Hi, this is the daily overpass, my name is Eric, I make apps.
Today I wanna talk about feeling lazy.
Ok so today I wanna answer a question from out good friend Shivam, Shivam Pandey, who
asked us on episode 53 "Hi Eric, how do you manage laziness?
I'm bored and got no ideas for apps or designs.
I'm not being productive nowadays.
I think I should go out but there's no one to meet.
I'm really depressed with myself.
And advice please."
Now, I tend to keep pretty busy.
i wake up in...if you follow me on snapchat you'll know this is true, i get up at about
4 o clock every morning.
I'm usually in the office by 4.30 and I'll do a few hours of work until about 7 in the
morning.
And this is mainly because it gives me some time to myself to catch up on some things
that weren't done with no interruptions, no distractions, and it just sort of gives me
an extra 10 hours a week really.
And I go to the gym at 7 o clock because if I don't set it as a schedule, I won't go,
I get too lazy and won't go, but if I make it a habit, I'll go.
So I'll go to the gym and then after the gym I'll go home, see the kids off to school really
quickly, have a shower and then I come back into the office and then I work the full day
here.
There could me meetings throughout the day, there's usually projects I have to work on,
uploading a bunch of apps, making screenshots, that kind of stuff, trying to find new clients
and that's until about 6, and then I'll go home for dinner.
Sometimes I'll come back after dinner and just work on some more stuff.
But, having said all that, I feel lazy a lot.
I think it's something we all feel as software developers.
There are days, there could be several days in a row, where you just feel lazy or depressed.
And sometimes they're both the same.
There's times where I just feel like "oh, what's the point!
Nothings working!
Maybe I'll just go find a job...maybe I'll just do something else", and you get into
this...it's like you get into a funk.
I'll get into this state in my head where I think "of course this isn't working!
Of course this isn't doing..", you know, you're in this spiral of negative feelings and nothings
working, what's the point.
"oh, ad mob revenue was down today, oh nobody bought this!
Oh great!
I got another email with a problem with the app!
Oh great..." such and such.
And when I think about it, I always track it down to about two different reasons.
Again this is just my opinion, I'm sure if you google 'how to get over laziness' or go
find it on youtube you'll find loads of people who talk different stuff about it.
But I usually find it has to do with either I haven't had exercise in a while, or I've
lost excitement in what I'm working on.
And in terms of the first one, having haven't exercised in a while - that sounds like BS,
I realise it sounds like BS!
That sounds like something the jock would say, or the P.E/ teacher "your problem is
you're just not doing enough push-ups" or a drill sergeant or whatever.
But I do find that.
If I go too long without getting any exercise, especially in a job like this where I sit
in this chair 8 hours at a time, or 10 hours or just let the whole day go by, I don't get
any exercise.
And I could go a whole day without having a conversation with anybody, and you do just
get this lethargic feeling where you're just like "ah, whatever!" but I find if I get up
and walk around, go for a walk, if I go for a run I feel really good, but sometimes that's
not a possibility, but I could do some push-ups or something like that.
The nice thing about being in your own office is you can do whatever you want.
I can do handstands if I wanted to - if I was capable of it.
So that's one of the things I do to kinda get out of that funk, that feeling of laziness.
The second one is usually because I've lost excitement about what I'm working on, and
this happens more often with client projects than it does with my own projects.
But usually I have so many things to work on that if I feel really lazy with one project,
I could go work on another one.
So it's almost like, I feel like I'm slacking off on one thing, but I'm working on another
thing.
And it's usually like, I'm always procrastinating on something.
Like, if I'm supposed to be doing a client project and I decide I wanna do this video,
then usually I'm procrastinating on something.
If I work on my own projects then it's ususlly because I'm procrastinating on the client,
if I'm not uploading the apps that I'm supposed to upload, then I might be procrastinating
for something else.
A lot of times it has to do with, as software developers, you get into this part of a project
where you hit...it's like you get stuck in the mud.
It could be something like a database query isn't running properly, or you're trying to
access an API and for whatever reason it's not working despite the fact that you followed
all the directions and this kind of stuff.
