What do you do when your NOT studying?

Working from home, my days flow is:

wake up -> walk to laptop for work -> yawn -> walk to laptop for studying -> yawn -> PS4 -> yawn -> bed to repeat.

I am looking for something to replace the PS4 section in my day, I inherited a set of golf clubs I'm going to try to hit the ball further than the dirt, and some tennis rackets but I have a sh*tty back from years of sitting on my ass studying so bending over to pick up the ball ain't like it used to be

I'd be interested to hear your ideas, my fiance deals with basically not seeing me during the work week even though I work and study from home, so I'm wondering what extra curricular activities other IT hermits do when they crawl out of their shells (especially to make up to loved ones for studying non-stop)?

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NetworkNewb

I used to play golf alot, workout, play guitar... Then the wife and I had a kid. Now I don't know what free time feels like anymore.

GSXR750K2

I correct grammar and spelling...you're.

I kid, I kid.

When I supported servers for a retailer that rhymes with Wal-Mart, I got into flying light aircraft mainly as a way to keep my sanity. That became a very expensive hobby, however. Motorcycles have been a thing off and on for about 15 years now (as my username depicts), and when I have one and the weather is nice I go for a ride (75°F or higher...at 34 years of age I'm too old to be out riding in the cold

).

Aside from that, I do XBone gaming (sorry PS4 guys), watch a crap ton of movies, or find a weekend getaway with my girlfriend.

-EDIT-

@ande0255, I love your signature by the way, I told a couple of guys at work about it the other day and they "remembered" those days.

dontstop

I found that during my last burst of studying I started with a really good mix of study and play. For some reason I started to drop off my hobbies and this impacted my study quality and my ability to study well.

Hobbies include:

Dirtbikes
Road Cycling
Walks
I've been trying to get into Gaming in order to have a focused distraction from the PC
Cooking is a great distraction to

istiase

lol, i use snapchat, IG, and Hangout With Friends

NOC-Ninja

Play Overwatch, and brazilian jiu jitsu.
I limit overwatch by playing only 2 games per day.

ande0255

@GSXR - Thank you, a lot of these kids now adays don't know the anticipation of watching a picture of Pamela Anderson in the 90's load part by part of the web page!

I am trying not to stare at screens all the time, but with a recliner in front of a TV and PS4 it is so hard to muster the will to do something outside, but now that it is unthawing in MN I am hoping I get something to unplug myself from technology.

Maybe frisbee, hitting whiffle balls with the golf clubs, or just walking around parks. I feel like working all day then going right to CCNP studying is so mentally draining, I just want to slump in my recliner and go brain dead, like I am about to do now after studying for freegin hours.

Also @Newb, I can't imagine how you do it with a family, I can barely keep the fiance at bay to let me study for hours on end!

@NOC - I figured your past time from studying was studying

@dontstop - I often do the household chores like dishes / laundry / cleaning, and actually found it almost as gratifying as a good study or lab session, that feeling of accomplishment!

E Double U

When I'm not working or studying, I'm usually doing something with my wife and two sons. When I am free from their grip, I like to jog, swim, or play tennis. I am also studying Dutch.

dontstop

ande0255 wrote: »

@NOC - I figured your past time from studying was studying

That or studying how to study during study breaks.

DatabaseHead

Kettlebells, drink scotch, play with my 3 kids, date night on Thursday with my wife, scour jobs on indeed........

Use to hike, but that took up WAY to much time.

MAC_Addy

My day is like this:

-Wake up
-no time for yawning!
-Shower
-Get kids breakfast
-Say bye to the wife
-drive to work (listen to podcast on the way to work)
-Work (do a thing!)
-Drive home
-Play with kids
-Eat dinner
-get kids ready for bed
-workout
-Study
-Sleep.

MAC_Addy

dontstop wrote: »

Hobbies include:
Road Cycling

Likewise for me, too! 'tis the season over here in the US. Got some crit races coming up!

Chev Chellios

MAC_Addy wrote: »

My day is like this:

-Wake up
-no time for yawning!
-Shower
-Get kids breakfast
-Say bye to the wife
-drive to work (listen to podcast on the way to work)
-Work (do a thing!)
-Drive home
-Play with kids
-Eat dinner
-get kids ready for bed
-workout
-Study
-Sleep.

x 2 if it's any consolation!?

