How to balance work with learning

[Craig_J]

Hello, I'[m 19 and haven't posted on this forum as much as I was. I finished college for the summer in June and hadn't had much else to do, so I was reading into communism a lot and improving my politcal knowledge through online resources, books and other things. However, now I have a job which I started two weeks ago. I work 10-6 five days a week. Once I get back from work I usually have my dinner and then go off to the gym and it's always to late to improve my knowledge of communism, anarchism and other forms of socalism.

Is there anyway I could make it easier to do this? I used to viist this forum frequently as being involved in debates and seeing other debates was really helpful for me to decide my position on certain problems etc. Now though it feels I haven't the time to learn much more

[The Jay]

If I could, I recommend that you take an hour each day to alternate between reading and posting. I mean that it would be a good idea to post and browse the forum for an hour every other day and to read on the other days. If you find yourself with vacant time on weekends you could extend the times if you wish. What do you think of that?

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

What kind of commitments do you before 10? I actually get a lot of reading done in the mornings before work, you might also think about moving your workout to the morning as well. It can be difficult at first to get used to that level of exertion so early in the day, but I always feel better throughout the day if I can squeeze in a morning workout.

[Richard Roth]

In my experience "summer reading" is very unsuccessful. I learn better when I am at college spending all the time learning and studying.

[SonofRage]

Audio books and or videos are always an option

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[Brutus]

Do you get a bus into work? Read on that.

[The Idler]

Audio books.
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=1137

[Red Economist]

I'd suggest Using Wikipedia; if you build up a decent general knowledge of what communism, anarchism and socialism are, a bit about their history, and a general outline of the theoretical differences, you can probably use your time more efficiently to get to the questions you want to answer. If you know what your questions are it gets much easier to find the answers.

p.s. don't force yourself to read; just enjoy it and any political commitment will come naturally. you'll keep reading and coming back to the subject even if you don't have a lot of time to do it. :grin:

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Talk to people at work. Probably bouncing ideas around the work place is as good a method of study for figuring out questions of class power as the internet is.

[Uccello]

On days that I'm not feeling completely wasted, I sometimes stay up at night for a couple of extra hours and try to get some reading done then. You might feel little bit more tired when you wake up in the morning, but you know that it was worth it.

Also, I try to get some reading in during my lunch break at work. This really doesn't amount to much per day, but if you work full time, this adds up to over two extra hours of reading time a week (assuming that you have thirty minute lunch breaks like I do).

I don't know exactly what you're gym routine consists of, but I used to run a mile on the treadmill and try to get some reading in then.

The only thing that I would advise you not to do is to over excerpt yourself physically and mentally. You might become too tired to give the book your are reading your fullest attention. Also, reading may become a chore to you, and you may not enjoy it as much.

I hope this helps.:grin: I'm sure that most of us on this forum have the same problem.
Solidarity, brother.

[The Idler]

I suppose a related question is, with so much material out there, what are the most commonly read materials that are a waste of time?
Another way to get a good breadth of knowledge is read monthly magazines which aim to be contemporary and broad. You can download the Socialist Standard PDF for free.

[Craig_J]

Thank you to everyone for your answers, they've been very helpful. As you can tell, it's taken me a short while to reply. Again because of work :p An additional thank you to whoever it was who invited me to the audio-book group as I assume I was invited due to posting this thread. I'll look to donwload some of those and listen to them whilst I go to the gym, therefore killing two birds with one stone.

Also, my hours from now on are forunately 1-6 which will help greatly! Thanks again comrades :D

[The Idler]

No problem about the audio books but comrades with time should take a look at some of the proposed projects. When I get a new laptop I will be recording as many of these as I can.

[Sotionov]

I work as a night watchman, where hanging out on my laptop reading stuff is seen favourably, being that I don't sleep on the job. If you can, find a job like that.

[Comrade #138672]

Even though I'm not a full-time worker yet (student), when I go to work or college (I travel by train), I usually try to read at least one article or part of a pamphlet or book. At work, I try to read little bits during the lunchbreak.

Since I'm employed as a programmer, I'm behind the computer all the time when working. Sometimes I decide to work very fast for a little while, so I can permit myself to read a little bit and then go back to work. I have to admit that it doesn't make me as "productive" as I could be, but it's something that counters my feelings of alienation, boredom and powerlessness.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

Talk to people at work. Probably bouncing ideas around the work place is as good a method of study for figuring out questions of class power as the internet is.

Depending on where you work this could be a horrible horrible horrible idea and may cost you your job. Trust me, i've watched it happen.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Depending on where you work this could be a horrible horrible horrible idea and may cost you your job. Trust me, i've watched it happen.

*shrug* There's some concrete learning experience, eh?
Honestly though, I think one can tactfully discuss issues without blurting out, "I'm a communist! What do you think of that?" to one of the manager's favourite snitches. Mind you, I guess I also have a decade of practice, so maybe it's easy for me to say.

[emilianozapata]

commit to reading a certain amount of pages of a book each day.