Long Coding Session Prep: Where I Went Wrong, and What I Learned

1. Setting The Stage For Success 🧠🖥️
- Declutter your workspace - flow state works best if energy can flow around your workstation. Your space is a reflection of how your mind is.
- Don't underestimate the power of focus music - Lofi Music and listening to Mozart sounded so cheesy to me, but it started to really grow on me.

2. Creating Friction. 🗺️⁉️
- When defeating bad habits, studies found that making it harder to access the bad habit can help you break it.
- Delete gaming or distracting apps saved to your desktop. Sounds weird, but putting them in a folder of a folder of a folder strangely helped!

3. Because Science!! 🔬📖
Researching the science behind good food, how your body uses and produces energy was a huge step towards being able to maintain sustainability when coding.

To be fully honest,

I didn't even prepare at all - not when I first started. I learned; however, over time that approach can highly influence your methods later on in just about any task.

4. Don't Freestyle. 💃🕺
Breaking down tasks into manageable chunks and outlining what I need to accomplish helped clarify how hard I need to work, and what pace to keep. A clear plan reduces overwhelm and helps you stay on track.

5. Even Breaks Require Discipline ⏳🚶‍♂️
- You've probably heard of the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes coding, 5 minute break). I used to hear the timer and be like "I can keep going!".
- No. Because burnout can happen at any time, really. Using breaks to stretch, grab a snack helped keep me feeling rewarded an productive due to steadiness.

6. Slow n Steady Breaks the Race 🙆‍♀️💡
- Sooo easy to look over. You hunching can really screw your body up. Because it will happen slowly without you noticing it, and before you know it you are the Hunchback of Notre Dame!!
- Keep on eye on your screen brightness. It can affects your focus, but also damages your eyes and screw with your sleep patterns. Like bad posture, it's subtle and slow and no fun to deal with later!

7. The Captain's Log: ✍️
Logging what you do helps you keep track of ways to improve your productivity and what you may be inspired to do/learn next.

8. Learning to Celebrate 🎉
Don't be so hard on yourself, and give yourself grace. When it comes to completing a tricky function, squashing a bug, or hitting a milestone you deserve to give yourself some recognition.