I find myself having to shift between different frames of mind, in my work and otherwise.
My code brain is different from the brain I need elsewhere. How do you do it?
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I find myself having to shift between different frames of mind, in my work and otherwise.
My code brain is different from the brain I need elsewhere. How do you do it?
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
nandu 🦦 -
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ifrah -
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Latest comments (56)
So, my typical switch comes when someone has a question for me. I first give the interrupter a "one moment" gesture. I continue working on the code until I find a place where I feel comfortable pausing. I then let them know I am ready. They will ask their question. By the time they have finished asking their question, I have figured out what new headspace is needed, and I will ask them to repeat their question. For some reason the switch to trigger the new headspace cannot be flipped until the question is asked.
You don't tell anyone.
I switch to singing or playing piano. If I can interact with music by making it (not listening to it but actually creating it in real time) it calls on a totally different part of the brain and let’s my coding brain do nothing for a bit. It’s really nice.
I tend to say tasks aloud, to myself that require a mind shift. If I'm putting something off, like, writing that self-evaluation that's due in 3 days, saying "At 4 o'clock I'm going to work on my self-eval" helps. It's weird, I think, but it helps me. Sometimes I timebox it with "I'm going to work on documentation for 30 minutes".
For me, knowing when I'm liking to be a better or different mindset is key. Morning are busy—hello, meetings—and I get bored with production work in the afternoon, so that's when I do my more focused tasks like writing or updating documentation.
I try to be intentional in what I do, when I do it and not multi-task.
At home, I find it easier to get overwhelmed and not get into the right mindset due to—seemingly—competing priorities. Do I unpack that box or try to debug that thing? OR do I find another cooking show on Netflix?
Great question. I remember asking this same question (worded differently) some time ago. Since then I have gotten better at this. What has really helped me is the following.
Writing things down - I notice part of the reason it was challenging for me to fluently transition into another frame of mind is because I still had stuff on my mind from what I was previously involved in. If I was working on a problem, I would subconsciously still be thinking of a solution hours after I stopped actively working on it. So what I did was I write down where I left off, what are some potential solutions and anything else I find important. That way my mind is more at rest knowing that when I come back to it all my thoughts are there on paper to pick up from. If I get a new idea while doing something else, I'll just take a quick note on my phone or something and intentionally remind myself to get back to it later.
Wind down/warm up - before I make a sudden switch to a new frame of mind I like to wind down what I was previously doing before moving on. It gives me a kind of closure (my bad if this sounds romantic lol). So for example, as I previously stated, I like to write things down, I also take a quick overview of what I did for that time being, run a few mental checks, give myself a pat on the back and now I am satisfied and ready to put it away for the day. And vice versa, when I want to switch back to a working/logical mindset, I read my notes from last time, run the program, admire it, then start working on whatever tasks I have starting from the easy ones. This works for other things as well. Before you give a talk, have some kind of routine that gets you into a nice flow.
'Throw it out, move on' - lets say you don't have enough time to warm up/wind down. In this case I just have one phrase that I tell myself when I'm switching gears and my mind is still thinking on the last thing I was doing. 'Throw it out, move on'. This just reminds me that I am in a different zone right now. Whatever I was previously doing is not relevant to what I'm doing now. I used to play competitive sports and one thing we were taught was 'next play'. So whatever we did in that play, once it's done, its done its not relevant anymore. Your focus should be on whats current. I incorporate this ideology to my day to day life. Once work is done for the day, its done, whats next? Once I'm done hanging with friends, that was cool, we'll catch up again later, now back to work.
Hope this helps.
I can't always remember to do what I'm about to recommend, but visualization helps me to shift gears. There's power in your mind, the very thing that is trapping you!
I imagine myself taking all of that work stuff off of my shoulders like a very heavy coat. I hang it up and pick up the much lighter one that contains my son's contagious laughter, the cool fall air, and whatever else I wrap into its fabric. I do it before I get out of the car, and when I walk in the door, it's generally enough.
Also, if your partner is in the same industry/mindspace as you, make sure you have a standing rule that you don't talk about it at home except during reserved times.
Hope that helps!
I listen to music. That usually shifts perspectives. Sometimes I listen to "sounds of rain" for about 15 minutes. That does the trick too. Another thing I do is to "snack" (not good for my BMI, but it shifts perspectives too)
i don't
My coding brain is my most focus-hungry brain, so for me shifting to coding usually requires getting a focus-friendly space created. That usually involves two halves, one being body comfort (get a cup of coffee or a glass of water, use the bathroom, settle into a chair or standing desk) and the other being distraction limitation (put lyrics-free or very familiar music on my noise-cancelling headphones, settle myself somewhere where I'm unlikely to be bugged for input on other problems, turn on Do Not Disturb on my Mac).
As you can kind of guess from that, my challenge is getting into the coding brain, so getting out of it is usually as easy as taking off the headphones.
Get a hobby, I guess.
comes naturally. after all human has most sophisticated brain amongst all life forms.
I just have to wait for it. I can't force being in the right mindset. I'm not in the right mindset because I'm here commenting on this post haha.
I usually will change my location often times location is associated with an activity. When I am coding vs when I am testing are two different mind spaces. In order to be creative it requires a habit of trying out new things and combining them. I like things like oblique strategies cards (Ambiguous Oracle) and exercises from "A Whack on the side of the Head" by Roger von Oech. Some simple strategies would be did you try laughing at your idea? What if you reversed it? Ask what if's in general.
That's good advice
Our team is together in an open room. I am available for pairing and guidance through most of the day. But I often can't get any coding work done during this time. So I come in a little later and stay later. Most of my coding work gets done in the last couple hours of the day.
Music, sometimes intermediary tasks can be used to glue together the day. Overall like most people I do it badly if it's required in short-order.