How to enjoy sitting long hours while learning a new thing for several weeks or months?

I will share part of my own personal experience.

My main formation is as an autodidact, I got my first job as junior software engineer after months of self taught work, for example: I made my blog using PHP with an admin panel, even I didn't really needed to built it myself, I did it for:

1. Showing a "real world" project that actually runs and brings value to some people.
2. I could post tech topics, building my personal brand.

I skipped a lot of hobbies and family time. More than I actually wanted. And the costs were:

• Deterioration in my family relationships.
• I hurt specially my girlfriend relationship.

When I got the job offer, I was happy because of my effort, but my mental health and relationships were negatively affected. It was some kind of pyric victory.

If would repeat that process, I would take it easier and try to enjoy the process.

Yes, I love the ambitious mentality, but with the years, it's better to have a balance in your life:

• Your social relationships.
• Your family relationships.
• Your job.
• Your personal time.

Now, regarding your case, here are my tips:

1. Quality over quantity. Identify which time of the day you are more productive and can have a strong focus time working on something, and use it for studying or building. My case (and the majority of the people), the first hours of the day are the most productive time, so can do the most challenging tasks on those hours.
   1. In my case, I used most of my time building and studying, I wouldn't spent the same amount of time if I would need to repeat that experience.
2. Use the rest of the time for your hobbies and family, so you take care of you relationships at the same time you are rocking your career.
3. Exercise: There are mental health benefits of doing exercise, if you want to be more productive, you want to have a healthy brain.
4. Eat healthy food: Personally, I struggle with this 🐷 but this is important if you think in a long term.

Remember: Invest and take care of your mental health, because your mind (your brain) will help you to get everything else that you want: money, position, knowledge, etc.

Is it possible for you to continue doing your hobbies and have family time?

You might end up resenting or regretting the time you used to learn something new if it means you miss out on these opportunities.

Can you find 1-2 hours in the day for study? This might come in the form of cutting down on less significant activities like streaming shows, offloading chores, etc. You could also sleep later or wake up earlier for studying.

It might be worth it to track how you spend your time each hour for the span of a week. Are there any items, where, 10 years from now, you wouldn't have any regret if you didn't do these items? Cut those items out, and use them for study.

How to enjoy sitting long hours while learning a new thing for several weeks or months

Can you break down what you are trying to learn into 2-week chunks? If it's a blob of "I just need to learn X", it's hard to see what the end goal is. Ideally, you can create goals for each 2-week period, like you want to ship X that demonstrates what I learned in that 2-week period.

Great thoughts and suggestions! Thanks Charlie!

Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions!