In this blog post, I will discuss some things you should be doing when you are not at work or studying for your classes so that you can be your best at software engineering by living a balanced lifestyle.
What Does It Mean to Be a Balanced Software Engineer?
Being a balanced software engineer means that you take actions to ensure that you participate in activities that are both necessary to living and particularly fulfilling to you. By doing so, you become a better software engineer because you have direction in life, you have a healthy body you have increased your mental well-being, and you have a better overall quality of life. The following are 10 things you need to do to become a balanced software engineer:
Have a Vision
Having a vision is paramount to accomplishing anything in life that is meaningful to you, and it should include every aspect of your life including your career goals. If you don’t have a vision, then you don’t know where you are going in life, which means you’re just going through the motions. By creating a vision for your life, you will have direction, which means you’ll start solving problems to make your vision a reality.
To create your vision, you need to know who you are and what you want in life. This task involves deep introspection, which may take some time to figure out. It is essential that you do figure it out, though, so you should dedicate some time to figure it out. It might take a weekend or it might take a few years. Once you do figure it out, you need to write it out in your favorite word processor. Write down who you are, what you want out of life, and the vision. After it is all written down, pursue your vision with relentless determination.
Think Strategically
You need to have a strategy for everything you’re doing in life. If you don’t have a strategy, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. Since you have your vision now, you need to think how you will strategically achieve your vision.
Perhaps, your vision involves going back to school to get your master’s degree or PhD. What can you do to ensure you graduate on top of your class? One strategy is getting a head start in the class by starting to read the material a week in advance before the class starts.
Self-care
Self-care is absolutely critical to achieving your vision. You should exercise and lift weights at least 3 days a week. It’s a lie that all people who lift weights are meat heads and aren’t smart, so hit the gym and start lifting weights. Exercising and lifting weights will give you more energy to do things, and it also promotes overall healthiness. If you’re unhealthy physically or mentally, you will struggle to accomplish the most basic of daily tasks.
If you are unhealthy, before you even start pursuing your vision, you will need to nurture yourself back to good health by consulting a doctor to determine if it’s safe for you to exercise. If you are capable of exercise, then exercise daily and eat healthy.
No Alcohol, Marijuana, or Other Harmful Drugs
No drugs! If you do drugs, then you are slowly or sometimes quickly self-destructing. Self-destruction is not conducive to achieving a vision. Doing drugs is counterproductive to living a fulfilling life. If you’re doing drugs, stop doing drugs, and get help from professionals if you’re unable to do it alone.
Discipline
Without discipline, you won’t be able to achieve your vision or accomplish anything worthwhile. Motivation is fleeting, but through discipline, you can achieve anything. Embrace discipline. Here’s what Sun Tzu, the author of “The Art of War”, said about discipline:
“Whose discipline is effective? … This is how you can know who will win [a war].” – Sun Tzu
Don’t Only Read Books that are about Computers
There are many interesting things to learn about. We know computers are interesting since we dedicated our work lives to them, but there are many other things to learn that are necessary to living an advantageous and fulfilling life.
One very important topic to learn about is psychology. For example, learn about what makes people tick and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Growth Mindset
With a growth mindset, you understand that everyday you are becoming physically stronger, mentally stronger, faster, smarter, and more humble everyday that passes if you are engaging in activities, such as those previously mentioned, such as exercise, weight training, and reading.
Some people scoff at the idea of a growth mindset. Let them scoff. The growth mindset is real. You can become smarter, stronger, faster, and better everyday. If you are disciplined, and you strive to become better on a daily basis, then you will.
Do What You Love To Do
What do you love to do? Make time for it, and do it. Make sure these hobbies are not computer centric. Personally, I love to play guitar and write music that I record in Garageband. It’s something I love to do. I also love to play chess. Playing chess helps you to think strategically, and it can help you think strategically about your life and how you will achieve your vision.
Avoid Toxic People Like The Plague
Toxic people are people that make you feel like garbage whenever you’re around them. Avoid toxic people at all costs. If you have a toxic coworker with whom you work closely with, keep conversations at the absolute minimum and do what is absolutely necessary to get the job done. Do not talk to them about anything personal in your life or anything else except whatever is relevant to the work. If everyone you’re working with is toxic, then it might be time to dust off the resume and start searching for a healthier work environment.
Set SMART Goals and Achieve Them
A SMART goal is one that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. An example of a goal that is not SMART is “I’m going to start a youtube channel”. Rephrasing the goal as “I’m going to start a youtube channel about sports and post 5 videos per week for 12 months so that I can get 10,000 subscribers”. The new goal is specific because you’ve specified what the youtube channel will be about. It is measurable because your goal is to get 10,000 subscribers. It is definitely achievable, realistic, and timely because you’ve set the goal to be achieved in 12 months.
In this blog post, you learned about the 10 things you need to do to become a balanced software engineer. The 10 things you need to do to become a balanced software engineer are have a vision, think strategically, self-care, don’t do harmful drugs, discipline, read books that aren’t about computers, growth mindset, do what you love to do, avoid toxic people like, and set SMART goals and achieve them.
