I am always looking for ways to be better. Recently I realized that I am getting stagnant. I know that I need to work on my routine to be a better programmer. I have been following a YouTuber called Tech Lead, and in one of his video, he discussed his routine, which I find very helpful and want to implement it in my life.
One of the things he said that struck me was:
To be a good programmer, it is not about the talent but rather time
If given a long enough time anybody can be a good programmer. of course, not just time pretending to learn or work, but actual focus time.
My routine should be structured for me to be able to focus for as long as possible. There are way too many distractions in our world right now. It is almost impossible to stay bored. From the moment we wake up till we sleep, we are constantly staring at the screen.
I am not sure why, but I suspect that it is because of the constant stimulant from all this screen time that I find nothing really interesting anymore. Not even games or shows on Netflix. I think I need to be more purposeful in my activities so as not to overstimulate my brain. I need to search for things or hobby that are purposeful and I can build my future on.
Plan the day
To be more deliberate in my activities, I need to have a plan. Instead of letting my day run on its own, I need to have a plan on how my day should be, what activities should I focus on, and set my priorities.
I should start my day with a plan. Focus on activities that give the most return.
Have a huge block of working hours
As a programmer, it is difficult to be productive without a huge block of working hours. The first hour, usually you will be reading some document, followed by experimenting and finally, some real work. If you only work for 30mins, you will find yourself in a repetitive cycle of just reading documents and never go past that to do the actual work.
Protect your brain
Don’t go for drugs or other kinds of stimulate. As a programmer, you want your brain to be maximized. This means that any activities that harm your brain, you should reduce it as much as possible. Drugs, porn, harmful chemical, excess use of social media should be stopped.
On the other side, do things that help to make your brain better. Sleep at least 8 hours a day, exercise, do weights, read, meditate, don’t look at the screen, an hour before you sleep.
Work on things that interest you
Programming should be fun. It should be more than your work. Find technology that interests you. Ask yourself what matters to you or the world. Play around, experiment around, take something apart and see what happens. It doesn’t have to be something hard. See things like a child, they don’t overthink. They just play and experiment with different combination and learn things as a result. We shouldn’t overthink and try to solve things in a precise way. Trial and error are good. Ask questions and come out with a hypothesis, and run an experiment to check your hypothesis.