Why ‘Eat. Sleep. Code. Repeat.’ is a great t-shirt idea, but a terrible motto…
4 AM.
Still can’t sleep.
It’s Monday morning, and after going to bed early last night with a migraine I managed to sneak in a few hours of sleep and shake it off. This is the first migraine I’ve had in years, what is going on?
Midnight rolls around and I’m wide awake.
Now it’s 1 AM. Still awake.
2AM, 3AM, 4AM.
Why can’t I turn my brain off? It’s just a biological computer right?
And why is my head now spinning? I’ve only had 1 beer today (yesterday?) and it was at 7pm with my BBQ and chilli chicken pizza…
First I had an idea about building an automated blind closing device (you know, because it would be easier to build and program a machine than to just get out of bed and close the blind myself). I started planning all of the features it would have, internet connectivity, app-enabled controller, time-location mapping, min-max rotation travel, min-max settings reset after manual override of blinds, mindstorm components for mechanism, raspberry pi for hardware, etc.
Oh that reminds me, make sure to update trello board!
Then I started thinking about starting a blog.
Boom! Killer idea for a tweet. “Is it just me or does every developer dream in code?” — must find pic of counting digital sheep.
Ooh, that would be a much better way to transition to slide 9 in my upcoming lightning talk to combat slow slide loading time from all of the oversized images.
Next, a tonne of ideas about rebuilding my dev portfolio site flood in. Remember to; pick new colour scheme, replace homepage gif with JavaScript animation and move to different page, replace gif animation with minimalist hero image, redo nav bar to be sticky, condense site from multi-page to single page, interactive elements on scroll, replace contact page info with a simple contact me form, the list goes on… and on… and on.
Now I’m imagining that I’m running a workshop on the difference between instance variables and class variables in Ruby.
Is this normal?
I’m 5 weeks into studying a full stack development course with Coder Academy and loving every minute of it. This is the first time in my life I’ve found something I’m truly passionate about and I’m giving it everything I’ve got. I code 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and it doesn’t feel like a chore.
So why can’t I sleep?
Blue light on my screens after dark? Nope, night mode is turned on for all of my devices.
More than 8 hours in front of a screen? Nope. I’ve had days in the past where I would be gaming for more than 8 hours straight and be able to sleep that night just fine.
I lie down, and my mind continues to race with ideas and there seems to be nothing I can do to stop it. I got to bed, filled with so much excitement for the next day it feels like a I’m a child on Christmas Eve. Yet, when I wake up, I feel like death warmed up and want nothing more than just to roll over and go back to sleep.
Am I the only one experiencing this?
Do I just need to wake up earlier and stop coding earlier? Maybe I need to slow down and scale back my coding to only 8 hours a day? If I do scale back, how will I get all of my work done by the deadlines?
The first cracks in my physical and mental health are starting to appear and we’re only halfway through Term 1. But it’s fine, I know if just take some time out it will be fine. I’ve accomplished more challenging tasks before. Haven’t I?
Well, I’ve never completed a 2 year diploma in 6 months, so, maybe not…
If that’s the case, how am I going to survive?
I can tell you how I’m NOT going to survive.
Eat. Sleep. Code. Repeat.
It sounds catchy, and is a clever way of expressing enthusiasm for coding (I get it, it can intoxicating), but it is no way to live, especially if it is going to wipe out 2–3 days of productive coding every month.
To ensure I can continue coding at this pace without burning out there are a few things I am going to need to change:
- Improve energy levels by starting the day with a quick gym session
- Eat more fruit to reduce reliance on coffee to get me through the day
- Take scheduled breaks at regular intervals (Pomodoro!)
- Level up focus by staying hydrated
- Reduce stress by reading for 30 minutes before bed
And now it’s 5AM. May as well get up and go to the gym…
If you are experiencing, or have experienced anything like this, you are not alone.
Make sure to ask for help when you need it, your brain will thank you for it.