The importance of habits appears essential in order to maximize the available coding time. The modular food idea in one of the replies is indeed a great one that I do apply. Getting enough quality sleep is a must, especially when learning new things. Add at least an hour. Taking 20 min naps works wonders. If course, nothing beats putting in the hours, provided the above is taken care of. One useful thing I do is walk the dog daily without any music/podcast. Looks like it puts my brain in a kind of freewheel that helps me a lot in figuring out solutions. I do that when it is dark outside, stars, moon, night noises seem to have an impact. An additional noon walk doesn't hurt. Being part of an open source (http://pharo.org) community makes me aim for higher than I would on my own. These people are very inspiring and deliver awesome things. So I want do to it too as I see that it is feasible. I am married and having a partner who understands the peculiarities of the line of work helps. We have a huge wall calendar to schedule it all.