I’ve been reading the book “Smarter Faster Better” by Charles Duhigg and in it, he gives a perspective on goal-setting that I found interesting.
You may already know about SMART goals, which is an awesome format to set your goals in. It does have a subtle pitfall though: cognitive closure.
After my first post on “Caring for your Health as a Developer”, I decided to do a bit of research on caffeine, specifically in coffee. I did learn quite a bit but what I found most interesting was that after oil, coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity in the world 🤯. People are really drinking a lot of coffee (2.25 billion cups of coffee on a daily basis). But while many may love and enjoy the momentary energy boost provided by caffeinated drinks, is it really the best way to go in the long term?
“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” ― Herophilus
Let’s face it. As developers, it’s easy to let things get a bit out of hand health-wise. Many times we find ourselves in front of screens for hours on end. We sleep really late (or not at all) sometimes. Unless you’re disciplined enough to follow a schedule, you might find yourself not having time to eat proper meals so snacking becomes a habit. All these are usually sacrifices made to fix some bug or find the most efficient solution to some problem. Usually, our health suffers as a result. While this might seem to work out just fine for the moment, we don’t look at the bigger picture - how it will affect us in the future.
I think, if healthier practices were adopted, developers would be much more productive and would be able to accomplish some tasks in less time simply because the brain is much clearer. I might here quote surveys and researches conducted to prove this point but simple personal experience will suffice. It’s hard enough to get anything done when you’re down with a cold. There is an intimate connection between the mind and the body, and when one suffers, the other no doubt feels it. Below are some points to watch out for if you’re looking to keep fit physically and mentally.