To be honest, I don’t like the term “life hack” very much because too often it just stands for “tips that are common sense”, like “do sports”, “eat healthy” or “put your phone away when you need to focus”. Although definitely important, these more general life guidelines are not what I understand as “hacks”. For … Read more
Staying focused in a noisy environment is not easy. Our brains are finely attuned to detect even the subtlest distractions because this skill kept us alive throughout our evolutionary history. In primal times, a faint rustling sound in a bush or a strange silhouette in peripheral vision could be a venomous snake or some other … Read more
If you’re active in the Android community, you’ve probably seen the many memes and funny images illustrating how computers get brought to their metaphorical knees by trying to run Android Studio. Apparently, our favorite IDE eats RAM like M&Ms and subdues even the strongest PC set-up. Of course, these images and jokes are exaggerated, but … Read more
Does that sound familiar? You know you should be doing something important, something that benefits your life or helps you avoid a lot of trouble in the future. Maybe this task is difficult, but you know you could get it done if you would just focus on it for a while. But instead you spend … Read more
We all want to be productive, because it helps us reaching our goals more quickly. We also want to be efficient, because then we have more time left for other things in life. Being efficient when working on a computer also means putting less stress on your body, by using the right tools to reduce … Read more
I’m kind of a productivity nerd. I really love reading articles, books and blog posts about tips and techniques that help me get more done, beat procrastination and improve efficiency and motivation. And while there are lots of different approaches and not everything works for everyone, one common theme is always present: The importance of … Read more
For the last >150 days since I started my Youtube channel, I have released a new video every single day (although sometimes after midnight). And since I learn the programming concepts I teach there in the process of making these videos, this also means that I had to research extensively about a topic more than … Read more
I am a big fan of audio learning material, because you can really tap into unused time that you would otherwise spend listening to music or just mind wandering. I always make sure that I have at least 1 audiobook and several podcasts on my phone so I can listen to them while driving, washing … Read more
As I already explained in my Incremental Progress over Intense Sprints blog post, I think it is much better to make steady, incremental progress rather than going super hard for short periods of time and eventually burn out. If you can combine both, perfect, but don’t confuse the initial boost of motivation that you always … Read more
As a fan of MMORPGs, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of approaching life like a game/RPG for years now. Just think about how much effort we voluntarily put into a game to make progress. I mean it’s literally hard work for hours on end over months. And not only that we don’t get any … Read more