How Do You Structure Your Time If You Love What You Do?

00:00:00.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:03.280 | All right.

00:00:05.780 | So we have another question here.

00:00:07.160 | This is also from Patrick.

00:00:10.640 | Patrick says, how do you structure your time

00:00:13.880 | if you love what you do?

00:00:16.160 | I wonder if this is the same Patrick as before.

00:00:18.160 | It probably is, actually.

00:00:19.400 | Here's a little bit of an elaboration.

00:00:20.980 | Patrick says he's a PhD student and that he enjoys my work.

00:00:25.200 | Thank you, Patrick.

00:00:27.080 | He really loves what he's doing, but some of his leisure

00:00:29.520 | activities are related to his work.

00:00:31.440 | So Patrick says he's researching AI,

00:00:34.640 | but is also interested in the epistemology of knowledge

00:00:37.360 | discovery from data.

00:00:38.360 | So he's reading philosophy and trying

00:00:40.360 | to write some epistemological short papers.

00:00:43.280 | He's also taking some MOOCs, massively online courses,

00:00:47.240 | to improve his science writing skills.

00:00:49.840 | He's doing that in his free time after he does

00:00:51.760 | schedule shutdown complete.

00:00:53.720 | He also reviews academic papers and tries to eat healthy foods

00:00:58.080 | and reads a lot.

00:00:59.040 | And he's trying to figure out--

00:01:01.040 | here's what he says.

00:01:01.880 | As you can see, some of these leisure activities

00:01:03.880 | are also work-related, although not that closely.

00:01:06.760 | I emphasize that I enjoy doing these activities.

00:01:08.840 | Do you think this is a sustainable approach

00:01:10.640 | or do I need to focus more on another bucket of my life?

00:01:14.360 | All right.

00:01:14.840 | So basically, Patrick, you have a cool job

00:01:17.200 | and you have a lot of things you're interested in.

00:01:19.280 | And there's a lot of overlap between the things

00:01:21.000 | you're interested in and your job.

00:01:22.440 | And I think that's all great.

00:01:24.280 | And I'm not going to advocate for significantly reducing

00:01:29.000 | this energy and just leaving more time free

00:01:31.360 | in your schedule.

00:01:32.120 | You're doing nothing because you're being energized by this.

00:01:36.040 | I think what I would moderate here is commitment activities.

00:01:41.320 | I'm going to draw a clear distinction.

00:01:43.760 | Here are things I have to do as part of a long-term commitment

00:01:47.720 | versus here is something I'm going to do right now

00:01:50.880 | because it's interesting.

00:01:53.040 | But it would be no problem if I didn't do it.

00:01:55.720 | I'm interested in it.

00:01:57.440 | I'm taking this online course at my own pace

00:01:59.480 | because I want to be a better science writer.

00:02:01.320 | I'm reading this book because I'm interested in the topic.

00:02:03.920 | I have a hobby AI project I'm monkeying around with

00:02:06.840 | because it seems like it's interesting.

00:02:10.040 | I think it's fine to have a bunch of stuff

00:02:11.960 | like that that you're using to fill up your leisure time

00:02:16.720 | because it's not going to cause stress if it's not commitments.

00:02:20.920 | It's not going to cause stress if you

00:02:22.480 | know that you can put the breakdown as needed.

00:02:25.960 | If something in work comes up that's urgent,

00:02:27.800 | you can not take that course for two weeks.

00:02:31.120 | If there's a family emergency, it's not a big deal

00:02:33.360 | if you stop reading the book.

00:02:34.680 | So make that distinction.

00:02:36.360 | Keep the stuff that you are committed to,

00:02:38.200 | what you're doing in work, the academic projects you're

00:02:40.880 | working on, the mentoring, the stuff

00:02:41.920 | that you have to come back to and you have no options.

00:02:44.160 | Keep that reasonable.

00:02:44.960 | Control that.

00:02:46.040 | Keep that footprint small.

00:02:48.880 | And then if you want to explore whatever in the time that

00:02:53.440 | remains, that's great.

00:02:54.600 | I think that is good.

00:02:55.840 | So just make that clear distinction.

00:02:57.480 | Filling your time with things that you can pause as needed

00:03:01.720 | is, I think, completely fine if you find that energizing.

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How Do You Structure Your Time If You Love What You Do?

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