A Focus Conducive Environment

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A Focus Conducive Environment

Moving and changing physical working environments can be challenging. It completely threw me off my routines and daily working habits. Throw a new puppy in there and the whole operation was in shambles.

Today I decided to revisit my working habits. Refine them based on my new environment and schedule and re-commit to them.

Here is a summary of the main ones:

Morning Routine

I found myself getting up much later than I used to. Crate training a puppy and taking her out multiple times a night has been interesting, to say the least. Getting up and getting quick wins in the morning starts my day off well and gives me the energy and momentum to ride throughout the day. Here is a quick snapshot of that morning routine.

  • Wake up with no "Snooze" periods

  • Exercise >10 mins

  • Drink >8 oz water

  • Shower + get dressed

  • Brush teeth

  • Daily supplements

  • Read scriptures for 5 mins (I am a religious person)

  • Clean off desk

Clean Workspace

The last bit of my morning routine. Having a clean workspace and desk helps me to concentrate, feel decluttered, and feel much less stressed. Fewer things help calm my mind than a simple, organized workspace.

Daily Sprints

Getting into a flow state is important. I need to be completely free of distractions and non-work notifications to do so. I have set aside time 3x a day to be completely focused and get into deep work. I call them sprints, but it is just a 1-hour window in which I set everything aside but the task at hand and completely focus. I have blocked off time on my calendar 3 times a day for these sprints.

Obviously, this is not the only time during the day that I work but it is set aside for laser focus.

Engineering Daybook

I will keep an engineering daybook. This is a physical notebook in which I keep track of daily thoughts, ideas, and lessons learned. Pretty much anything work-related I can quickly jot down during the day. This is something I learned from reading The Pragmatic Programmer and thought it would be a good idea to try. This should also help me with my next item

Weekly Lesson-Learned Blog

Every Friday at 3 pm I will take a look at my daybook and think back to the important lessons I have learned or skills I have refined. I will spend 30 mins writing about it - in a journal-type format. I am not trying to be professional nor make an impact. This is purely about keeping track of the things I am learning that will make a difference in my career as a software engineer.

Not sitting all day

For my posture, I need to avoid sitting all day. I can feel myself slouching (even though I have done my best to set up my workstation well) often. I do not have a stand-up desk, but I hope that changes in the next year.

So for now, I plan on kneeling throughout the day for small periods to allow my chest and back to open up for a bit.

Toy Project Daily work

My manager has encouraged me to work on a personal, toy project for learning purposes. I am grateful for that. I will spend 30 mins a day, directly after lunch, using my programming skills (mainly in React) to work on this toy project. This will give me a chance to work on the design, debugging and refactoring of my own code, without any deadlines or added pressure.

I will also utilize this time to continue reading The Pragmatic Programmer and other materials that will improve my engineering skillset.