Detailed Notes
Developing better habits often feels like a task-oriented mission—ditch the bad, adopt the good, and stay on track. But what if building good habits could also be fun? In the latest episode of Building Better Habits, Rob Broadhead and Michael Meloche explore the power of fun habits—activities that not only enrich your life but can also replace unhealthy or unproductive habits.
Read More: https://develpreneur.com/building-better-habits-how-fun-habits-can-replace-bad-habits/
*Take the Challenge*
Rob and Michael challenge listeners: identify one fun habit you can incorporate into your daily life. Spend at least 15 minutes on this activity for the next seven days. Whether it’s picking up a new skill, revisiting a forgotten hobby, or simply taking time for yourself, this habit could be the key to a happier and healthier routine.
*Stay Connected: Join the Develpreneur Community*
We invite you to join our community and share your coding journey with us. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting, there’s always room to learn and grow together. Contact us at [email protected] with your questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes. Together, let’s continue exploring the exciting world of software development.
*Additional Resources*
* Developer Tools That Transform: Habits for Smarter Development (https://develpreneur.com/developer-tools-that-transform-habits-for-smarter-development/) * How to Build Better Habits with Coding Standards (https://develpreneur.com/how-to-build-better-habits-with-coding-standards/) * Holiday Gaming Gift Guide: The 2024 Christmas Special from Building Better Developers (https://develpreneur.com/holiday-gaming-gift-guide-the-2024-christmas-special-from-building-better-developers/) * Planning For Fun and Recreation – The Meaningful Life (https://develpreneur.com/meaningful-life-planning-for-fun-and-recreation/)
*Follow-us on:*
* https://develpreneur.com/ * https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZOuFN_LhczvGyT2KSItH_g/featured * https://facebook.com/Develpreneur * https://twitter.com/develpreneur * http://linkedin.com/develpreneur
Transcript Text
[Music] all right we are back and we decided this is oh fun habits so let's see how this one goes this should be interesting um because I actually like this is something that I it's been near and dear in my heart I started this a couple years ago and um I've actually just I reset every year with with some of the fun habits and it is a uh is something I think a lot of people be good to think about so we will dive into this in a little three two well hello and welcome back we are still here we are building better habits we are just continuing to build better habits we are developing nor I happen to be Rob Broadhead one of the founders of developing nor building better developers and also a founder of RB Consulting where we are what people refer to as a boutique consulting company our focus is helping you focus with the world of technology that's out there is helping you find the best way to leverage the technology that's out there whether it's stuff that you already have where stuff that is out there and available that maybe you may not even know is out there that will help you do your job better your run your business better uh whether it's software or it could be teams or organizations or all kinds of stuff it's basically helping you take that technology sprawl of people and services and applications all that kind of stuff and through simplification automation integration is find a way to refine that and make a really good smooth running machine to help your business leverage technology instead of you know sort of have that tug OFW with doing the techn ology versus actually you know better business and earning money and maybe even making your customers happy you know those kinds of things that sometimes we forget those are the core part of why we do what we do in the habits world uh this one I'm GNA I'm not going to do a spoiler I'll I'll save that a little bit and talk about because that's talk about as we get into this episode and some of the habits uh I do just want to want to go back a little bit and talk about the health habit of getting up and doing a little walk around and stuff like that and just finding a way to get away from your desk occasionally uh one of the things that we stumbled across over the we I'll just I'll take credit for it my wife actually found a pelaton uh found it cheap and I know I'm like six years behind the the curve on this or whatever it is but uh it gives us a nice little bike that's something we can exercise with in the house and it's 15 minutes kicks our ass so it's enough right now to just be like a good way to get out there and get a little you know get a little sweat going get your heart rate up and that kind of good stuff and having that habit of trying to do it just you know every day every other day kind of thing having a reminder of that has been very helpful from The Habit point of view good thing bad thing um good thing is the bad thing is we are now into we're past the holidays and so there's a lot of stuff there and within that I had a lot of plans for the holidays that all went aai mostly because I had planned on taking two weeks off at the end of the year as I have in the past at times and as I also have in the past at times did not do it because work got in the way and so the bad thing was is that that time is sort of that that time is over but the good thing is also that that time is over because now it was so chaotic it is nice to be able to get back into a a regular schedule as it were and to look ahead the year ahead and some of the things that are the plans that I've been working on in the last few months now getting to the execution point of that I'm actually now taking those plans and executing on those another good thing is that Michael's across the internet for me as always I'm going to let you introduce yourself hey everyone my name is Michael Mage I'm one of the founders of developer Nur building