WIBWO 5: ...Reading and Reading and...

November 25, 2019

The past week has not been much different than the one before. I have been doing a lot of reading, but not a ton of side project work. I have some ideas in the works that I’m beginning to develop that I think can benefit a lot of people that are interested in or new to becoming developers themselves. I will write a post about that when I’m ready to discuss the details!

In the meantime… I am probably two-thirds through Atomic Habits and I have found it to be a good motivator currently. I think many of the concepts have been harped on before if you’ve read anything in or around the arena of self-help.

I think the most helpful parts discuss making your bad habits difficult and your good habits easy. This means not buying junk food that stays in your house, taking out the batteries on your remote, etc. And on the flip side having your gym clothes laid out when you get home, keeping fresh fruit and vegetables out and available in your home, and things like that.

The other good idea is thinking more about systems and identity rather than goals. Goals are good for pointing you in the right direction, but you should only check them briefly to make sure you’re still on track. To achieve any goals you have to create systems, so learning to constantly develop the systems you follow matters more. On top of that you can concentrate on who you want to be rather than a specific goal. You don’t want to be in shape, you want to be an athletic person. Identifying as that now can help you change your mindset for building those habits. Think of yourself as an athletic, healthy person and you’ll try to be the person you think you are.

I’ve also been reading Clean Code. This book is easily at the top of my programmer reading list for any developer that has yet to read it. The concepts within are so crucial to writing good code. As the book points out bad code, I am seeing examples of it everywhere.

Audible

I signed up for audible yesterday since learning that they give you a credit for 1 free book a month and 2 originals. The thing essentially pays for itself every month and allows me to maximize my time while doing things like driving or going to the gym. Honestly, I should have gotten it a while ago. An extra 12+ books per year over the course of my lifetime can be a massive difference.

Let’s keep learning. See you next week!