summer we'll schedule an evening mountain bike ride usually on Wed or Thurs night for some extra exercise. I may also take care of a smaller easy errand in the evening those days like paying bills or collecting something from a store I need.

So I do my side hustle Fri-Sun as well as most of my exercise. Then repeat. I'm pretty maxed out at the moment in terms of energy and don't have anything left to spare.

[MilesTeg]

Gym directly after work 3x/week
Cello playing 5-6x/week

Though I consider both of those things productive, not decompression. Just also helps that they serve both.

[Accidental Fire]

Exercise all the way, clears my head, alleviates stress, keeps me fitting in my jeans.  Then I work on graphic designs and art or just read.

[LurkingMustache]

Mon - Thurs I work 10hrs a day at my main gig. I don't find I have a lot of energy left on those days to do much other than come home and chill with the GF. We make dinner and watch a TV show then get to bed early. I like to get a solid 9hrs sleep. During the peak of summer we'll schedule an evening mountain bike ride usually on Wed or Thurs night for some extra exercise. I may also take care of a smaller easy errand in the evening those days like paying bills or collecting something from a store I need.

So I do my side hustle Fri-Sun as well as most of my exercise. Then repeat. I'm pretty maxed out at the moment in terms of energy and don't have anything left to spare.

I like the segmentation you've designed.  Shifting more emphasis to the weekend for what I want to do over nights after a long day of work may make more sense.  :)

[mamagoose]

You're already putting in 15 hours/week in the mornings on side hustles (4-7am), so use the evenings for recreation & relaxation - gotta take care of yourself. Play some music and take your time cooking something delicious, maybe do something creative like make a homemade gift for someone (Valentine's is coming up), go for a walk. Or be like me and binge watch Lilyhammer on Netflix most nights.

[GuitarStv]

I prefer to micro-manage the shit out of my spare time, otherwise I find myself just zoning out in the evenings.  First I figure out what spare time is available each day, and exactly the amount of time is required for tasks . . . then devise a strict routine to follow.  After a month or so, I make minor tweaks as needed.

If I have four hours in an evening it might go something like this:

15 min - Walk dog

5 min - Reheat pre-prepared supper/cut veggies for family meal
30 min - Eat supper with family
10 min - help with dishes/clear table/keep son busy

5 min - Warm-up (skipping, burpees, or jumping jacks)
15 min - Squats (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Military press (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Deadlift (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
5 min - Pull-ups (two sets of 15, 2 min break between)
5 min - stretching

15 min - Give son a bath (brush my teeth)
10 min - Dress son in pajamas, brush his teeth
20 min - Read stories to son
10 min - Deal with various methods son uses to delay bed time (pretending to need to go to the bathroom, crying because something isn't quite right in the room, complaining about temperature, etc.)

5 min - lay out clothes to be worn for next day, pack lunch for work for next day

5 min - scale/arpeggio review and warmup
5 min - soloing practice (chord tone targeting) over jazz track
5 min - improvisation over same jazz track
15 min - learning a new riff/song
5 min - sing notes, then play the melody on guitar
5 min - play melody on guitar, then sing notes
5 min - practice sight reading

15 min - read/relax before bed


The weird thing is, I don't feel like I've got energy when I get home, but once I actually start in following the routine I get energized by the things I'm doing.  Weekends tend to be less structured, but I make a task list of things to accomplish on Saturday and Sunday by the end of each Friday.

[The Happy Philosopher]

Wasting time is one of my most productive activities. Do not underestimate free time that serves no purpose other than to allow you to relax and recharge.

[LurkingMustache]

You're already putting in 15 hours/week in the mornings on side hustles (4-7am), so use the evenings for recreation & relaxation - gotta take care of yourself. Play some music and take your time cooking something delicious, maybe do something creative like make a homemade gift for someone (Valentine's is coming up), go for a walk. Or be like me and binge watch Lilyhammer on Netflix most nights.

That's a great perspective.  I find as I get more addicted to the FIRE lifestyle the more I want to put all my energy into it.  Unfortunately, I feel like it has also made me less.. fun.  I'm more serious about making money, saving, being frugal.  Not that those things have to be one in the same.. They aren't for a lot of folks.  Probably something I need to work on.  I'll have to check out Lilyhammer!