better developers I'm also the founder of Envision QA where we help companies figure out what they need to make their software work for them too many companies today have Swiss army knife applications to try to help them do their work and typically they end up doing more work to make these apps work for them we help you streamline that we help you automate integrate and essentially streamline your processes so that your apps work for you you're spending more time doing what you enjoy working on your business instead of working on the apps work trying to make the apps work for you good thing bad thing uh again we're past the holidays like Rob said uh a lot of good things is kind of has stopped raining although the bad thing is it's gotten cold uh so I'm having to worry about freezing pipes again uh but it is nice to see the sun come out it so many days during the holidays I don't know why this year it was just so cloudy it was so dreary it was just like I don't want to go outside now it's like oh it's sunny go outside it's like okay it's cold put on that big jacket um talking about our habits for this season you know some of the things now that we're kind of in the new year and I don't want to get way too much but one of the big things that got me through the holiday was working on planning scheduling trying to make sure that I was able to have some downtime maybe not as much as I wanted but to just try to stay focused so I used the uh planning the scheduling to work my way through that the other thing that kind of got me into this a little bit more was breaking things down so that kind of goes into the training thing so we hit the end of the year one of the things I typically like to do is I like to kind of reset what's new uh what software tools do I use for development have been updated this year you know Java had another major release this year so what new features are with that you know D Jango had some couple updates python you know what is it that these applications or these Frameworks have added that could either make my life easier or are going to make it harder because I may be five or six versions behind and oh that is a really neat feature but what is it going to take to get me there so that's could be one of the struggles I need to work through so good thing bad thing you know again it's a new year kind of look at your tools look at your planning and also look at your skills so I want to start with this I want to look at fun I want to talk about building a fun habit and this is one that is uh again sort of near and dear to my heart because it's fun uh and it started with a actually what the germ of this idea came from a conversation with a developer uh they'll be unnamed we'll just call him Mike that uh realized that he liked doing a certain type of development and he hadn't done it in a while and got back to it and I've done that a couple times in the in the previous years where there's been something that uh had gotten away from me something I didn't do as much that I used to do one example was just reading fiction books I think I've mentioned this before that I went through and and started reading again uh programming is one of those are software development there's there's so many areas as a developer that we can work in that sometimes we forget that there's certain things that we like to do a lot um for myself one of them is I like building software I like solving the problems I like you know finding a need for something and then finding a solution for that thing and that's why I have almost a dozen but solid half dozen of like side projects that started that have been in various States because I was able to do stuff with them took them to a certain point and then had to move on so they're not necessarily totally dead and languishing but some level of that and it's things like just maybe I haven't used them as much in a while I moved on to something else well this is what got me think about that is one of the things that I've started this year is uh I want to do every day I've got a and I think I've got seven of them I've got at least six but I'm going to go through every day I'm going to spend just 15 minutes working on that app and it's basically going to be to uh essentially to revitalize it to just once a week basically touch each app and it's as simple as like the first the first first 15 minutes of each of these apps is like where is it how do I pull it down can I build it can I run it do I have a copy of the database those kinds of things is just sort of like resetting and then putting it out on like where do I want a server that I can reach it and not so it's not just sitting on a you know basically a deployment out to we'll call it production whatever that happens to be and maybe even setting up a production environment but then within that how am I going to make this useful where do I want to go with it how am I going to essentially take it to some level of completion whether it's version one version two version 18 wherever it's at is basically like saying all right I want to have a software company of myself that I'm going to be moving these things forward because I like doing this and this is part of it is like just doing that little bit every day is it's like a you know it's like the the candy reward that I get at the end of the day or something like that or even at the beginning of the day it's like hey I get to spend a little time doing this thing that I want and that's what I'm going to go with with this one is the is the fun habits is think about what is something that you enjoy doing and set aside even 15 minutes you do 30 minutes great you know like like gaming if you're a gamer 15 minutes may not be enough uh but you don't want to do two hours because that may be too much but you know there may be some time there and this is something I'm even suggest I may even myself be like I'm going to spend 15 minutes gaming or something like that but pick some things and it's ideally do it at a certain time like at the beginning of the day maybe during your