Feeling tired after work? Maybe that's why

I do not miss the days I spent sitting on the sofa staring at a wall, because this was the only thing I had enough energy for. It seemed impossible to stop scrolling social media and do something for myself. I sleep well, I eat well, I regularly exercise - what else could I possibly do? Turns out, I can do something with my work.

If you prefer a video format and visual explanations, check out the video.

If you are a checklist person, I've got one for you here.

I am a software engineer. My work tasks vary a lot: I spend my time talking to stakeholders to figure out what business requirements are, or planning a new design for the feature or service, or sometimes I even get to code. There's almost never a day where I have one task that I can complete from start to finish, they usually depend on other people, require more information, and span over multiple days. So instead, I jump from one task to another, trying to not forget things and still deliver some quality results. Well, sometimes just results.

And this is extremely, horribly tiring.

So I started trying some tricks and figuring out what works better for me. Depending on how busy my life was getting from day to day, different strategies worked better. Assuming that they don't work for me 100% of the time, there's no guarantee that they work for you, but hey, no harm in trying it out.

Level 1 - Focus on one thing

Applicable on calmer days.

First of all, kill your DMs (direct messages):

1. Block a slot in a calendar (not even in the future, this one, right now) so your team knows you're busy
2. Set a status ", expect slow response"
3. Slow response == no response for X minutes. Turn off the DMs for X minutes, where X is the longest you can go without feeling guilty.

Then make sure you are not distracting yourself during breaks (while waiting for the tests, compilation, etc):

• Close your eyes and do nothing (still wish to be able to do that)
• Write down some ideas for testing, documentation, etc for the current task
• Read a passage from a technical book: small enough to keep your brain engaged, but not too big so you switched the context again.

Level 2 - Assign the environments

Applicable on busy days, but with flexibility, like working from home

• use different set of programs/tools for each task
• use different styles of music for each task
• use different light settings for each task (e.g. desk lamp vs. big light)

The idea is to trick your brain into associating contexts with the environment, to make it easier to switch them.

Level 3 - make notes

Applicable for very busy days

• Write down all the active tasks
• Write down all the goals for the tasks that you can realistically do within a day
• Before you do any small step within a task, write it down
• I also use lines to show direction between the steps, it helps me to be less confused
• As soon as the step is done, cross it and move on

That's it! I never do all of them in the same day, usually I pick one level based on what I expect the day to be. Let me know if any of these worked for you!

p.s. especially the book part, it's weird, right? I am still surprised that it works for me