[LurkingMustache]

I prefer to micro-manage the shit out of my spare time, otherwise I find myself just zoning out in the evenings.  First I figure out what spare time is available each day, and exactly the amount of time is required for tasks . . . then devise a strict routine to follow.  After a month or so, I make minor tweaks as needed.

If I have four hours in an evening it might go something like this:

15 min - Walk dog

5 min - Reheat pre-prepared supper/cut veggies for family meal
30 min - Eat supper with family
10 min - help with dishes/clear table/keep son busy

5 min - Warm-up (skipping, burpees, or jumping jacks)
15 min - Squats (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Military press (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Deadlift (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
5 min - Pull-ups (two sets of 15, 2 min break between)
5 min - stretching

15 min - Give son a bath (brush my teeth)
10 min - Dress son in pajamas, brush his teeth
20 min - Read stories to son
10 min - Deal with various methods son uses to delay bed time (pretending to need to go to the bathroom, crying because something isn't quite right in the room, complaining about temperature, etc.)

5 min - lay out clothes to be worn for next day, pack lunch for work for next day

5 min - scale/arpeggio review and warmup
5 min - soloing practice (chord tone targeting) over jazz track
5 min - improvisation over same jazz track
15 min - learning a new riff/song
5 min - sing notes, then play the melody on guitar
5 min - play melody on guitar, then sing notes
5 min - practice sight reading

15 min - read/relax before bed


The weird thing is, I don't feel like I've got energy when I get home, but once I actually start in following the routine I get energized by the things I'm doing.  Weekends tend to be less structured, but I make a task list of things to accomplish on Saturday and Sunday by the end of each Friday.

This is probably the closest to the way I like to structure my days, I appreciate the outline.  I do this as a weekly practice and track goals for the week, etc.  This hourly structuring may be something that works for me.  Thanks for sharing!

[rpr]

Posting to follow. The only hing that helps me is to do some puttering.

[Classical_Liberal]

Wasting time is one of my most productive activities. Do not underestimate free time that serves no purpose other than to allow you to relax and recharge.

+1.  I like the layout inside of my head.  I spend an hour or so a day inside it.

[coconutindex]

GuitarStv, how do you do this in practical terms? Do you actually write down your schedule, and if so when do you do it? I am a bit intrigued by this as I always have these great ambitions for my evenings and somehow they always seem to disappear with me accomplishing much. Sure free time and zoning out is great but I find that if I do that instead of something that needed doing I don't really feel energized afterwards, more like I've wasted my evening..

I prefer to micro-manage the shit out of my spare time, otherwise I find myself just zoning out in the evenings.  First I figure out what spare time is available each day, and exactly the amount of time is required for tasks . . . then devise a strict routine to follow.  After a month or so, I make minor tweaks as needed.

If I have four hours in an evening it might go something like this:

15 min - Walk dog

5 min - Reheat pre-prepared supper/cut veggies for family meal
30 min - Eat supper with family
10 min - help with dishes/clear table/keep son busy

5 min - Warm-up (skipping, burpees, or jumping jacks)
15 min - Squats (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Military press (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Deadlift (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
5 min - Pull-ups (two sets of 15, 2 min break between)
5 min - stretching

15 min - Give son a bath (brush my teeth)
10 min - Dress son in pajamas, brush his teeth
20 min - Read stories to son
10 min - Deal with various methods son uses to delay bed time (pretending to need to go to the bathroom, crying because something isn't quite right in the room, complaining about temperature, etc.)

5 min - lay out clothes to be worn for next day, pack lunch for work for next day

5 min - scale/arpeggio review and warmup
5 min - soloing practice (chord tone targeting) over jazz track
5 min - improvisation over same jazz track
15 min - learning a new riff/song
5 min - sing notes, then play the melody on guitar
5 min - play melody on guitar, then sing notes
5 min - practice sight reading

15 min - read/relax before bed


The weird thing is, I don't feel like I've got energy when I get home, but once I actually start in following the routine I get energized by the things I'm doing.  Weekends tend to be less structured, but I make a task list of things to accomplish on Saturday and Sunday by the end of each Friday.

[GuitarStv]

GuitarStv, how do you do this in practical terms? Do you actually write down your schedule, and if so when do you do it? I am a bit intrigued by this as I always have these great ambitions for my evenings and somehow they always seem to disappear with me accomplishing much. Sure free time and zoning out is great but I find that if I do that instead of something that needed doing I don't really feel energized afterwards, more like I've wasted my evening..

I prefer to micro-manage the shit out of my spare time, otherwise I find myself just zoning out in the evenings.  First I figure out what spare time is available each day, and exactly the amount of time is required for tasks . . . then devise a strict routine to follow.  After a month or so, I make minor tweaks as needed.

If I have four hours in an evening it might go something like this:

15 min - Walk dog

5 min - Reheat pre-prepared supper/cut veggies for family meal
30 min - Eat supper with family
10 min - help with dishes/clear table/keep son busy

5 min - Warm-up (skipping, burpees, or jumping jacks)
15 min - Squats (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Military press (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
15 min - Deadlift (about 7 min increasing weights, 3 one min work sets with two min breaks)
5 min - Pull-ups (two sets of 15, 2 min break between)
5 min - stretching

15 min - Give son a bath (brush my teeth)
10 min - Dress son in pajamas, brush his teeth
20 min - Read stories to son
10 min - Deal with various methods son uses to delay bed time (pretending to need to go to the bathroom, crying because something isn't quite right in the room, complaining about temperature, etc.)

5 min - lay out clothes to be worn for next day, pack lunch for work for next day

5 min - scale/arpeggio review and warmup
5 min - soloing practice (chord tone targeting) over jazz track
5 min - improvisation over same jazz track
15 min - learning a new riff/song
5 min - sing notes, then play the melody on guitar
5 min - play melody on guitar, then sing notes
5 min - practice sight reading

15 min - read/relax before bed


The weird thing is, I don't feel like I've got energy when I get home, but once I actually start in following the routine I get energized by the things I'm doing.  Weekends tend to be less structured, but I make a task list of things to accomplish on Saturday and Sunday by the end of each Friday.

I keep my schedule in excel, a new spreadsheet for each day.  I've found that having a written plan that is rigidly adhered to really helps to achieve both music and exercise related goals.

The initial schedule takes forever to do and you won't get things right . . . but modifications after that for each iteration get quicker and quicker.  I'd be surprised if it takes me more than 15 minutes a month now.  You just review how things have been going and make little tweaks here and there based on what you want to improve on and your long term goals.

[NV Teacher]

By the end of the day I'm spent so that's my time to read, sew, or maybe watch something funny or interesting on the internet. I'll do chores if necessary but that doesn't happen too often.  I'm usually up by 5:00 so that's my time to putter around the house a bit before I get ready and leave for school.

[Sdrarcher]

I coach in the evenings. It's a bit of a side hustle but also a great way to get some energy back.  I can be completely fried at my corporate job and an hour later be on the range and back fully recharged with the teenagers.

[Miss Unleaded]

I don't really have a side hustle, but I do prefer to do productive or cost saving things with my spare time, instead of just relaxing. So my evening are usually spent on one of more of these activities:

• Growing food in our veggie garden/polytunnel.  Foraging in late summer and autumn.  Preserving the glut: jam, pickles, dried mushrooms, frozen veg, etc.  This usually makes late June to October rather busy.
• Meal planning and cooking meals that use cheap ingredients, like beans, lentils, pasta, pizza, etc. I also bake bread.
• I took up English paper piecing for the colder months so I have something to do with my hands while watching TV or on long trips. I always wanted a full sized hexagon quilt so that's my ongoing project.
• In between all of those things, we always have a major home renovation project ongoing. In six years, we have repaired the greenhouse and replaced all broken glass with donated windows, built a polytunnel, added two chicken runs, fixed the leaky roof and replaced the tiles, renovated the bathroom, added a 40m2 extension, repainted the exterior and right now we're about two thirds done with renovating the kitchen.
• My husband has about a dozen beehives so I help him with that. He has turned this into a bit of a side hustle and is finally making a small profit from it.  We also sell excess eggs to our neighbours. We don't make money from it, but it does help cover the cost of the chicken feed.