lunch break at the end of the day at the end of your work day or something like that and just be like I am going to do this each day and do that fun thing now you may already have some of these so it may be easy for you to like adjust a little bit and add on top of those uh but that I think it's one of those things that we don't we can drift from the things that we enjoy doing and find an excuse to go do that thing so if it's um you if you just love designing databases then make it a point that you're going to like find some little mini projects or something like that or maybe you're going to go back and look at databases You' built in the past and you're going to redesign those in a a version two of the database or whatever this stuff is it you like to do put that on your calendar and make that a a daily thing that you're going to do so that you can build that habit of doing that fun thing and I think you're going to find that not only are you making progress in whatever that fun thing is developing those skills whatever it is it's also going to give you that little like extra reward jump to your step as you start your day or as you wrap up your day to be like hey I made it through a day here's my reward what are your thoughts on that you can reward me Michael by giving me your thoughts on that so it's a great idea you know talking about fun habits and you talked about reading uh fiction again one of the things I've tried really hard to get back into is uh audiobooks because I really don't have I I used to like to read but the problem I have there is as a developer I actually spend more time reading technical documentation reading software documentation so to me picking up a book for leisure nowaday days is a little tedious it's like I need to rest my eyes I need to kind of decouple so I've gone back to audiobooks and one of the things I was bad about last year but be the years before that was I used to get through about an 8 to 10 hour book a week I try to block out enough time to wear like maybe 15 minutes in the morning on the way to work or 15 minutes in the evening on the way back or just try to carve out about 30 minutes a day to where I could basically carve out a book a week and that actually worked pretty well I actually got through about 22 books one year uh of a combination of a variety of things you just have to make sure that whatever it is you're listening to it's enjoyable so I did pick up some books that were not as enjoyable and I very quickly just put them down so it is okay to start something and not finish it because if it's something you're not enjoying why waste your time on that move on to something else as Rob mentioned one of the other things I like I forgot I like to do because I've been doing backend development for so long is I like designing applications I like building uis I like building mobile apps I like all this fun you know presentation uh kind of work and and so I find myself uh picking up some things right now building some components playing around with web pages I love that that also got me back into one of the habits we talked about last year was like the kitchen sink app building our software libraries so one of the habits I'm trying to really get back into now is as I do something or even if it's fun or whatever I want to make sure that if I write something it gets into that code Library it gets in that kitchen syn code repository in an organized way so that instead of me searching like stack Overflow or the web I can just go hey look through my little uh kitchen sync app file folder and say hey I've already got this let me just pull this in Let me refresh it run with it saves me time Builds Me tools and who knows you may have a library of modules or features that you could just say hey I can pick and choose here I have an application in a day or two so over time that's essentially what you end up with and the other thing I kind of want to get back to is my kind of uh test automated testing tool that I built a couple years ago um I really enjoyed really dived into that and in fact I I was so involved in that that I was spending probably about 40 hours a week on top of multiple jobs and things it's like that was just so much fun but if you overdo if you over access in some of these fun habits you burn out and you don't want to burn out of something fun you want to keep it fun so as you're working through these habits make sure that you are checking yourself make sure that you are not overdoing it just like you know eating just like drinking don't go into excess try to keep it within that happy medium if you find yourself going into excess okay how do I tailor it back you know how do I chop it back up into those 15 minutes periods or hour periods depending upon what it is that you're working on so the testing tools one of them I'm trying to integrate my ideas for that test Automation in everything I'm doing right now I may not be applying it right now but I am kind of building a checklist of oh hey this is an idea I can automate this add it to the list so it gets back into all the things we talked about in the building better habits last year I'm applying it essentially to the test automation so it's like oh how can I automate this so there's automation I'm building a list I'm scheduling I'm planning ahead so as you're doing these fun habits you can kind of take a look at what we've already talked about for other habits and how can you apply it to your fun habit to make it fun enjoyable and make sure that you stick with it that make sure that you continue to have fun in your day and reduce the stress from other factors like your day job yeah I think this is and we talked about anti-habsburg a negative kind of habit so it could be something like for example U I had a a rough week I was like I just like I'm ready for like beer and wings I'm just ready to go out and do that kind of thing you and it's something like that where you may do that you may have like comfort food that you're like hey I'm going to go have something to eat but maybe