I am married and a caregiver to my grandparents. My grandparents do not sleep for long and my husband has an erratic schedule. So I try to study when I can and learn using different methods such as podcasts, PDFs, and short videos. I am struggling with application after learning concepts.
Hi, I'm Gregory Brown.
My goal is to help software developers get better at what they do, whether they've been at it for five weeks or fifty years.
(he/him)
Although the emotional context is different, for several years before my kids were in school I was with them most of the day and my time was stretched super thin as well.
What worked for me was to try to get really organized about designing my work and studies for interruption, never expecting more than 15-30 mins of focus at a time. I got in the habit of constantly writing notes as I worked, which helped me resume whenever I got pulled away.
I also worked really hard at tracking my daily routine and the typical patterns of the day. Any little opportunity to simplify or optimize some routine chore was time (and more importantly, energy) saved. It took a ton of trial and error, but any small quiet moments I could carve out were worth the effort.
All that said, what you are doing for your grandparents is so important and valuable, so... even if learning progress is slow it helps to remember that.
Thank you, Practicing Developer. I was frustrated that I was progressing slowly, yet as you pointed out taking care of my grandparents is important to me.
I will use that tip of expecting no more than 15-30 mins of study time and write notes to easily resume. I am typing notes currently but it is not sticking as well as I hoped. I already have my notebook and pen picked out.
Did you use anything specially like tools, methods, or apps to track your daily schedule?
Hi, I'm Gregory Brown.
My goal is to help software developers get better at what they do, whether they've been at it for five weeks or fifty years.
(he/him)
For a while I was using a tool I had built myself for routine tracking, but I no longer use that. Instead, I use a combination of a large legal pad to take notes on paper and some checklists set up in Notion.
I pay attention to what seems to be working and what's not working and write notes by hand throughout the day, and when clear patterns emerge then I go and update my checklists in Notion.
One way to think about this which helped me was that I was trying to design a system of working and living that fit for my situation, rather than holding myself up to some external idea of what the ideal schedule would look like.
So rather than feeling totally frustrated that things weren't the way I wish they could be, I got interested in seeing how I could make little bits of progress here and there and optimize whatever I could.
I am married and a caregiver to my grandparents. My grandparents do not sleep for long and my husband has an erratic schedule. So I try to study when I can and learn using different methods such as podcasts, PDFs, and short videos. I am struggling with application after learning concepts.
Although the emotional context is different, for several years before my kids were in school I was with them most of the day and my time was stretched super thin as well.
What worked for me was to try to get really organized about designing my work and studies for interruption, never expecting more than 15-30 mins of focus at a time. I got in the habit of constantly writing notes as I worked, which helped me resume whenever I got pulled away.
I also worked really hard at tracking my daily routine and the typical patterns of the day. Any little opportunity to simplify or optimize some routine chore was time (and more importantly, energy) saved. It took a ton of trial and error, but any small quiet moments I could carve out were worth the effort.
All that said, what you are doing for your grandparents is so important and valuable, so... even if learning progress is slow it helps to remember that.
Thank you, Practicing Developer. I was frustrated that I was progressing slowly, yet as you pointed out taking care of my grandparents is important to me.
I will use that tip of expecting no more than 15-30 mins of study time and write notes to easily resume. I am typing notes currently but it is not sticking as well as I hoped. I already have my notebook and pen picked out.
Did you use anything specially like tools, methods, or apps to track your daily schedule?
For a while I was using a tool I had built myself for routine tracking, but I no longer use that. Instead, I use a combination of a large legal pad to take notes on paper and some checklists set up in Notion.
I pay attention to what seems to be working and what's not working and write notes by hand throughout the day, and when clear patterns emerge then I go and update my checklists in Notion.
One way to think about this which helped me was that I was trying to design a system of working and living that fit for my situation, rather than holding myself up to some external idea of what the ideal schedule would look like.
So rather than feeling totally frustrated that things weren't the way I wish they could be, I got interested in seeing how I could make little bits of progress here and there and optimize whatever I could.
Thank you for that information!!