Fulcrum45

When I'm not studying? I spend time with my son (he's only going to be little for so long) and have a few- or several- cocktails with the wife. When I'm not with them I'm mowing the lawn or fixing what needs fixed because home ownership kinda blows. Other than that I'm working on my comic book, fishing or hiking.

Russ5813

I haven't been studying as much as I should lately, partly because I feel that I spend too much time being sedentary at work and partly because I'm genetically predisposed to certain health problems that are exacerbated by lack of exercise. So in my free time I hang out with the wife, play with my dogs, do some weightlifting, go biking or kayaking, and work around the house. I try to squeeze in some educational reading for about an hour or so before bed.

tedjames

I've been playing guitar in bands in 1992 (started playing in 1989). Occasionally, I'll tinker with electronics. Then there's the never ending battle of cleaning the garage. I also run a small business on the side. I exercise every day. In between, I try to find time to read from my huge backlog of novels. Good idea to get off the PS4. Video games are a huge time suck.

JasminLandry

MAC_Addy wrote: »

My day is like this:

-Wake up
-no time for yawning!
-Shower
-Get kids breakfast
-Say bye to the wife
-drive to work (listen to podcast on the way to work)
-Work (do a thing!)
-Drive home
-Play with kids
-Eat dinner
-get kids ready for bed
-workout
-Study
-Sleep.

Do your days have more than 24 hours? I don't even have kids and I don't have time to do all of this.

I play hockey, soccer, work out, Netflix and just relax and do stuff I guess and spend time with my girlfriend and friends of course. I also have classes on evenings but I guess we can put this under studying.

JoJoCal19

Haha lot's of similar situations to my own. See, it's the other way around for me. I squeeze in studying only when I'm not: spending time with the kids, spending time with the wife, working on house projects, spending time out with the family, traveling, spending a night here and there with my friends bowling or golfing, weightlifting.

MAC_Addy

JasminLandry wrote: »

Do your days have more than 24 hours? I don't even have kids and I don't have time to do all of this.

I need more than 24 hours in a day. It seems like a long day, but it's not. I can often squeeze in a couple of hours of studying at work. So often I don't have to study when I get home.

PC509

Now that the weather is getting better, I've been doing gardening and yard work. I like to try and get some video games in there (so close to finishing arcade cab), but I have been trying to spend less time in front of a screen.

I've had a lot more time for reading other books that aren't IT related, which is nice.

ande0255

PC509 wrote: »

Now that the weather is getting better, I've been doing gardening and yard work. I like to try and get some video games in there (so close to finishing arcade cab), but I have been trying to spend less time in front of a screen.

I've had a lot more time for reading other books that aren't IT related, which is nice.

My attention span for reading even study material is short now adays,, like if it's not field notes that I can skip to the relevant section (like finding upgrade paths for technologies), it almost to me feels like "Why am I even reading this?"

I picked up "Network Warrior" for after the CCNP if the old brain doesn't implode, I figured it would be casual no note-taking read that will still give some insight to real world IT scenarios, maybe that will be my segway into the Harry Potter series or something

@MAC_addy There is always time for yawns, just ask any kitty!

Seriously like someone else said, I don't know how you fit half that in your day unless your study time is somewhere between 10-15 minutes! My workday with studying is like 8-5ish, eat with girl for 20 minutes, then study for 2-3 hours. Then after that I go brain dead, and leave my mouth open so the drool can run down my shirt, so I don't accidentally drown on it - Now that is a hot night for me!

ande0255

dontstop wrote: »

That or studying how to study during study breaks.

This one made me LOL, +1 for that post hahaha.

FillAwful

No kids yet so I find I have a lot of free time. I try to make my other hobbies less tech related for a change of pace so I work out 3 days a week, play on the company softball team, go snowboarding in the winter, hiking, camping. Also, desk jobs will rot your body so this helps.

The exception is lately I have been participating in Bug Bounties and its been a really challenging and rewarding way to learn. I've only had moderate success with actually earning bounties, but the community is great and I've been learning a ton along the way. Much like many pursuits, its lots of hours of reading, trying, failing, and reading again in search of that moment of awesome when you find something cool.

higherho

Plan my next Disney World trip.

