Some Days You Just Gotta Read

07/15/14

Yesterday, I was struggling to be productive. I couldn't focus. I felt like I couldn't do anything. Usually when this happens, I waste the day browsing online, consuming worthless nonsense.

Yesterday, though, I thought to myself, "What am I willing to do that's somewhat valuable?", and I ended up picking up my copy of Code Complete and just reading it for the majority of the day.

It's not something that I could or should do everyday, of course. I have real work to do, both at home and at work. But thanks to that, I've nearly finished the book, and I am really getting a lot out of the last few chapters. Lots of good insight and advice that will be very applicable to work and extracurricular projects.

It was definitely much better than wasting the day reading random junk online.

Ironically, a section of Code Complete that I read yesterday talked about something similar. Section 33.9 "Habits". It spoke of focusing on manifesting good habits, and the bad habits will naturally fade.

That makes sense. Anytime I tried to quit doing any given thing, I usually fail, but when I explicitly plan to replace that thing with something else, it works out. I will plan to replace the worthless online reading I fall back to on bad days to material with more substance.

That's why I'm writing this post. I figured a blog post is better than what I usually end up doing on my computer each morning before work. Hopefully, I can get into the habit of thinking "What valuable thing am I willing to do now?" and start doing that thing instead of wasting precious time on activities I find wasteful.