And you get into this funk where it just feels like you hit a road block and then you kinda
get into this "ah, nothings working".
Or you're working on a part of a project that's just not interesting, it's not interesting,
it's not fun.
Like the login form.
On a lot of websites and apps you might have to do a login form, for me that's always so
dull, so boring.
And then you do the login form and you go "ok, good, that's done" and then they'll say
"oh you forgot the 'forgot my password', 'reset password'", all that kind of stuff, "oh alright!"
And you just do that.
So sometimes it's just pushing ahead until you get through that block, and sometimes
what I'll do is I'll just switch technologies or I'll try to do like a new project and a
new technology just so I can learn that new technology as I go.
So like angular 2, that was one thing that I thought...well we did a project recently
where I thought "let's do this in ionic too" even though it was still in beta just to make
it interesting, just to make it fun.
So we're picking up some new stuff because it was starting to get...a lot of the apps
were getting very much the same.
I do think, I think that software developers, because we sit in the same chair for a long
time, we don't necessarily have to have conversations with people all the time, for me I'm very
introverted.
So I don't talk to people all the time.
I've lived in the same little town for the last 18 years, most people don't know who
I am.
If anybody ever says hello to me in the street, it shocks me because most people don't know
who I am, except the people who work at the fast food places!
That's my own issues there.
And software developers, I mean, we can get really lazy!
Have you ever been so lazy that you couldn't be bothered to search for an email?
Or have you ever been so lazy that you couldn't be bothered to do something because that would
require moving the mouse to the other side of the screen and clicking on something and
having it open?
I can remember being so lazy, all I had to do was drag something from one area to another
and I was like "ohh, I can't be bothered to do this repetitive task over and over again",
and it's nothing!
And sometimes, I have a box set of the west wing, and sometimes I'll watch 3 episodes
of the west wing while I do very repetitive and boring tasks.
I just kind of have it on.
Somebody asked about why I have so many monitors.
Sometimes I'll have a tv show on in one monitor while I'm working on something that might
be really really dull.
And there's other times where you have to really give something 100% focus and that's
the exciting stuff.
Those are those unique opportunities where time just flies by, like you just go "hey,
it's dark! when did that happen?!
I must have been working..." it feels like you've been working on something for 20 minutes,
but you realise 4 hours have gone by but you've been so in the flow that you've just been
working on it.
When it comes to feeling lazy, I think Shivam, either it's just me and you or everybody who
watches this feels lazy at some point!
Let us know in the comments because I think we all get that way.
And in terms of getting out and meeting other people, like I said, hardly anybody knows
who I am.
I will go to networking events or going to app events with the full intention that I'm
gonna shake hands with people, I'm gonna get to know people and I never do!
I'm the guy who stays by the coffee area for the whole time.
I read books on this, just some books that I happened to have here in the office, this
doesn't include the ones I have at home, I've got "never eat alone" by Keith Ferrazzi about
networking, it's actually pretty good but I've never done anything from it.
Harvey Mackay's 'Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty' which is also very good about networking.
Also Harvey Mackay's other book called 'Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive',
there's one called 'How to Work a Room', all this kind of stuff about getting out there,
networking and being extroverted and all this kind of stuff, but I just don't.
When I get out in front of a crowd of people, I just sort of go in.
It's been a long time since I've been out on my own but I used to love to go to the
movies and stuff by myself, I prefer that kind of stuff.
And I think, if you're feeling lazy all the time, you just need to switch and find a project
that excites you.
If it's not an app, if you're not excited about putting out an app, then do something
else.
Or you could find a shorter project, so get something where you can finish it more quickly.
Like, I find sometimes, if I'm feeling really lazy, I have to find a quick win, maybe a
bit of code that I know I'm going to finish it this afternoon.
i know if I put it down and try to come back to it later, i'm just not gonna have that...I'm
gonna lose momentum and all that kind of stuff.
so anyway, those are my opinions.
I think we all have that, and it's nice being in an office, but sometimes I will take a
nap in the afternoon in the office, and sometimes that's all it takes too.
Especially when you get a few hours of sleep that night like I do.
anyway, that's it for today, I hope that's been interesting and I'll talk to you guys
on Monday!