Time management and getting things done

I am constantly amazed by the products, code that ppl here on the forum are producing. Where do you get the time? How do you divide your week to do some coding?

I've been working on various tidbit, learning a lot along the way, but dont get to a finished usable "product".

How do you guys divide your time? My average (work)day consists of >2hrs traveltime to work, 9hrs fulltime job, >1hr fitness/sport, preparing dinner (i live alone) and gotta get >8hrs of decent sleep. During weekends i spend time socializing catching up for the years spent too much at computer ;).

I know that jake (GreyAlien) posted a few links a whileback and curios about time management, goal setting etc.
How do you guys divide your day? Maybe i can learn something here?

I really wanna get into programming a "snakes"-clone but dont make any progress, ATM coded a grid which tracks movement of the snake. I know already the basics of OOP and ftbass' tutorial plus the blitzmax book by Sloan Kelly gave sum excellent tips on programming. I feel taking over ideas from such book is just typing in code of sum1 else..

How to balance RL work, socializing, and getting a game done?

This is a certain amount of neglecting normal activties. Leanr to hate TV, try not to play games, and see friends as luxury items. As for the girlfriend, try to get a girlfriend that is understanding of your need to use computers at all times.

You could probably cut your fitness down to 1.5 hours every two days, it'll have the same effect, your body needs time to recover.

Regarding your game, write a feature list of what will be int he completed game, then brake down each feature into sepeate goals. Then write a long todo list in notepad and start at number 1, add to this list as yu think of more things to add to the game.

I am exactly the same situation, but I have actually seen improvements to my productivity since starting this:

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205424345&sr=8-1

I very much recommended it, It does take a while to implement, but I have seen increases in the way I work and its not even implemented fully yet.

Its very popular on the net too with programming geeks, search for 'gtd'

Also available as an audio book on itunes (which I prefer)

It's difficult. I am trying to focus at the moment on being productive when I'm actually at the computer, and not procrastinating or avoiding. Something that has helped me increase productivity lately is to realize that anything I code only has to be coded once, because once it is coded I don't have to go back and redo it - so remembering that I only have to put in the drudge work one time and that it isn't always going to be the same work, gives me a sense of progress and willingness to proceed with patience.

Physically I usually spend several hours on a weekend since in the week I am usually more involved in other things.

Get a closer job :)

I'm also a day-jobbing man with a spouse and other hobbies, so I've too found it quite hard to squeeze in my coding sessions. Ananta, my one-man project has been in development for more than a year now, and is currently at 3500 code lines (without remarks), so the progress has been really slow. Still, I'm not bothered with it because it's really just a hobby and not something I do for money.

Also, I never actually expect my game to be finished in the "yay, 1.0 released, let's move on to the next project" -sense. It's meant to be my "pet coding project" which I will continue to develop until I feel too old for this stuff ;) Luckily Ananta represents a genre that is infinitely expandable well beyond the initial release date, with more feature ideas coming in faster than 20 coders could ever implement.

I simply couldn't do it when I had a full-time day job, I ended up staying up half the night for months and running my immune system into the ground. I realised it was going to take years to finish my game at that rate and I'd be doing hardly anything else in my spare time. So I quit the day job and starting game programming full-time. For me it's worked out, but it's tough and lots of people find it very hard (financially).

Here's how I organise my week though: Monday is ADMIN day and I make sure that I do all my boring home and business admin. I have an in-tray and anything that arrives in the week which is not super-urgent (like deal with same day urgent), I stick in the in-tray. Then I clean it out every Monday morning. Then I know I have no more admin to do all week, I can just have fun coding, yay!

I also teach Aikido twice a week without fail, this ensures I get my sport in, but I do exercises most days too, just when I fancy it.

Weekend is generally family time so I'll try not to code or work, but sometimes I do. In the evenings I sometimes code/work and other times spend it with my partner, or a bit of both. I work with a lot of people in the US and they start replying to emails about about 6pm GMT so I'm always temped to reply then and get a volley going.