I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting stuck in efficiency mode and losing sight of effectiveness. I find myself always considering the next thing to be done rather than enjoying or staying in the moment of what is happening now. In coding that sounds like it could be an advantage, but it can also lead to frozen moments of a lost traveler.
I find myself going into routine or auto mode way too often in my life. I make the same breakfast each day I work. Getting the pan hot, spraying it with oil, grabbing eggs, heating up tortillas, spreading cheese on the tortillas, flipping the eggs and cutting them in half so the yolks cook faster, and then plate and add hot sauce. Every day. This routine is something I have noticed in the last few months. When my life feels like it is moving too fast it is usually due to too many of these routines taking over in place of thoughtful action. The same thing can happen with coding.
When we are working on projects it is easy to get tunnel vision and focus so myopically on what is in front of us with the end goal in mind. Searching for the most efficient algorithm, or the walkthrough that will answer our question, or looking over various stack overflow posts hoping that one jumps out with our answer. I get stuck in a pit of I don’t know enough or I don’t know what I’m doing when I dive down these rabbit holes. How do these people know this and I don’t. Then you try their fix and it doesn’t work, and now you’re searching for the answer to the answer you thought would work.
Step back. Take a break and come back.
Two quarters ago I was stuck on a problem for about four hours one weekend day. I was staring at the problem trying different things, hoping that something would just work. After a few hours of searching and cursing and becoming frustrated I took a break. I walked away from my computer and just watched TV. Nothing in particular, just something to keep my brain occupied for a bit. I then went on a walk and started thinking about the problem again. Not too serious more just breaking it down into bite sized chunks, checking my work as I went. Eventually, when I came back to my computer I had a new idea and that idea worked. Was it the most efficient, probably not, but was it effective absolutely. Better yet, I felt more accomplished with how I came up with it than toiling after some stack overflow thread or medium article explaining three different libraries that can do what you are trying to accomplish. We can get too stuck in our mindset of efficiency and lose sight of effectiveness.
I hope what you get out of this isn’t that stack overflow is bad or using your resources is a cop out or even that long hours are bad. What I am saying is that we all could take a beat and reconnect with what is happening to us in the moment. That is all we have.
We all have great ideas, and great intentions with those ideas. But seeing those ideas come to life is a much more difficult path than most of us have considered before. My previous blog posts have talked about breaking things into small chunks, starting with the minimum viable product, collaborating effectively, and now effectiveness versus efficiency. These are all qualities I hope to instill in myself going forward with my life and career. Technology moves fast, but we don’t have to stare into the mist as we move with it. We can look around and see all the little moments that are happening around us. That is where inspiration strikes. When our brains are quiet and in the moment.
