As a developer, have you ever thought about training your mind like an athlete trains their body?
If you're like me you've most likely gone through a journey of some sort as you move through your career as a developer. Your first year begins by feeling excited to start learning and building your career. As you work your way through each delivery you begin to realise that not everything is as you expected it to be. You soon face the reality of the developer's emotional rollercoaster, the stress of delivering on deadlines and the many meetings that seem to prevent you from completing your work.
I've been trying to navigate these seas for a while now, having to changing my focus from one thing to another and finding it hard to spend quality time to focus. It makes me wonder sometimes... is this how it was supposed to be?
Mental gymnastics a.k.a context switching
It feels unproductive and uncomfortable, having to change that context like a piece of software loading into a computer's memory. I always imagined myself sitting quietly at a desk listening to music as I block out the office environment. Lost in code and seeing my algorithms fit together like cogs in a Swiss watch. As I gained more experience though, I soon found that this dream changed into meetings and conversations that pulled me away from the rhythm I loved so much. Now that I'm far more experienced I find myself changing subjects so frequently, it can sometimes feel like I've run a mental marathon.
So one day I asked myself, is it really possible to make context switching easy? The answer lay in the place I least expected it to.
A bit of background...
My road in life hasn't been straightforward. I've had my battles with mental health and, at times, physical health. It's a part of life and unavoidable. But these times, when you feel weak, are when you build strength.
I actually discovered that through struggling with mental health I had learnt things that would give me strength in my professional life, and I'd like to share with you one in particular.
My experiment
Ok so hear me out on this one as I really feel this experiment talks to the super power to context switching, and with scientific evidence to prove it.
One day as I was scrolling through my phone for interesting articles to improve myself as a developer I stumbled across an interesting article headline. The headline suggested that regular mindfulness practice increased brain density. "Ok, that sounds somewhat interesting" I thought to myself. But what does that actually mean? Why do I want a dense brain? I had to find out more. So I read the article (it's long lost now, but I managed to dig up the study published on the National Library of Medicine for reference).
The article talked about how with regular mindfulness practice, the participants in the study increased their brain density in the area which is responsible for concentration, emotional regulation and other higher brain functions. This peaked my interest and I imediately had the thought "what if this improved my concentration to the point where context switching became easy?".
Well... there's no harm in trying. So I began my experiment. It was hard at first and I failed at keeping my new habit regular. Thanks to the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, I managed to put enough things in place to eventually keep my habit a daily practice.
One week went by, then another and it didn't feel like a lot changed. I mean yes, things were a bit easier at work and I felt a bit more stable, but was my brain really changing? When I looked closer at the week that had just passed I realised I found meetings easier to actively listen and my attention span had improved. I was able to jump from one thing to another a bit easier. Another couple of weeks passed and I started to notice that maybe this was actually working. I could be interrupted in the middle of coding (we all love getting lost in code) and jump straight back into it without batting an eyelid. My memory had also improved and I really felt like things were getting easier and there was less friction.
So what actually is mindfulness?
You might have heard people say "oh mindfulness is just breathing". That's not quite right. Yes, mindfulness does use breathing as a technique, but it's more than that. Simply put, mindfulness is being aware of your surroundings, your thoughts and your state of being. It's observing thoughts just as they are and not engaging in them.
More info at American Psychology Association
It's impossible to stop thinking. We will always have thoughts in our mind. The art to mindfulness is allowing them to come and go, like clouds in the sky. Breathing techniques allow you to ground yourself as you concentrate on your state of being. Focusing on something constant is key (and everyone breathes so breathing is an easy mechanism to use).
How to start?
My routine involves using noise cancelling headphones and using an app on my phone called Insight timer. Depending on if I'm working in the office or working from home, I'll always find 5-10 minutes at the same time every day to sit and complete a guided session. It doesn't need to be a long session, it just needs to be regular.
I'm a month in and I think it's safe to say my little experiment succeeded in improving my ability to context switch. I'm still practicing my habit daily and I'm really happy to say that it's made a BIG difference.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my story and it inspires you to give mindfulness a go.
Happy coding ⌨️
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