Dakinggamer87

-Playing video games
-Watch anime
-Workout
-Travel the world
-Watch Movies
-Missionary trips/church events

KGhaleon

*Games, mostly stuff on my Switch right now. Picked up Persona 5 and Yooka-laylee for PS4.
*I'll take a trip if I've got time off from work saved up. I fly between California and Tokyo a lot.

Psoasman

Fishing, shooting, and other outdoor stuff. Legos with my boys.

ande0255

After getting off work at 4:30pm today, and sitting down to study BGP at 5pm, and finishing by 1:30am with all the re-cabling of the physical rack / creating new topology's to accommodate the concepts being demonstrated / troubleshooting issues on the side (outside of notes) I found a new past time - A nice stiff Windsor and Diet Coke

No work tomorrow for this guy, so once I drag my hungover butt out of bed it'll be right back to it, but my brain is just completely numb right now so I'm going to celebrate making it so far into studying!

Cheers!!

When I finally earn that CCNP R/S, I am taking a vacation somewhere with palm trees and white beaches, and drinks that come with little umbrellas in them!

securityorc

I play computer games, watch anime and series, read (going through all the DnD novels now), work out and looking to start some martial arts and firearms training, I don't want all my skills to be tied to the computer

FillAwful wrote: »

No kids yet so I find I have a lot of free time. I try to make my other hobbies less tech related for a change of pace so I work out 3 days a week, play on the company softball team, go snowboarding in the winter, hiking, camping. Also, desk jobs will rot your body so this helps.

The exception is lately I have been participating in Bug Bounties and its been a really challenging and rewarding way to learn. I've only had moderate success with actually earning bounties, but the community is great and I've been learning a ton along the way. Much like many pursuits, its lots of hours of reading, trying, failing, and reading again in search of that moment of awesome when you find something cool.

That is awesome, recently I've also tried to fit them into my schedule, but I feel a bit lost after the recon phase. I am going through the newly released HackerOne disclosures everyday, and read some blogs about web hacking from successful bug bounty hunters. I've gone through the Web Application Hacker's Handbook and the free Web Hacking 101 from HackerOne, but I still feel lost after doing recon on targets and testing (with no success) obvious input vectors.

I intend to be more serious about bug bounties, but I have much to study in the meantime, so it's a tough fit.

dontstop

The people whom I've worked with who are the best in the business equally put time and effort into their hobbies. I think it all comes down to not focusing your attention onto something to the exclusion of other hobbies. Spending 2 quality hours a day studying and the rest of the time having fun/working on other pursuits is much more important than studying 5-6 hours a day of low quality study.

This graphic is also very important to avoid burnout:

ande0255

I laughed at that exhaustion funnel, only because I am trying to double time the ROUTE material to make my current test date of 4/28, I would be at the bottom of the funnel with near dead as the title.

I actually enjoy studying, it is really like a hobby to me, and once the whether is nice I have a park down the street to play tennis / frisbee golf / walking trails / hit golf balls in the huge open parts of the park.

I am in MN though, and the weather in the Twin Cities since winter has been absolutely horrific. There has been only a hand full of days that it's nice and sunny that I've been able to get out, but once we start getting nice days, I'll be getting out and about probably daily.

I have slight insomnia since college, as I worked overnights at a hotel to pay rent and school fee's, and attended classes from 10am - 9pm and tutor / sleep with my head on a desk inbetween my classes that ended at noon and started again at 5pm. So some days I wouldn't sleep at all between studying / working / school, and to this day I have trouble sleeping, and I feel guilt about being awake and not doing something productive like reading a book to study from bed or something.

I probably get about 2-4 hours of sleep a night, I've been prescribed Trazadone which is like a quick knockout pill that hardly touched me, and it wears off in about an hour so if you don't doze off in that time you are awake with bloodshot eyes til 4am wondering if your going to sleep at all before work - That's when it hits Joylessness / Depression.

I am not sure how to correct my sleep problem, but I think that causes a LOT of other problems for me like stress during work, study guilt because I am not studying when I am awake, becoming enraged out of nowhere for no good reason, etc.

I still haven't slept from last night, but on that note, I am completely drained from studying for the last 6-7 hours so I'm going to hopefully go sleep til the afternoon and hopefully it will be nice enough to get out and go suck at playing tennis again or throw a frisbee around.