The latest articles on DEV Community by Ben Fox (@bwb). https://dev.to/bwb https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F208568%2Fc1fd762e-90d9-42d1-8f86-1cc89ba136e2.png https://dev.to/bwb en Ben Fox Thu, 03 Oct 2019 17:30:27 +0000 https://dev.to/bwb/deep-work-stats-how-much-time-do-you-get-to-code-1ipl https://dev.to/bwb/deep-work-stats-how-much-time-do-you-get-to-code-1ipl <p>We were inspired by Cal Newport's book "<a href="http://www.calnewport.com/books/deep-work/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deep Work</a>" to build an app that crunches 12 months of calendar data and breaks down how much time you have for deep work, aka coding and thinking. </p> <p><a href="https://app.shepherd.com/personal-report/sample" rel="noopener noreferrer">You can see a sample report here</a> and <a href="https://shepherd.com/free-meeting-stats/" rel="noopener noreferrer">you can run it here</a>. It was fun to build but calendar APIs suck to debug :).</p> <p>The app shows:</p> <ul> <li>Breakdown between deep work, shallow work, and meetings.</li> <li>How many workdays you get with minimum amounts of deep work.</li> <li>How effective your meetings are.</li> <li>Compare yourself to co-worker averages and global averages. </li> </ul> <p><a href="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fxnowsvc244zywxi17sht.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fxnowsvc244zywxi17sht.png" alt="Alt Text"></a></p> <p><a href="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fqosj2h8njjol5nffb5no.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fqosj2h8njjol5nffb5no.png" alt="Alt Text"></a></p> <p><a href="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fkdi90y3evaz2eqzikgb3.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fthepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fi%2Fkdi90y3evaz2eqzikgb3.png" alt="Alt Text"></a></p> <p>Let me know what you think!</p> productivity career discuss Ben Fox Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:28:05 +0000 https://dev.to/bwb/wtf-does-work-life-balance-mean-to-you-51n6 https://dev.to/bwb/wtf-does-work-life-balance-mean-to-you-51n6 <p>Work/life balance seems like a super nebulous term and I am wondering what it means to you on a day to day basis. How do you define work/life balance in your head? That phrase gets thrown around so much how do you conceptualize it... </p> <p>And, two more questions to the community I am wondering about... </p> <p>I've often noticed that if I am doing really "deep" work at work, it is satisfying... but I leave work just fried and it is hard to find the energy for hobbies and my personal life. Is that something you feel, and if so how are you trying to find the balance between doing great work but also leaving room for the other parts of your life from an energy perspective? </p> <p>If you could snap your fingers and have the type of work/life balance that is perfect for where you are at in life, what would your week and year look like? </p> career watercooler