Developer Tea

We adapt to our circumstances. This dampens our capacity for gratitude, as we become less aware of what we are experiencing the longer we have the same experiences. In today's episode, we use a version of an exercise from Julia Galef's excellent book, The Scout Mindset, to help us break out of our status quo thinking and recognize what is in front of us.##

You know how to determine what would be a good decision. You have the tools and the reasoning; if you find yourself still not making the right decision, you may be tempted to focus on the "left side" - increasing the energy, gumption, reasoning, or motivation. Instead, focus on the barriers - the friction.##

Determining your values isn't just about fluff. This is what you personally care about.In this episode, we talk about two ways to use direct observation as a tool for determining your values, and why those values are not just buzzwords.##

Focus on what you can control. Create incentives and language and internal narrative that produces the right actions within your locus of control. Avoid attaching your definition of success to things outside of your control.

Don't buy in to the lie that you have to overwork to succeed. Not only is it not true, it's also dangerous - and the opposite is more accurate.##

In today's episode, I provide a simple coaching tip on improved communication for software engineers. It's simple: always make precision explicit, and layer context. Start with precision, then create meaning on top.##

We don't think about the unexpected as a category of possible outcomes. This leads us to assign overestimated probabilities to things that are front of mind, and discount the likelihood of things we don't expect. This may lead us to prepare for expected events without consideration for what we'll do in the face of the unexpected.

Look closer at the things that don't happen. Evaluate the options you never considered. When you are looking back, don't just judge based on actions and outcomes - look at the quality of decisions through the lens of information, and wonder: was there a better decision? Was there an option that was nearly as good, but this one was better?##

You can't wait for luck to strike, but you also won't always get what you deserve. Both of these are true - so, go make luck happen for you!##

Habits aren't built on their own. They are the result of environments. Reduce friction and create a positive reinforcement loop, and the habits will follow.

What happens in high-stakes environments?Is the learning you do in your low-stakes environment actually helping you when you have skin in the game? ##

Having trouble setting goals? Take a look at a different angle with the guided exercise in today's episode.

Our goals usually take two forms: what we want to accomplish, and who we want to be.When we can align these things, we find cohesion in our goals, giving us more clarity and purpose.

Two guidelines for better goal setting.First, goals don't stand alone.Second, ranges often beat arbitrary points.

Stop and think about how you are spending your time.Time is constantly moving, whether we stop to recognize it or not. How will you spend it? These five powerful questions will help you reconfigure your time today.

A short term mindset will focus on different things than a long term mindset. Neither is right or wrong, but what are you optimizing for?Once you answer this question, you can start to work towards finding a solution that balances both.

Your best tool is your next question.

Diffuse thinking produces options and draws connections. Focused thinking narrows things down to a specific path.Use them both, and watch for when they collide.

Doing nothing seems like it would be easy... But it seems that action is often easier than doing nothing.Sometimes, perhaps often, action is the right choice. However, if there is no reason to believe one action over another would be better, or action over inaction for that matter - why are we taking action at all?If we think about our efforts as spending time and energy, we can more adequately understand that inaction may be a valuable skill, rather than a risk.

You are not the sum of your decisions. Making better decisions often relies on having a long list of mistakes to learn from.