instead of that you have this other thing so it's like maybe instead of that I'm going to go uh play a game for 30 minutes or I'm going to go for a jog or I'm going to go for you know I'm going to go whatever it is I'm going to go build this thing I'm going to work on a puzzle whatever happens to be that you can be you can take those things that are our various coping mechanisms and take the ones that maybe we don't need to do as much or that we do too often and replacing those with things that are that are healthier and that are better that will wrap this well actually this will not wrap this one up because first I got to throw a challenge at you so the challenge this time is got way ahead of myself I was having too much fun got to focus uh challenge this week is one we're going to start with today what is it that you enjoy doing what is something that like looking ahead today you could just say it would be really cool if I could spend 15 minutes or a half hour doing this this would make me happy this is something that is like maybe even a a little mini goal for the day and then make that your goal for the next seven days is that each day I want you to do that you have the you have my permission whoever asked you rob from building better developer said I can do this it's not going to help you at all but hey it's just good to throw it out there it'll confuse them trust me um is go to this is every day spend 15 30 minutes whatever it is to like do that fun thing do that positive thing and I think what you're gonna find even if you have to make time to do it I think you will find that it will be worth it I like when I did this years and years and years ago I had something I was doing and I took away uh like I actually ended up getting up 15 minutes earlier each day so I could spend 15 minutes doing this and the 15 minutes of sleep that I lost was more than rewarded by doing that thing it was something I looked to forward to it helped me get out of bed help me get going uh it really was a beneficial thing to do so definitely give that a shot see how that goes for the next week and let us know as always you can shoot us an email at info developer.com you can reach out on Facebook on X xw develop andur Facebook you go to the developer p face uh Facebook page developer.com we have contact us forms you can leave feedback on any of the blog articles are out there any of the articles that are there that are pointing to the podcast and and the video stuff you can go out to the developing our Channel out on YouTube and you can find this and many many many other videos from us over the years leave us feedback there wherever you consume your podcasts leave us a you know leave us feedback there uh we're available we're happy to to hear that and just that helps us build a better podcast for building you better developers that being said we're going to wrap this one up and have a better day ahead of us hopefully go out there and have yourself a great day a great week and we will talk to you next time bonus material so for your G for you Gamers out there if you are running into the pay wall so to speak where you can't afford because gaming is got expensive over the years if you are PC Gamer a couple things you might not know about epic store gives you one free game a week uh if you already have uh prime or Amazon Prime if you're paying for that uh Google Prime gaming t typically they give you a free game or two a week as well and also for those steam people Google steam free it is there's like a free online database that actually tells you what games they offer uh every week for free or for a weekend trial so if you haven't been able to play your games in a while because of cost this may be a way for you to scratch that itch and still be able to game a little bit and find some you know games out there you might like be careful though if you go for the free toplay games a lot of those can get into microtransaction hell and you won't find as much fun playing those because it'll be more work than gaming I guess just to follow that one up I think one of the things that i' I did years and years ago that helped me one of my favorite projects because I've always talked about learning environments languages and things like that through a project that's part of that's how I learn best is by application about like how do I just build this thing using this tool that's how I use learn to use that tool better one of my favorite things years and years ago is I built a game because I it was a game that I wanted it was a game that I liked it was a game that was it was a tabletop game people may know this thing called bloodbowl it's now been turned into like there's video games and stuff like that well I made my own little like version my own rules everything else and just made something like that and it was it was a lot of fun building out this little desktop application that was my game and I one of my projects right now is a little like web-based RPG kind of game based on some rule systems and that that I've gathered over the years I really enjoyed and it it really scratches a couple itches because it is the developer side of me but it's also goes back and sort of forces me into the gamer side of me and doing some of that kind of stuff so like something like that if you can combine maybe a couple um sometimes it's a little bit of thinking outside of the box but I think that's a great way for you to step into uh some of these things a lot of people for if you've got a hobby that you like that you don't get to as much uh I've talked to people over years whether it's like a whether golf or bowling or darts or Billiards or something like that you can build an app to track that or to help with leagues or things of those Natures that will help sort of like draw you back into that world while also doing things that build skills as a developer so don't be afraid to do a little mixing matching of your your projects and the things that you like to get you into a situation where you have something that you have had a lot