"The only way to do great work is to love what you do." - Steve Jobs

Hey Reader,

So today, while preparing to write this newsletter, I found myself quite exhausted mentally from my day's work and didn’t feel motivated and inspired enough to sit at my laptop and start writing.

So I took my headphones, my phone, turned on an audiobook and went for a walk to the beach to clear my head.

My experience

For the last 7 years of my career as a Software Engineer, I discovered that a lot of times I will get into a tunnel vision and be stuck on a certain task, be it fixing a bug or implementing a new feature. And, instead of taking a break or just continuing the next day, I would just push forward naively thinking that I would finish the task sooner.

The realization came through an unpleasant experience called burnout a few years ago, which we as Software Developers are more familiar with than we should. However, it taught me a good lesson on what are my limits and why it’s better to respect them!

For example yesterday, I was trying to fix a bug on a web app I am currently working on. I struggled for probably one hour not getting much progress. After a few more attempts, I decided to call it a day and go to sleep. It was the best decision I have made that day as the next day I fixed the issue in 30 minutes and even came up with a better way to do so!

What should we do?

Well, as I already mentioned, the best remedy to get out of that zone is to just take a break. Your project/code won't run anywhere; It will still be there after 10 minutes or the next day. It's better to save those 2 unproductive hours and do something else that will actually help you, instead of just coding for the sake of coding!

We all know that we should spend more time with our loved ones or practicing a sport that will be good for us or doing a hobby we really enjoy, but we get trapped instead into this unproductive mindset of just pushing through.

This is your reminder to take a break and go breathe some fresh air outside!

Have you experienced something similar? Let me know by replying to this email. I read all your replies! 😊

See you next Thursday, love you! ❤️

​

— Andrei

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