I work at my own startup where I manage my own time and usually, the best time to read/learn is when I get stuck in the process of building something.
Reading hacker news, stack overflow or even researching ideas on how to get through the problem in what I´m building allows me to "merge" learning and building.
It´s hard to build stuff in Erlang and learning Lisp at the same time, for example.
Try to merge both activities in some way and you will be good.
What you're saying is similar to what I am trying to do:
Take up projects which are 60% stuff you know how to do and 40% things you'd like to learn (the numbers are just made up, but you get the point). Even better, get paid for learning (e.g. competition with prizes or learning in a corporate environment)
Reading hacker news, stack overflow or even researching ideas on how to get through the problem in what I´m building allows me to "merge" learning and building.
It´s hard to build stuff in Erlang and learning Lisp at the same time, for example.
Try to merge both activities in some way and you will be good.