DEV Community: VILO

To Make My Workflow More Effective, I Tried a Lot

VILO — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 03:33:11 +0000

Through these years, I just want to find a way to make my workflow more effective. Trying different Apps and devices, I just found these methods didn't work.

So, what is the problem? The Apps and devices can be changed, but I am still myself. If I don't make myself more effective, the problem will still exist for a long time.

Through programming, I just found tools which can make my work easier but ignored to study more to promote my ability. My skills didn't promote with these tools. It just enlarges my laziness.

This is the problem that I notice recently. To make a difference, I try to forget the things from the past, which could mislead me to another failure. I just try to examine myself, figuring out which part I can do well while others need to be improved.

Suffering from this, I believed that the simple tool can also work well. I just forget the tools which I tried before, sold them away and just use my former laptop to deal with all difficulties. It will still accompany through my learning journey.

My programing journey began form this laptop. I just used it to study and realize my dream. Now it seems like a cycle, returning to the past, return to the place where the dream began. Now it is my turn to make a difference.

I use it to improve my typing skill, use Windows Notepad and Word to take notes, making my workflow simpler and more effective. It's not steady to try different Apps without a strong learning skill. Our laptop and other devices are just a tool. Their mission is just to assistant with your work.

Without these tools, you can still enjoy your daily life. But if you don't have a strong learning ability, even though you have the best laptop in the world, you can't even use it to realize your own value.

I restarted my learning journey, just like a beginner. I tried to learn C++ again form "hello world", which let me found many things I hadn't fully mastered form the past learning. I did this for a couple of weeks, walking on the past road, finding a new path which is beyond my knowledge, learning it and do it again and again.

This is my own study journey. Back to my workflow, what I really lost from being effective is learning. Study makes my brain more sharpy. Every tool can work well with a clever mind, and every moment is worthwhile during this kind of study.

I tried a lot and learned a lot.

I Just Want to Be Myself

VILO — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 02:45:55 +0000

I just want to be myself.

I know that there are so many things in my life that I cannot deal with. Sometimes I don't know what I can do and get stuck in it.

It just like a cycle that act day by day. I don't know what it was going, whether it will end or not. As I act many times, just do one thing which don't have the purpose to do. Why I do it, just to demonstrate to others?

It is not worthwhile to do this. I don't what to see myself struggling with those things that I don't like. I want to do this because I like it. I don't need to show it to others, I don't need to wait for the response, I don't need to integrate it into my own world.

What I need to do is just to find my passion and keep going. Nothing can stop me from following my heart. What I like just belongs to me, what I do is just what I want.

Just try to make a difference. If you want to do a thing, just do it by yourself, which is enough. You should not think how to talk it to others, just treat it us a thing that is followed by your heart. This is your own world, and your own experiences, no one knows about it.

As someone said to me before, "Enjoy your own journey". My own journey, which means do it along. I don't need to worry about whether I do great or not. The long trip can't end in a few days, it needs effort, to deal with difficulties, to do your best, just enough.

Now I need to replan for this journey. The past way for me was difficult, but I just need to plan for the next dedicate. I don't need to think of the past which can't be changed. A failure doesn't mean forever. It just reflects for the method, which I used to do and had a poor performance.

I need to change this method. I need to improve my self-discipline, making a better decision, focusing one thing at the same time. What I do now is just like dedifferentiation and redifferentiation. I need efforts to change myself. I need efforts to make a cleaner internal environment.

This is what I want to talk about, to find myself and be myself.

AI Is Just a Tool, Not a Replacement of Your Passion

VILO — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:41:50 +0000

Nowadays, many of us use AI to create projects, writing codes, which is called prompt engineering. We may hear the "hybrid scenario" and "automated scenario" in science research. In programming, AI plays a similar role in our workflow, making us more effective than before.

But just stop to think, when is the last time you write code all by yourself? Still remembering the past, sat in front of your computer, imaging a tool that can bring your more energy, or let you escape from the pain of coding. AI does, empower yourself, and your project.

But there is something gone. Many years before, struggled to find a solution on Stack Overflow, shifting different windows between different answers. Even though it was a hard time for you, you still carried your dream and moved forward.

When AI comes, it seems like bring a sense of magic to all of the developers. Writing prompts, generating codes, copy them into your project, debugging it, and do it again and again.

It just like a cycle, never stopped, never ended. It has completely changed our workflow. But just like many of us who started this adventure at the age of AI, being a junior developer and integrate AI in our workflow where we have never tried another. We take this for granted. Without those tools, we cannot independently finish a project.

The difference between AI and human is that we humans create beautiful things, pursue interhuman connection in friendship and romance, and find and construct meaning in life. AI doesn't. It generates codes just for catering to our demands, they don't have the passion in programing.

We human does. We decided to be a developer not only for livelihood, but for our passion, for the dream in our heart. The dream of programing came out to my mind when I was just a little boy. I longed to improve myself and discovered the truth through programming. Finally, the dream comes true, but the arrival of AI makes me doubt the skills which I originally mastered.

I just keep going, finding myself through programming. I just treat AI as a new thing which may improve our life and continue working by myself when the project didn't work. I just want to have everything under my control. If the AI agent become more expensive, even the individual can't afford it, I can still use my logical thinking and critical thinking to deal with all difficulties, even searching documents to address a small bug for half a day, I think it is worthwhile.

I just want to keep my thoughts always present at the age of AI. AI is just a tool, not a replacement of your passion and your thinking. Our passion remains us to program by ourselves, it can't be replaced. just remember, code is where our heart is.