8 Tips on how to improve your day as a developer.

Hi, this is Leonardo.

I'm a simple human that tries to improve day by day, step by step. If it’s your first time here you can read who I am in this blog post “Who am I”, otherwise skip this part.

What is this post about?

Eight simple tips on how to structure your work day and your free time and why it matters.

What can you do?

1. Don’t over plan, thinking small and simple is the key to success. For example, trying to accomplish from 3 to 5 important tasks is enough. You are not running a sprint, it’s a marathon.

2. Only plan the week ahead of you, long term plans are not good because it’s hard to stick to them. Again, you are not running a sprint, it’s a marathon.

3. Choose something rewarding to do, but remember it is better to privilege healthy activities.

   Exercise, interestingly, also helps new neurons survive. Exercise is by far, more effective than any drug on the market today to help you learn better. It benefits all of your vital organisms, not just your brain.

4. Try to stay focused when working, it's better to spend less time concentrating while ensuring quality, than spending longer and more distracted hours working. Remember that every time you are distracted from your main task, it costs you more effort to return to the previous focused state.

5. It is better to avoid your smartphone while working / studying. I suggest using your phone time like a reward after ‘x’ time spent focusing. Also try to put your mobile phone in ‘do not disturb’ mode, it helps.

6. Be clear with yourself with what you expect and want from your day. My suggestion is to write it down, and it doesn't matter if it’s on a paper or on a display, it’s useful to vacuum your mind from distractions.

   At the moment I’m using a minimal calendar app that keeps out noise that other calendar apps have, it’s called Teux Deux.

7. Sleep is an important part of your learning and memory process. Sleep has also been shown to make a remarkable difference in your ability to figure out difficult problems and to understand what you're trying to learn.

8. As always, drink more water.

Conclusion.

What is key is that you need to prioritize and organize what matters to you, and then try to stick to your goals or, at least, try to follow a kind of plan.

Sometimes it could become too hard to follow, but this is also normal, don’t worry and don’t be stressed about it.

I'm new to this kind of blog post stuff, and I'm not an English native speaker, therefore I'm trying to keep everything simple.

If you think I can improve this post I would be happy to see a comment from you on Twitter.

Thanks a lot and see you around 🙃.

Comments

[Paul Facklam]

Good points!