According to Oxford online dictionary
Stress is a mental pressure or worry caused by the problems in someone's life.
Stress is a mental pressure caused by stacked activities and unsolved problems. Developers, including me suffer stress. The reason for being stressed as a developer is not far fetched. A lot of things and activities (coding, writing, social media, family activities, and so on) require your attention.
We all know that human wants, needs, and activities are inexhaustible hence my people would say "wahala no dey finish", meaning problems don't finish. As problems don't finish, you just have to device a means of coping with them all.
In this article, I would like to share some tips to coping with stress as a developer.
Acknowledge your personality:
We all have our individual differences in our personalities. Your personality has a huge role to play in managing your stress life. Are you slow, perfectionist, scattered, etc. Acknowledging the type of person you are will help you know how to plan yourself accordingly. It will also help you set your goal according to your own pace, know how far you can go with any task and not following someone else's progress.
Determine what matters to you:
The truth is, you cannot be everywhere at the same time. Among all activities seeking your attention, it is necessary that you look to see which ones are necessary for you. In essence, set your priorities right. Determining what matters to you takes critical thinking. You need to sit down and have a chat with your brain. Ask yourself this important question.
What do I want to achieve?
With what you want to achieve comes the need to sieve out other activities that are not relevant to your goal of achievement. So with this, you have a focus and keep your eyes off distractions.
Plan your activities:
When you have sieved your activities of the unnecessary ones, planning your daily activities is one key way to cope with stress. Plan your day according to your personality. Break down your goal to small daily achievable tasks. Determine how you can achieve your set goals by making available the necessary tools like organizing application, calendar, jotter to remind you of your set activities and the time due for each. This way you will know which ones should come first or last.
Check out these daily planning applications:
Google calendar: This calendar comes with every google powered system or mobile phones.
Any.do: This is an organizing app for daily activities with good functionalities. Download from play store for android or ios store for ios applications.
You can also check here for more of such applications.
Stick to the plan:
Make sure to kick away every procrastinations. At anytime for any activity, encourage yourself to do the task. Sticking to the plan helps you avoid backlog of tasks that stack up that create stress. Always remind yourself the reason for setting the goal and the need to achieve it.
Surround yourself with organized and goal oriented people:
You may not know but the type of friends in your circle indirectly affect your stress life. They may not understand the need for you to keep to your goals hence serving as agents of distraction and procrastination for your goals. Trying to keep up with their distractive activities and your set goals may amount to extra unimportant activities which will lead to stress. The smaller the circle of friends you have, the better for your focus on the activities that align with your goals and stress free life. Keep the set of friends with like-minds who will help keep you focused and motivated.
Keep your social media life in check:
Avoid starting the day with social media. And when you need to use it, check out as soon as possible after checking updates.
Take breaks when necessary:
Take small breaks during the day. Sleep well enough whenever sleep comes. Take vacations too if you can afford it. Make time to play and laugh with family from time to time.
conclusion:
Take it one step at a time. Remember you need to manage your life as much as possible to able to be productive. Doing a lot of unnecessary activities does not amount to productivity. It is not how many you do but how well done. I hope with these tips you can get a clue to manage your life and make it as stress free as possible.
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