Bouncing off of @MoData’s post: How to prevent brain fry from AI 🧠 , I decided to create my own list of engineering-specific ways to reduce chronic stress while improving performance.
1) Slow Down
Slowing down might seem counter intuitive to productivity, however, it actually helps you stop doing busy work.
After bouncing back and forth within 7+ projects at a time, rushing to get all of the work progressed as much as possible, I end up finding myself:
- Spinning about what I need to do next
- Forgetting what I was doing from the day before
- Dropping priorities altogether
2) Think More, Not Less
One might assume that what’s needed is more action, but that’s not the case. You still have to make sure that you’re thinking about what’s coming, what’s important, and how to execute on them, especially as our toolsets keep changing.
3) Make Lists
Making lists is something that has always been important, and it’s even more important to slow down to make sure that we have our lists put together.
Creating lists has lots of awesome benefits. It:
- Exposes what you’re doing to your team (if you post it)
- Orients you about the current world that you’re in (prevents disorientation specifically)
- Allows you to prioritize impactful work (and disregard work that isn’t impactful)
These are the top three that I could think of that impact my daily flow in positive ways. Curious if anyone else has any good tips!