How to discover spontaneity as a Software Engineer at a startup
Getting up early is essential, 4:30 am — 5:30 am. My days start pretty early, I get up early so I can either use the majority of my morning to work, to check emails from time to time(I’ve already taken a shower the night before).
Creativity or Work. At the top of the hour I also may be writing or editing my stories on here in Medium in case I didn’t have enough time during the weekend before.
Health. Taking full advantage of your mornings is essential not only for your work but for your physical and mental health. Like I mentioned I usually like to write a story or do some creative writing on my own for 30mins to 45mins tops to get my energy humming nicely. I’d also put in some time to work out by doing my daily pushup routine that usually lasts up to 15mins.
At around 5:30 am — 6:30 am, work has my full attention. I’m either working on a task from the day before or starting on a brand new task. I check emails and my calendar without much interruption. Sometimes my dad would call at around 6:30 am or 6:45 am when he’s out walking his dogs to check on my wife and I before his day starts, my dad lives back where I’m originally from Chicago.
Fresh air. At around 7:00 am my wife is already up and she’s made both of us our daily fruit smoothies and soon after we both go outside for a nice 20min — 30min walk.
Those who work from home, getting out to go on 20min walks two or three times a day between meetings is highly recommended. You’ve pulled away from your screen, you’ll receive some nice vitamin D and fresh air that’ll rejuvenate your energy. I’ve worked plenty of days where I sat and worked at the computer for full 8 or more hours, where you’ve just dove so deep into your work it’s hard to pull yourself out! Then you keep telling yourself, “I’m almost there”, “I almost figured it out” or “I’m almost done”. At that point, it’s way to difficult to pull yourself out, so I recommend before getting trapped inside of that phenomenon, go a walk or two throughout your day and plan it strategically.
Work, 9:45 am to the rest of the day. From this point on its work! I’m in meetings with other engineers, product managers, and leadership. I’m getting things done! At this point, I’ve possibly already put in two or three hours of work depending on if my daily task above had to be rearranged due to outcomes out of my control. By the afternoon I’ve spent the majority of my workday like four to five hours progressing or completing my tasks. I try to use as much of my morning as possible to get what work item I want to get done but at the same time to fit in the activities that bring me joy.
Clock out. Normally people put in their eight hours and then sign off for the day. That’s rarely ever the case for me at least, 2:00 pm or 2:30 pm is usually my eight-hour marker but I’m usually still working and in meetings up until 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm. Depending on the day of course but a 10 hour to 12-hour workday is common and could be expected especially if you’re planning to work for a startup because sometimes resources are limited and everyone in the company has to wear multiple hats at the same time.
Joy. What I would like everyone to take from this small snippet into my day to day as a software engineer… don’t forget to find the joy throughout your workday. I recommend getting as much done in your mornings as you can and find those right moments to pull yourself away from your desk to allow yourself to experience spontaneity.
Go for walk, help your spouse prepare for lunch, write a short story any of these small things like these will help you not only to be more productive throughout your day, but you’re allowing yourself to discover spontaneity.
