Are You Programming Too Much?

Key Takeaways

what if i told you you could become a better programmer by programming less [Music] welcome back to web dev simplified my name is kyle and my job is to simplify the web for you so you can start building your dream project sooner so if that sounds interesting make sure you subscribe to the channel for more videos just like this now to get started like in the intro i said that you can become a better programmer by programming less but that only applies to some people if you're not programming enough or barely programming at all then programming less is not going to make you a better programmer because you're not programming enough to begin with but there are many people out there that spend a lot of time programming or more time programming than they need to and it's actually hurting their abilities to become a better programmer so let me explain the very first reason that this would be hindering you is something called burnout and burnout is essentially when you do something long enough or too much that you eventually stop enjoying it stop wanting to do it and you kind of dread doing this thing and burnout is a really real problem that pretty much anybody can face and the real problem with burnout is you don't realize you're getting burnout until it's way too late and you're already super burnt out and don't feel like doing this thing anymore and this is something that programmers definitely need to watch out for there's multiple types of burnout to watch out for if you're a programmer the first and most common type of burnout is just general burnout when it comes to programming overall you just get burnt out and don't feel like doing any programming it doesn't matter what the language is what the project is you just don't feel like programming because you don't enjoy it anymore this is something that can be easily solved by spending less time programming or adding extra hobbies in that filled the spaces that you normally would spend programming if you have these extra hobbies programming isn't going to fill your entire life and it's much less likely to make you burnt out the other way that you can experience burnout which i find more common is where you burn out on a specific thing inside of programming that could be a language that you're learning or more likely it's probably a project that you're working on if you have a big large project that you're working on and it's taking a lot of your time it can be really easy to burn out on that project and you just don't feel like working on that project anymore because it's not fun to you anymore or whatever the reason is you just burn out on it and don't want to work on it anymore same thing with a language if you're learning javascript which is fairly large language a lot of stuff to learn you can kind of get burnt out by spending so much time trying to learn it and you just get tired of it you hate seeing javascript you're like i don't want to see this anymore i'm just so burnt out on this these are two really common problems that programmers run into i know for me if i work on a project for any time around a year or more i really start to burn out on it and i really stop enjoying the work that puts into that project until i get switched over to a new project once that happens it really rekindles everything for me i get super excited again and again a year later or so if i'm on the same project consistently for a whole year i'll start to burn out again some people can go longer some less it really depends but you have to figure out where that line is for you and if you do start to burn out on a project or language just swap do a new project learn a new language just do something different it can still be programming related just make it different than the thing that you're dreading doing because most likely if you're dreading working on a project or learning a language it's probably that you're just burnt out on that project or that specific language if you switch things up and go from javascript to css or from the project you're working on to a brand new project you're most likely going to really rekindle your energy and re-motivate yourself to learning this language or building that project it's really straightforward to see how doing something all the time can lead to burnout and you not wanting to do that anymore i mean we've all probably experienced some level of burnout before but this second reason for why you should program less is a little bit more difficult to see because it's indirectly related to programming and essentially the reason you should program lists is because you can fill that time with other activities that are going to help you as a programmer that aren't actually programmer related because what people don't realize about programming is once you learn the languages you need and once you learn the basic techniques of those languages and frameworks that you're using really programming is just about problem solving so if you can improve your problem solving skills or your creativity you're almost always going to make yourself a better programmer overall this is actually a reason tons of programmers are musicians of some form because they like that creative side of things and that creativity directly feeds into their problem-solving ability and their ability to create good programmers i mean for example i practiced the guitar back there it's something i started fairly recently maybe six seven months ago and i really enjoy it and it's something that i can do to take a break from programming and it allows me to fuel my creativity and when i come back to programming i have my creative mind all filled up with energy i have better problem solving skills and so on this also doesn't have to be a difficult thing such as playing a musical instrument it doesn't have to be creative in any way you can even do leisure activities such as playing a game whether it's a board game video game or any other type of game it really doesn't matter i even did a full video on how playing the game among us can make you a better programmer i'll link it up here in the cards and down in the description below but essentially by playing any type of game you're going to be challenging your mental ability you're going to be challenging your problem solving skills and in doing so you're going to become a better programmer those problem solving skills that you work on while playing a game are going to directly correlate to your programming skills on top of that it's going to allow you to take a break which is great for helping out with burnout which we talked about in the first point another great activity which is one that is super underrated is just any form of fitness this could be as simple as going for a walk riding a bike going for a run working out going to the gym it doesn't matter what it is as long as it's some type of physical activity not only is this going to give you tons more energy throughout the day which is great because it'll mean you get tired less which means you have more energy to go into programming but also it's going to help you with just your posture in general so when you're sitting you fatigue less your back hurts less your neck hurts less and so on which means you can spend more time programming and focusing on programming when you want to do that and less time worrying about the aches and pains that you have from how you're sitting or standing honestly it doesn't matter what activity you choose as long as you choose something that you find joy in doing and that allows you to take your mind off of programming that's all that matters it's just there to help you deal with burnout and also as a side bonus it'll most likely make you a better programmer through problem solving communication skills or just general posture fitness energy levels the third thing i want to talk about is one that most people don't think about and it's something called parkinson's law and parkinson's law essentially says that the amount of time that you give to a task it's going to fill all that time so if you have an assignment that is due a month from now for school it's saying that essentially you're going to spend the entire month working on that project it doesn't matter if the project was due a week from now or a month from now the project is going to fill that entire space so if you tell yourself i have all day to program every day generally you're going to program slower because you don't really have any deadlines to worry about you have all day to program you're going to get distracted while you're working on things and you're not going to be as focused as you could be but if you tell yourself i'm only going to program for two hours a day three hours a day whatever it is during those two to three hours you're going to be incredibly focused because it's the only time that day that you can program so you want to get all of your learning and all your project work done in those two to three hours and generally you're going to get more done in those two to three hours then if you told yourself you have all day and you worked for eight hours on and off you're gonna get more done in less time by working in these small incremented chunks because parkinson's law it's the same thing it fills the time that you have if you have eight hours to do something you're gonna drag it out over those eight hours you're not gonna be as urgent and as the time approaches closer and closer to the end of that eight hours you're gonna get more and more focused but if you just bring that end closer it means you're gonna start out more focused and try to get more done in less time which is really important there are only 24 hours in the day so if you can get more work done in the same amount of hours then you're going to be so much better off you can learn more and you can do more things and have more free time to yourself which is really a win-win-win situation in my books also speaking of the idea of getting more done in less time all of the courses that i've created are constructed around this one core concept they're all focused on being as short as possible while teaching you more than any other course out there so if you're interested in trying to learn as much as you can about one topic in the least amount of time possible make sure to check out my courses i'll have linked down in the description below and with that said thank you very much for watching this video and have a good day