That's my big dilemma most days. Do I relax and recover or do I grind it out on my long-term plans? Today me will appreciate the relaxation, but I will never reach the future I want for myself that way.

Side note: The future I want for myself is not hard-hustling multimillionaire tech executive. More like local small business owner.

I guess it's sad but true :)

Probably only applies to single people, though.

I have to say I've gotten much better at avoiding overworking myself lately, but evenings are still an issue (again, probably only relevant for single people).

The suggestions I've added help but not entirely, as evenings usually have to be planned in advance (you can't just summon friends at 5:59pm).

Going through these activity suggestions daily helps me in two ways: 1) it reminds me what a true afterhours activity looks like (ie. not more work stuff desguised as leisure) and 2) it reminds me to plan ahead my evenings in the near future.

I am very single and this is never true for me. I love my work, and then I go hang out with a friend or two for dinner or dessert, explore neighborhoods, cook myself some interesting food, play some games, work on some serious side projects, talk to my housemate, scribble notes for an essay or blog post, and generally find myself not having enough time to enjoy the things I would like to do despite not investing any time in a romantic relationship. This when I'm not keeping myself busy with traveling out of town.

That sounds just exquisite, and I hope to someday have a similar set of habits. It's been a real challenge though so far.

Congrats!

When I travel my life looks more interesting, but when I settle in one place for a while to focus on work (current situation) I often fail to schedule my personal life. Definitely an area I can improve.

Google Calendar is my savior. Pre-book tickets/restaurants/friends RSVP months/weeks in advance.

I usually do it in periods where I'd have a few weeks fully booked and the other two relatively free except regular ones.

Uh. Why is Google Calendar necessary for this?

To keep track of events and not overlap them. Also helps to set time for yourself if you just want to disconnect.

Right, so you meant to just say "a calendar".

Physical activities can well go into calendar, and I don't get how it is our call to find a friend to hangout instantly. That leaves only "leisure", which is not that hard to pick up?

Pretty much.

The activities part is very experimental. I basically realised that I suck at planning my evenings and it's hard to disconnect unless a pasttime activity draws you in and shifts your focus.

That said, definitely looking for suggestions. Maybe a reminder to "plan evening activities for the following days" might be more suited than "ideas for what to do NOW".

See my related comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18339840

Maybe have a reminder every monday after work to look for things to do this upcoming weekend and the following week. Include some events pages so you'll also find events that are months out, and sell out quickly, that you may want to see (bands, comedians, etc).

That is interesting way of hassle-free thinking :) As a suggestion, two day plan may work better for social events with secondary option in case it couldn't get planned with exact people etc.

I think it's especially a problem for those who work remotely and maybe don't have a separate office setup.

Yes!