Most of these things are extremely different to what I do for a living, and it seems like they use different energy reserves that I use at work, so they somehow feel more like relaxing than work to me.

[jjandjab]

My read of the situation is you should just relax in the evenings, at least for now. Do something that isn't a "hustle". You are working 13 hr days between your job and real estate "hustle". By your admission you are having trouble finding a focus after work. So take cues from yourself/you body and just relax. Perhaps at some point you will get the inspiration - the best inspirations often come when we are relaxing. So take some time to do nothing - read, watch Netflix, exercise, cook, meditate- all good suggestions. Not all of us want to be FIRE - I want to be FI for sure -  but I want to have time during my working career to actually enjoy myself and spend some money within reason and allow myself to have some fun. 

[RyanAtTanagra]

15 minutes of meditation first thing when you get home is a pretty common one for resetting yourself.  But the big thing for me is this:

The minute I sit down to get on the computer, the rest of the evening is a lost cause productivity-wise.

If I sit down when I get home, even 'just for a minute', I've already lost.  If I have stuff I want to get done and I feel tired, or can sense the laziness coming on, I'll even take my shoes off standing up.

I try to get all chores and errands done during the week (run errands on the way home, stopping at home and leaving again takes way more energy) so I can devote the weekend to doing things I want to do, guilt-free, be it hiking or drinking with friends or just taking a down weekend and being lazy watching tv/playing video games.  Or in your case, working on a side gig.  If I have to waste a weekend day getting shit done that I could have done during the week it pisses me off, so this is my incentive after work to get it out of the way.

As others have pointed out it sounds like you're already using mental energy during more than enough of your workday.  Maybe use the rest of the day to free up your weekends.

[Erica]

Hello,

Question for you Mustachians.  I am avidly interested in side hustles outside of my 8-5.  I make pretty good money (and save the majority of it), but I want to do other things.  Typically I'm up by 4am and usually use the time between 4-7 to do real estate stuff and other side hustles. 

What I have a huge problem with is the evenings.  After work I just hit a wall, work is stressful and takes a lot of my energy.  I have a hard time 'resetting' and being ready to go in the evenings.  Do any of you have good rituals to 'reset' in the evenings and clear your head from your regular job to pursue other things? 

Seems like kind of a basic question and "be more disciplined" may be a good answer...  But I find that I have a hard time finding a good habit to enforce that has radically changed the way I spend my evenings. 

Thanks!

You work 8am-7pm already, saying you work a regular job from 8-5pm then work side hustles until 7am

After working 11 hrs a day, I'd be stressed too. You need to work your f/t job then use the side hustle time to exercise. Bike riding is an excellent idea. Running. Hiking. Gaia Kava Kava liquid & 1/4 cup of vodka work great, especially after bike riding 3 days a week. If not, Bible study & a hot bath.  Exercise meetup groups. Without exercise and eating right, there really is no de0compressing. JMHO

[WranglerBowman]

Hello,

Question for you Mustachians.  I am avidly interested in side hustles outside of my 8-5.  I make pretty good money (and save the majority of it), but I want to do other things.  Typically I'm up by 4am and usually use the time between 4-7 to do real estate stuff and other side hustles. 

What I have a huge problem with is the evenings.  After work I just hit a wall, work is stressful and takes a lot of my energy.  I have a hard time 'resetting' and being ready to go in the evenings.  Do any of you have good rituals to 'reset' in the evenings and clear your head from your regular job to pursue other things? 

Seems like kind of a basic question and "be more disciplined" may be a good answer...  But I find that I have a hard time finding a good habit to enforce that has radically changed the way I spend my evenings. 

Thanks!

I was just thinking about this yesterday after work when I could not get myself motivated.  I have a never ending list of things I need to do for: side hustles, work around the house, hobby development, etc...  I'm not sure if I was having a lazy day or what but I sat on the couch and drank a beer and watched an hour of news...something I rarely ever do.  I think it's ok to do that on occasion and just take a chill day if you need it.  I try to be in tune with my body and take a break if I need it as that seems to improve my productivity in the long run.  I've worked myself nearly death a couple times and getting sick does not help productivity at all.  Moderate to light exercise definitely helps productivity!

[WootWoot]

Sometimes I do mini collages. It's very relaxing for me to just glue things down without worrying if it is "art."