of fun doing it and it's beneficial and educational at the at the end of the day as well just like listening to this podcast hopefully you have fun every time and it is also beneficial and educational uh as always if you give us feedback we will that can help us make it more beneficial and educational to you as far as like entertainment and fun and stuff like that hey we're working on our sense of humor you just you're going to have to just deal with us on that a little bit we're getting better but hey if you got a favorite joke or something like that we'll take that into uh we'll take that into account as well it may not be appropriate we'll have to figure out how that one's going to work out but we are always hoping to suggestions of any time that being said I want to thank you so much for your time thank you for uh as we're into this new year thank you for the time that you've given us in the last year and in advance for the time that you're giving us in the year ahead hopefully you go out there and have yourself a great day a great week and we will talk to you next time [Music]
Transcript Segments
[Music]
all right we are back and we decided
this is oh fun habits so let's see how
this one goes this should be interesting
um because I actually like this is
something that I it's been near and dear
in my heart I started this a couple
years ago and um I've actually just I
reset every year with with some of the
fun habits and it is a uh is something I
think a lot of people
be good to think about so we will dive
into this in a little three two well
hello and welcome back we are still here
we are building better habits we are
just continuing to build better habits
we are developing nor I happen to be Rob
Broadhead one of the founders of
developing nor building better
developers and also a founder of RB
Consulting where we are what people
refer to as a boutique consulting
company our focus is helping you focus
with the world of technology that's out
there is helping you find the best way
to leverage the technology that's out
there whether it's stuff that you
already have where stuff that is out
there and available that maybe you may
not even know is out there that will
help you do your job better your run
your business better uh whether it's
software or it could be teams or
organizations or all kinds of stuff it's
basically helping you take that
technology sprawl of people and services
and applications all that kind of stuff
and through simplification automation
integration is find a way to refine that
and make a really good smooth running
machine to help your business leverage
technology instead of you know sort of
have that tug OFW with doing the techn
ology versus actually you know better
business and earning money and maybe
even making your customers happy you
know those kinds of things that
sometimes we forget those are the core
part of why we do what we do in the
habits world uh this one I'm GNA I'm not
going to do a spoiler I'll I'll save
that a little bit and talk about because
that's talk about as we get into this
episode and some of the habits uh I do
just want to want to go back a little
bit and talk about the health habit of
getting up and doing a little walk
around and stuff like that and just
finding a way to get away from your desk
occasionally uh one of the things that
we stumbled across over the we I'll just
I'll take credit for it my wife actually
found a pelaton uh found it cheap and I
know I'm like six years behind the the
curve on this or whatever it is but uh
it gives us a nice little bike that's
something we can exercise with in the
house and it's 15 minutes kicks our ass
so it's enough right now to just be like
a good way to get out there and get a
little you know get a little sweat going
get your heart rate up and that kind of
good stuff and having that habit of
trying to do it just you know every day
every other day kind of thing having a
reminder of that has been very helpful
from The Habit point of view good thing
bad thing um good thing
is the bad thing is we are now into
we're past the holidays and so there's a
lot of stuff there and within that I had
a lot of plans for the holidays that all
went aai mostly because I had planned on
taking two weeks off at the end of the
year as I have in the past at times and
as I also have in the past at times did
not do it because work got in the way
and so the bad thing was is that that
time is sort of that that time is over
but the good thing is also that that
time is over because now it was so
chaotic it is nice to be able to get
back into a a regular schedule as it
were and to look ahead the year ahead
and some of the things that are the
plans that I've been working on in the
last few months now getting to the
execution point of that I'm actually now
taking those plans and executing on
those another good thing is that
Michael's across the internet for me as
always I'm going to let you introduce
yourself hey everyone my name is Michael
Mage I'm one of the founders of
developer Nur building better developers
I'm also the founder of Envision QA
where we help companies figure out what
they need to make their software work
for them too many companies today have
Swiss army knife applications to try to
help them do their work and typically
they end up doing more work to make
these apps work for them we help you
streamline that we help you automate
integrate and essentially streamline
your processes so that your apps work
for you you're spending more time doing
what you enjoy working on your business
instead of working on the apps work
trying to make the apps work for
you good thing bad thing uh again we're
past the holidays like Rob said uh a lot
of good things is kind of has stopped
raining although the bad thing is it's
gotten cold uh so I'm having to worry
about freezing pipes again uh but it is
nice to see the sun come out it so many
days during the holidays I don't know
why this year it was just so cloudy it
was so dreary it was just like I don't
want to go outside now it's like oh it's
sunny go outside it's like okay it's
