Hello, buddies! Ever wish you had more time in a day? If you struggle to get efficient at work and can’t find the time to fit it all, here are 9 daily hacks that will help you maximize your achievements without increasing the amount of time spent on work.
The key to getting more things done in less time is to focus on quality instead of quantity. Remember that you are paid for the value you bring. While the quantity is still an important measurement, it increases with being more experienced in what you do. Therefore, first, you bring the quality, and the quantity goes up progressively 📈
1. If You Get Stuck, Take a Break
Everyone has those moments when you get so frustrated with coding you start yelling and blaming your troubles on your computer. If or when this happens, take a step back from your computer and do something to take your mind off coding. Perhaps a bathroom break or a walk around the block will be sufficient. But often it’s better to work on another project or take a half-hour break from work completely and do something relaxing. Once you feel refreshed and energized, take another stab at the code!
2. Start with the hardest task
Here is a brilliant advice by Brian Tracy:“Eat that frog!” In other words, start your day with your “biggest, hardest, and most important task”.
We’ve all had those mornings where we start with drinking coffee and checking emails and only then try to tune into the work state. As a result, our enthusiasm is gone, along with valuable time, we could have spent on getting the stuff done.
Instead, create a list of tasks for the day. Prioritizing the stuff and choose 3 “most important tasks” that will get the most results (avoid the temptation to knock out the easy stuff first). Pick the worst task out of those three and focus on getting it done first thing in the day.
3. Use the Right Language to Solve the Problem
When it comes to deciding which programming language to use, choose the right language for the project. Often new programmers(me too before) try to cut corners and code with a language they already know, even if a different language is better suited for the task. Finding and using the correct language or tool for the project might increase the work but put in the extra time will be worth it in the long run. Remember, it’s better to take the extra time and do a job right the first time than to take shortcuts and have to go back and fix the loopholes you missed initially.
4. Minimize distractions
Learn to avoid distractions. Even though developing software doesn’t mean you have to look at your screen all the time, it means your mind should be focused on the problem you are solving. Context switching takes time. If you look at every skype message or email you receive while working, you will be significantly less productive.
Create special filters for high-priority and emergency situations, and don’t be afraid to reject people who come to your desk without the intention to solve important tasks.
Headphones may make you safe from distractions too 🎧
5. Use meaningful names
This is the most common mistake that we all make. Let’s understand this with an example. Here is a code snippet with meaningless names.
#code with meaningless names
for i in j:
for k in i:
if(k[0]=="J"):
print(K)
Let’s assume you have written this now right now, so you might have an idea what i, j, p & k are. If you look at the same code after months or days, you will have no idea about this mess.
Now, let’s make a slight modification to the same code.
#code with meaningful names
for genre in genre_list:
for movie in genre:
if(movie[0]=="J"):
print(movie)
Seems interesting, right? And this code doesn't need any comments. This is what we need to follow.
6. Find a community
This is the best way to make your life much easier as a programmer. Do join any community over any platform; it can be slack, Facebook, WhatsApp group, Discord or anything. The benefit of joining the community is that you won’t feel alone in this journey.
Most of the time, all the programmers face similar kinds of issues while programming. So, joining a community of similar people is the best way to learn from others’ mistakes so that we don’t spend that much time fixing the same bug in the future.
If you need a web dev/JavaScript community, just join Ayodele Samuel Adebayo and friends!
7. Love your error messages
Make the error message to your best friend. You don’t need to ignore them. The way you learn a different concept, try to learn about the error message in the same way.
Error messages are shared with all the programmers. You might face the same error message in many places, but if you do not learn from those errors message, you will have to spend the same amount of time fixing the same error repeatedly.
Simply, as Catalin Pit says,
8. Create batches for everyday tasks
Let’s take emails. Of course, responding to all your messages immediately might be very tempting but as a result, you waste too much time switching from one thing to another. Instead, batch all repetitive activities. For example, decide that you will spend 10-30 minutes twice a day to deal with all emails and other communication.
9. You don’t need to know everything
Don’t let what you don’t know to stop you from trying something new and discovering your potential to grow.
You will find new people with great ideas and tricks to do the same programming task less efficiently in everyday life. Always have an attitude to learn more and grow at every moment. Nobody knows every programming language in the market, every single method, each library, and framework, or the absolute solution to every problem.
That's it! Although some of these tips may seem tedious or time-consuming now, once you incorporate them into your daily coding routine, you we quickly see enhanced work performance and efficiency throughout your daily tasks. Happy Coding!