It's a matter of attitude

Have you ever thought what do successful people have in common? Well, apparently there is more than one thing in common with them but! Here are a few things that are for sure!

Passion's fire spreads quicker than clever's cold

This is something that I always find hard to believe, companies (for example in my country) keep hiring people by the amount of knowledge and titles and a lot of things that sometimes are not even needed in their daily basis. To make this worse, some of these companies transform Talented People into Talented Robots because they keep doing the same thing over and over again until they feel uncomfortable enough to quit the job.

Ok, ok! It's understandable to have at least one Senior in each area and more important to hire Seniors when they are really needed (like in a critical situation). But, Are you caring about your employees' feelings? Do you know your employees' passions? Do you know what motivates your employees to keep working with you? And I hope it's not because of money.

Anyway, here my suggestions:

• Always choose passionate people over clever people, the former will share your vision and move forward the company, the latter will do what is needed to keep working. Also, you would rather like to have more people burning in enthusiasm in your team than the cold and deterministic ones but, keep in mind that both personalities are important.
• If you find a company is looking for high knowledge stack, something might be wrong with that company. Is some senior leaving the company? Are people happy with what they do? Are they investing in young people to grow in the company?
• Try to motivate your team frequently, engage your team through gamification, get to know their passions, try to rotate their job scope from time to time so they don't get bored. Also, remember that people love challenges they can accomplish (especially developers).

Peace your mind

Sometimes you will need a long walk and a very small talk instead of looking to the screen, the hard part here is to know when. Programming as in any other job, it will get tough from time to time.

Try every day to have at least 15 mins each 2 to 4 hours to get off the screen. You may think that you will spend more hours working but, at the same time you won't feel the burn out by the end of the day.

Remember that creativity most of the times comes by looking at the simplicity of things, like the leaves moving by the wind, the bright light of the sun over the trees, the shadow of your body while you're moving, the smell of the street when is raining, or the color of the coffee through a cup of glass.

So, if I were you, I will rather prefer people conscious of the mental stress caused by our lifestyle. This is the kind of people that remind you to first breath some fresh air when things are not going well, the kind of people that don't need to start a conversation to feel normal.

Feelings, if you are emphatic already then be more emphatic.

Have you ever felt frustrated with some situation because it doesn't happen as you expect but the other way around? Perhaps it's because you're forgetting about other people's feelings.

Just think about this.

• If you find someone is taking more time than expected to finish a task. What do you think he is feeling? I would say stressful, self-pressure. Even if no one is hurrying him up, we can feel other people's stress from far away, sometimes we just need to look at them in the eye to tell they are not feeling good. Be proactive rather than reactive, noticing the symptoms and act while there is still time.
• What about that time when the software you're using lacks some features or have some bugs. Doesn't it feel good when you have the chance to talk with someone from the support team? I would say it feels real; like finally someone is taking your request seriously (even if it's not).
• Or when you're applying to a company but you don't get any reply, and I know, as an employer we don't want to waste anyone's time on unneeded interviews. But, here is where companies lose great employees just because they didn't want to spend time on a first interview. Believe me, sharp eyes recognize talent and potential on the first interview.

Conclusion

To be successful is not a one-person job, therefore, if you really want to succeed in anything, first, start by getting to know the people surrounding you, so they will work along with you as a team and succeed together.