[Bracken_Joy]

Sometimes I do mini collages. It's very relaxing for me to just glue things down without worrying if it is "art."

I love this idea. A creative endeavor, but with less pressure =)

[Raeon]

Hello,

Question for you Mustachians.  I am avidly interested in side hustles outside of my 8-5.  I make pretty good money (and save the majority of it), but I want to do other things.  Typically I'm up by 4am and usually use the time between 4-7 to do real estate stuff and other....

As you said, you hit a wall when you get home. It's physical, not a shortcoming on your part. The human body works best in spurts of productivity. When you force it to concentrate and hustle all day there is an inevitable crash when you slow down. It's science. I have the same issue. I work 2am-6pm on my 2 long days. I then come home to finish paperwork. The "30 minutes of paperwork" takes me 2 hours because I sit down in the comfort of home and I'm just done. Too exhausted to concentrate. Since I can't get my paperwork done fast enough I go to sleep too late and screw up my next day that starts at 4am.
 Knowing exactly what you're going through I can give 2 suggestions that work for me.

1. Have a small snack. Not too big or you'll hit food coma. With your snack have a small dose of caffeine, not too big, you want to sleep in a couple more hours. After your half-caff cup of coffee, power nap for 15 minutes. Set a timer, anymore and you go too deep on your sleep. About the time you wake up, the caffeine starts to kick in and the the calories are also kicking in. Either take a fast shower or take a quick walk around the house to get your blood flowing again. Take out the trash, rile up the kids, let out the dogs, etc. You should buy yourself 3-4 more hours productivity this way. Do your best to get in bed by 9pm so you get your 7 hours sleep... even if you dont feel tired yet (you won't). The deprivation of less sleep than this will have a snowball effect that makes your evenings useless until your next day off to sleep in and recover.

2. Put off whatever you can until the next day when you're not already beat. Depending on your schedule, this may not be an option.

I recommend option 1. #2 is a good way to start a cycle of feeling burned out and defeated.

[Edubb20]

I work a mostly typical 9-5.

My typical routine looks something like this:

Monday: 2 hours of Jiu Jitsu after wrok
Tuesday: 1 hour of Jiu Jitsu and then D&D at a friends
Wednesday: Basketball/ Video Games
Thursday: 2 Hours of Jiu Jitsu after work
Friday:Time with the wife, netflix, date night, etc.
Saturday 2 hours of Jiu Jitsu in the morning
Sunday: Meditation or listening to Youtube readings of the Tao Te Ching, Reading, Occasional visit to the Unitarian Church

I can imagine this would be much harder to do consistently if I had children in the equation.
 

[Metric Mouse]

I work a mostly typical 9-5.

My typical routine looks something like this:

Monday: 2 hours of Jiu Jitsu after wrok
Tuesday: 1 hour of Jiu Jitsu and then D&D at a friends
Wednesday: Basketball/ Video Games
Thursday: 2 Hours of Jiu Jitsu after work
Friday:Time with the wife, netflix, date night, etc.
Saturday 2 hours of Jiu Jitsu in the morning
Sunday: Meditation or listening to Youtube readings of the Tao Te Ching, Reading, Occasional visit to the Unitarian Church

I can imagine this would be much harder to do consistently if I had children in the equation.

You might be surprised. Kids aren't that tough. However, whatever your wife is doing at those times would need to be replaced with 'watching kid'. If she's cool with that, then there's no problem.

[Poundwise]

Hmm, I guess it depends on the kids, and how many you have! I've found it very hard to do complex thinking while kids are around, because interruptions are frequent and unpredictable; though if I plan ahead of time, I can schedule little bursts of work. For example, oldest son frequently has extracurriculars in the evening, so I will chop off an hour's worth of work (knitting, reading, paperwork, or when I was working, some debugging) to do, whilst skulking in the car waiting to take him home. Usually by the time everyone's asleep, though, I'm too shot to do anything but read or internet-surf.

I find that at end of day, the best thing I can do is just skip the evening: go to bed ASAP and if I wake up at 4am, get up and do what I want then. For a while I was on a roll of going to bed at 8-9pm and waking at 3am.. crazy, but incredibly productive.  It's hard to keep this schedule, though-- one late evening screws it up for me.

