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Discussion on: Dealing with programmer's burnout

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Pan Chasinga

Thanks for your insight.

This is one of those things that proves "Hemingway's Effect" is better at being productive. The key is stopping when you get stuck. Don't bang your head against it trying to pull it off. Here's some reasoning:

  • When you're stuck, it's easier for your mind to remember where you got stuck when you return to it after a break to think about it in a different context.

  • There's more drive for you to go back to get it done than stopping after a successful deed.

I've read that Hemingway spent only a few hours every morning writing. The rest of day he went about strolling and spending time with his family. Yet he's one of the most productive writers and unarguably one of the most successful.

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dragonwocky

Oh, I can definitely see how that's good. For programming, though, I disagree slightly. You shouldn't stop immediately. Programming is a form of problem-solving, after all. Nothing would ever get solved if people stopped straight away whenever they came up against a wall.

Sure, you shouldn't just bang your head against that wall and get nowhere, but before you go, check if there's a door you could find a way through. Usually, if I'm stuck I spent a bit of time trying out different fixes and googling to see if others have encountered the same issue. If I'm clearly getting nowhere or just wasting time, I go do something else for a couple of hours, then try again. It's only then, if I'm still not making any headway, that I leave programming alone for the rest of the day.