cold put on that big jacket um talking
about our habits for this season you
know some of the things now that we're
kind of in the new year and I don't want
to get way too much but one of the big
things that got me through the holiday
was working on planning scheduling
trying to make sure that I was able to
have some downtime maybe not as much as
I wanted but to just try to stay focused
so I used the uh planning the scheduling
to work my way through that the other
thing that kind of got me into this a
little bit more was breaking things down
so that kind of goes into the training
thing so we hit the end of the year one
of the things I typically like to do is
I like to kind of reset what's new uh
what software tools do I use for
development have been updated this year
you know Java had another major release
this year so what new features are with
that you know D Jango had some couple
updates python you know what is it that
these applications or these Frameworks
have added that could either make my
life easier or are going to make it
harder because I may be five or six
versions behind and oh that is a really
neat feature but what is it going to
take to get me there so that's could be
one of the struggles I need to work
through so good thing bad thing you know
again it's a new year kind of look at
your tools look at your planning and
also look at your
skills so I want to start with this I
want to look at fun I want to talk about
building a fun habit and this is one
that is uh again sort of near and dear
to my heart because it's fun uh and it
started with a actually what the germ of
this idea came from a conversation with
a developer uh they'll be unnamed we'll
just call him Mike that uh realized that
he liked doing a certain type of
development and he hadn't done it in a
while and got back to it and I've done
that a couple times in the in the
previous years where there's been
something that uh had gotten away from
me something I didn't do as much that I
used to do one example was just reading
fiction books I think I've mentioned
this before that I went through and and
started reading again uh programming is
one of those are software development
there's there's so many areas as a
developer that we can work in that
sometimes we forget that there's certain
things that we like to do a lot um for
myself one of them is I like building
software I like solving the problems I
like you know finding a need for
something and then finding a solution
for that thing and that's why I have
almost a dozen but solid half dozen of
like side projects that started that
have been in various States because I
was able to do stuff with them took them
to a certain point and then had to move
on so they're not necessarily totally
dead and languishing but some level of
that and it's things like just maybe I
haven't used them as much in a while I
moved on to something else well this is
what got me think about that is one of
the things that I've started this year
is uh I want to do every day I've got a
and I think I've got seven of them I've
got at least six but I'm going to go
through every day I'm going to spend
just 15 minutes working on that app and
it's basically going to be to uh
essentially to revitalize it to just
once a week basically touch each app and
it's as simple as like the first the
first first 15 minutes of each of these
apps is like where is it how do I pull
it down can I build it can I run it do I
have a copy of the database those kinds
of things is just sort of like resetting
and then putting it out on like where do
I want a server that I can reach it and
not so it's not just sitting on a you
know basically a deployment out to we'll
call it production whatever that happens
to be and maybe even setting up a
production environment but then within
that how am I going to make this useful
where do I want to go with it how am I
going to essentially take it to some
level of completion whether it's version
one version two version 18 wherever it's
at is basically like saying all right I
want
to have a software company of myself
that I'm going to be moving these things
forward because I like doing this and
this is part of it is like just doing
that little bit every day is it's like a
you know it's like the the candy reward
that I get at the end of the day or
something like that or even at the
beginning of the day it's like hey I get
to spend a little time doing this thing
that I want and that's what I'm going to
go with with this one is the is the fun
habits is think about what is something
that you enjoy
doing and set aside even 15 minutes you
do 30 minutes great you know like like
gaming if you're a gamer 15 minutes may
not be enough
uh but you don't want to do two hours
because that may be too much but you
know there may be some time there and
this is something I'm even suggest I may
even myself be like I'm going to spend
15 minutes gaming or something like that
but pick some things and it's ideally do
it at a certain time like at the
beginning of the day maybe during your
lunch break at the end of the day at the
end of your work day or something like
that and just be like I am going to do
this each day and do that fun thing now
you may already have some of these so it
may be easy for you to like adjust a
little bit and add on top of those uh
but that I think it's one of those
things that we don't we can drift from
the things that we enjoy doing and find
an excuse to go do that thing so if it's
um you if you just love designing
databases then make it a point that
you're going to like find some little
mini projects or something like that or
maybe you're going to go back and look
at databases You' built in the past and
you're going to redesign those in a a
version two of the database or whatever
this stuff is it you like to do put that
on your calendar and make that a a daily
thing that you're going to do so that
you can build that habit of doing that
fun thing and I think you're going to
find that not only are you making
progress in whatever that fun thing is
developing those skills whatever it is