Oops, though rereading OP's original post, it looks like he's already getting up at dawn!  I think there are just so many productive hours a person can have consistently.

[marty998]

I...err... ummm...

I read the forums to decompress.

Is that not the correct answer?

[Metric Mouse]

I...err... ummm...

I read the forums to decompress.

Is that not the correct answer?

One golden mustache sticker to you!

[LurkingMustache]

Hello,

Question for you Mustachians.  I am avidly interested in side hustles outside of my 8-5.  I make pretty good money (and save the majority of it), but I want to do other things.  Typically I'm up by 4am and usually use the time between 4-7 to do real estate stuff and other....

As you said, you hit a wall when you get home. It's physical, not a shortcoming on your part. The human body works best in spurts of productivity. When you force it to concentrate and hustle all day there is an inevitable crash when you slow down. It's science. I have the same issue. I work 2am-6pm on my 2 long days. I then come home to finish paperwork. The "30 minutes of paperwork" takes me 2 hours because I sit down in the comfort of home and I'm just done. Too exhausted to concentrate. Since I can't get my paperwork done fast enough I go to sleep too late and screw up my next day that starts at 4am.
 Knowing exactly what you're going through I can give 2 suggestions that work for me.

1. Have a small snack. Not too big or you'll hit food coma. With your snack have a small dose of caffeine, not too big, you want to sleep in a couple more hours. After your half-caff cup of coffee, power nap for 15 minutes. Set a timer, anymore and you go too deep on your sleep. About the time you wake up, the caffeine starts to kick in and the the calories are also kicking in. Either take a fast shower or take a quick walk around the house to get your blood flowing again. Take out the trash, rile up the kids, let out the dogs, etc. You should buy yourself 3-4 more hours productivity this way. Do your best to get in bed by 9pm so you get your 7 hours sleep... even if you dont feel tired yet (you won't). The deprivation of less sleep than this will have a snowball effect that makes your evenings useless until your next day off to sleep in and recover.

2. Put off whatever you can until the next day when you're not already beat. Depending on your schedule, this may not be an option.

I recommend option 1. #2 is a good way to start a cycle of feeling burned out and defeated.

There is almost too much feedback to quote from so many great posts so I just chose one.  Thank you for all of your insights!  I absolutely love this place because there are so many like-minded folks that can help along the way.  I'll have to try your #1, because like you mentioned, when I feel like I "put stuff off" I get more stressed rather than not.  It makes it hard to enjoy any time that should be "relaxing".

Also love the workout mention.  I love Jiu Jitsu so I'm consistently working more time in for that.  Being on the mats and being forced (literally) to not think about anything else is a great way to relieve the stress.  :)

And the chicken coops/beehives/garden suggestions are things that I would LOVE to do, I grew up in the country.  Right now though I'm kind of stuck in the city.  It's on my list to get there though!

[RyanAtTanagra]

when I feel like I "put stuff off" I get more stressed rather than not.  It makes it hard to enjoy any time that should be "relaxing".

I get this too, one thing I've found to help both getting things done and being able to relax/be lazy guilt-free is to have a to-do list.  It clears the mind and makes everything seem less daunting when it's written in front of me instead of jumbled up in my head.  It also makes it easier to do one or two things in the evening and cross them off.  Then when there's nothing on the list, or I'm happy with how short I've gotten it, I'm ok with taking a day and doing nothing.

[mountains_o_mustaches]

I don't have much more to add beyond suggestions others have made in terms of trying to get some energy, but I may express a less popular opinion - don't try to cram more into your day - you're already pretty darn productive!  Everyone has a chronotype - that is a time of day that you are most alert vs. more tired - and that's based on your circadian rhythm.  This can be a hard thing to change and often you're not going to get the best of both worlds (i.e., being super alert in both the morning and the evening).  My recommendation is follow your body's signals - use the morning time when you're naturally more alert to be productive and use the evenings to unwind and relax.  Here's some reading on chronotype if that interests you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype

[Johnez]

Netflix, forums for me. Good bye rest of the day.....

I keep trying to journal....so far about 4 entries in the past 10 months. :-/

And holy fricken crap guitarstv, you are a monster.