I spent 20+ years in the corporate world as a programmer, and I had this very same problem...<p>I experimented with every known sleeping pattern, every known diet, every known exercise regimen, every known pattern of time-management, etc.<p>Or, at least it sure felt like that to me...<p>In the end, <i>none of those things solved the problem</i> -- though I tried very very hard to make each of them work...<p>You see, what it all boils down to is simply this:<p>"A man cannot have two masters".<p>Your work is one master, your hobbies are the other, if they are not aligned, if you are not doing what you'd like to be doing at work, then you are being ripped apart by two masters; two things which compete for your time...<p>If work de-energizes you, and your hobbies energize you, then you need to change jobs and bosses -- such that you can do what you want to do, and not what you feel is a drag.<p>This may mean taking a significant pay cut, to get a job where you can do things closer to what you'd like to be doing, closer to your hobbies...<p>If that's an issue for you, then I don't want to hear any more -- you've already consigned yourself to a prison cell, and if you say "I don't want to take a pay cut" -- then that way of thinking basically locks the door on your prison cell -- and throws away the key. (The key to solving this problem, incidentally, is to get out a piece of paper, and, with respect to change, write down the things you are inflexible about (for many people this will be salary), and write down the things you are flexible about, then, while looking at this set of two lists, and using the things you are flexible about, you'll be able to figure out a better solution than what you've got going currently. The key is flexibility!)<p>The best solution, is a job where your interests align to exactly what that employer wants.<p>The second best solution is getting your current employer to cut your hours, for example, if you could meet all of your financial obligations by working say, only a 4 or 5 hour day, then this would add a ton of time and energy to you when you get home (or you could use the extra time for an afternoon catnap for more energy, or what-have-you).<p>If your employer can't or won't do that -- then you need a different, more-flexible employer...<p>Salary be damned...<p>Or you can stay locked-in and burned-out for the rest of your life, until your 401K matures...<p>Your choice...<p>Look, I've been there, so I completely sympathize, but you have to understand something, and that is that your experience in life now is the result of <i>your choices</i> and only <i>your choices</i>.<p>If you want something different in life, if you want change, then:<p><i>Make a different choice</i>...