it's also going to give you that little
like extra reward jump to your step as
you start your day or as you wrap up
your day to be like hey I made it
through a day here's my reward what are
your thoughts on that you can reward me
Michael by giving me your thoughts on
that so it's a great idea you know
talking about fun habits and you talked
about reading uh fiction again one of
the things I've tried really hard to get
back into is uh audiobooks because I
really don't have I I used to like to
read but the problem I have there is as
a developer I actually spend more time
reading technical documentation reading
software documentation so to me picking
up a book for leisure nowaday days is a
little tedious it's like I need to rest
my eyes I need to kind of decouple so
I've gone back to audiobooks and one of
the things I was bad about last year but
be the years before that was I used to
get through about an 8 to 10 hour book a
week I try to block out enough time to
wear like maybe 15 minutes in the
morning on the way to work or 15 minutes
in the evening on the way back or just
try to carve out about 30 minutes a day
to where I could basically carve out a
book a week and that actually worked
pretty well I actually got through about
22 books one year uh of a combination of
a variety of things you just have to
make sure that whatever it is you're
listening to it's enjoyable so I did
pick up some books that were not as
enjoyable and I very quickly just put
them down so it is okay to start
something and not finish it because if
it's something you're not enjoying why
waste your time on that move on to
something
else as Rob mentioned one of the other
things I like I forgot I like to do
because I've been doing backend
development for so long is I like
designing applications I like building
uis I like building mobile apps I like
all this fun you know presentation uh
kind of work and and so I find myself uh
picking up some things right now
building some components playing around
with web pages I love that that also got
me back into one of the habits we talked
about last year was like the kitchen
sink app building our
software libraries so one of the habits
I'm trying to really get back into now
is as I do something or even if it's fun
or whatever I want to make sure that if
I write something it gets into that code
Library it gets in that kitchen syn code
repository in an organized way so that
instead of me searching like stack
Overflow or the web I can just go hey
look through my little uh kitchen sync
app file folder and say hey I've already
got this let me just pull this in Let me
refresh it
run with it saves me time Builds Me
tools and who knows you may have a
library of modules or features that you
could just say hey I can pick and choose
here I have an application in a day or
two so over time that's essentially what
you end up with and the other thing I
kind of want to get back to is my kind
of uh
test automated testing tool that I built
a couple years ago um I really enjoyed
really dived into that and in fact I I
was so involved in that that I was
spending probably about 40 hours a week
on top of multiple jobs and things it's
like that was just so much fun but if
you overdo if you over access in some of
these fun habits you burn out and you
don't want to burn out of something fun
you want to keep it fun so as you're
working through these habits make sure
that you are checking yourself make sure
that you are not overdoing it just like
you know eating just like drinking don't
go into excess try to keep it within
that happy medium if you find yourself
going into excess okay how do I tailor
it back you know how do I chop it back
up into those 15 minutes periods or hour
periods depending upon what it is that
you're working on so the testing tools
one of them I'm trying to integrate my
ideas for that test Automation in
everything I'm doing right now I may not
be applying it right now but I am kind
of building a checklist of oh hey this
is an idea I can automate this add it to
the list so it gets back into all the
things we talked about in the building
better habits last year I'm applying it
essentially to the test automation so
it's like oh how can I automate this so
there's automation I'm building a list
I'm scheduling I'm planning ahead so as
you're doing these fun habits you can
kind of take a look at what we've
already talked about for other habits
and how can you apply it to your fun
habit to make it fun enjoyable and make
sure that you stick with it that make
sure that you continue to have fun in
your day and reduce the stress from
other factors like your day
job yeah I think this is and we talked
about anti-habsburg
a negative kind of habit so it could be
something like for example U I had a a
rough week I was like I just like I'm
ready for like beer and wings I'm just
ready to go out and do that kind of
thing you and it's something like that
where you may do that you may have like
comfort food that you're like hey I'm
going to go have something to eat but
maybe instead of that you have this
other thing so it's like maybe instead
of that I'm going to go uh play a game
for 30 minutes or I'm going to go for a
jog or I'm going to go for you know I'm
going to go whatever it is I'm going to
go build this thing I'm going to work on
a puzzle whatever happens to be that you
can be you can take those things that
are our various coping mechanisms and
take the ones that maybe we don't need
to do as much or that we do too often
and replacing those with things that are
that are healthier and that are
better that will wrap this well actually
this will not wrap this one up because
first I got to throw a challenge at you
so the challenge this time is got way
ahead of myself I was having too much
fun got to focus uh challenge this week
is one we're going to start with today
what is it that you enjoy doing what is
something that like looking ahead today
you could just say it would be really
cool if I could spend 15 minutes or a
half hour doing this this would make me
happy this is something that is like
