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
On Instagram and Twitter, I recently created polls where I asked how many of you guys meditate, and only about 30% voted positively. This number should be much higher, considering how many benefits mindfulness meditation provides, especially for people who use their brains as much as programmers. If done regularly, meditation can drastically reduce stress, frustration … Read more
I am not a big fan of learning programming through books, at least not the high-level stuff that we use in our day to day life. I think it’s a good idea to start with a book on the fundamentals if you’re just starting out, because the basic concepts don’t change very much, but after … 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
“Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.” This famous quote by Steve Jobs has a lot of truth to it. Coding certainly improves your ability to think logically and make more rational decisions. But nowadays you could also say: “Everybody in this country world should … Read more
Health and fitness are not the most interesting topics for someone looking for programming tips and code examples, but nevertheless we have to keep our body and mind in check if we want to stay sharp and productive. Because besides adding years to our life, healthy habits also let us have more energy and focus … Read more
Motivation is a tricky topic. There were some things in my life for which I had strong burning desire in the beginning, but after a couple of weeks my motivation completely plummeted and often I even ended up hating this particular task, hobby or project. This can easily happen when you invest a lot of time … 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
The Pomodoro Technique became pretty popular in the productivity area and it is a great tool to beat procrastination and get work done. For anyone who doesn’t know what the Pomodoro Technique is: It is a time management strategy where you work in 25 minute sprints followed by a short 5 minute break. After 4 … Read more