maybe even a a little mini goal for the
day and then make that your goal for the
next seven days is that each day I want
you to do that you have the you have my
permission whoever asked you rob from
building better developer said I can do
this it's not going to help you at all
but hey it's just good to throw it out
there it'll confuse them trust me um is
go to this is every day spend 15 30
minutes whatever it is to like do that
fun thing do that positive thing and I
think what you're gonna find even if you
have to make time to do it I think you
will find that it will be worth it I
like when I did this years and years and
years ago I had something I was doing
and I took away uh like I actually ended
up getting up 15 minutes earlier each
day so I could spend 15 minutes doing
this
and the 15 minutes of sleep that I lost
was more than rewarded by doing that
thing it was something I looked to
forward to it helped me get out of bed
help me get going uh it really was a
beneficial thing to do so definitely
give that a shot see how that goes for
the next week and let us know as always
you can shoot us an email at info
developer.com you can reach out on
Facebook on X xw develop andur Facebook
you go to the developer p face uh
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the articles that are there that are
pointing to the podcast and and the
video stuff you can go out to the
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and you can find this and many many many
other videos from us over the years
leave us feedback there wherever you
consume your podcasts leave us a you
know leave us feedback there uh we're
available we're happy to to hear that
and just that helps us build a better
podcast for building you
better developers that being said we're
going to wrap this one up and have a
better day ahead of us hopefully go out
there and have yourself a great day a
great week and we will talk to you next
time bonus
material so for your G for you Gamers
out there if you are running into
the pay wall so to speak where you can't
afford because gaming is got expensive
over the years if you are PC Gamer a
couple things you might not know about
epic store gives you one free game a
week uh if you already have uh prime or
Amazon Prime if you're paying for that
uh Google Prime gaming t typically they
give you a free game or two a week as
well and also for those steam people
Google steam free it is there's like a
free online database that actually tells
you what games they offer uh every week
for free or for a weekend trial so if
you haven't been able to play your games
in a while because of cost this may be a
way for you to scratch that itch and
still be able to game a little bit and
find some you know games out there you
might like be careful though if you go
for the free toplay games a lot of those
can get into microtransaction hell and
you won't find as much fun playing those
because it'll be more work than
gaming I guess just to follow that one
up I think one of the things that i' I
did years and years ago that helped me
one of my favorite projects because I've
always talked about learning
environments languages and things like
that through a project that's part of
that's how I learn best is by
application about like how do I just
build this thing using this tool that's
how I use learn to use that tool better
one of my favorite things years and
years ago is I built a game because I it
was a game that I wanted it was a game
that I liked it was a game that was it
was a tabletop game people may know this
thing called bloodbowl it's now been
turned into like there's video games and
stuff like that well I made my own
little like version my own rules
everything else and just made something
like that and it was it was a lot of fun
building out this little desktop
application that was my game and I one
of my projects right now is a little
like web-based RPG kind of game based on
some rule systems and that that I've
gathered over the years I really enjoyed
and it it really scratches a couple
itches because it is the developer side
of me but it's also goes back and sort
of forces me into the gamer side of me
and doing some of that kind of stuff so
like something like that if you can
combine maybe a couple um sometimes it's
a little bit of thinking outside of the
box but I think that's a great way for
you to step into uh some of these things
a lot of people for if you've got a
hobby that you like that you don't get
to as much uh I've talked to people over
years whether it's like a whether golf
or bowling or darts or Billiards or
something like that you can build an app
to track that or to help with leagues or
things of those Natures that will help
sort of like draw you back into that
world while also doing things that build
skills as a developer so don't be afraid
to do a little mixing matching of your
your projects and the things that you
like to get you into a situation where
you have something that you have had a
lot of fun doing it and it's beneficial
and educational at the at the end of the
day as well just like listening to this
podcast hopefully you have fun every
time and it is also beneficial and
educational uh as always if you give us
feedback we will that can help us make
it more beneficial and educational to
you as far as like entertainment and fun
and stuff like that hey we're working on
our sense of humor you just you're going
to have to just deal with us on that a
little bit we're getting better but hey
if you got a favorite joke or something
like that we'll take that into uh we'll
take that into account as well it may
not be appropriate we'll have to figure
out how that one's going to work out but
we are always hoping to suggestions of
any time that being said I want to thank
you so much for your time thank you for
uh as we're into this new year thank you
for the time that you've given us in the
last year and in advance for the time
that you're giving us in the year ahead
hopefully you go out there and have
yourself a great day a great week and we
will talk to you next time
[Music]