
“Eat, sleep, code, repeat” is such bullshit - ingve
https://m.signalvnoise.com/eat-sleep-code-repeat-is-such-bullshit-c2a4d9beaaf5
======
ChuckMcM
I don't know if the author knows anyone who is an artist, but if they knew an
artist it might add perspective on the t-shirt.

There is a type of person who is driven to express their ideas and emotions.
They can be moody and quiet or loud and extroverted but they get consumed by
the process of creation and go into something like a trance state while
creating.

I have been that type of person and when I let myself go, would spend hours
and hours writing and rewriting code as the design evolved. I thought I was
just oddly broken until I got to college and met an art student sculpting a
rock at 3AM on my way back from the computer science building (its a weird
thing to hear a rock hammer going 'tink, tink, tink' at 3 in the morning.) I
watched in amazement for a while until they stopped and we talked. Turned out
they had a very similar "mode" that I did, thinking about the work and then
suddenly they could "see it" and at that point they were compelled to chip
away the rock and let the rest of the world see it. I felt the same way about
programs, all at once it seemed I just "knew" how it should go together and
would work through the night banging it out.

It isn't a terrible or horrible thing, its something which is very satisfying.
And its also true that no one else may appreciate your creation so you have to
be ready to just be happy with creating it :-).

Later in life I met people who were programmers who just "turned it on and
off" like a spigot, they go into work, get their assignment, turn on the
programming spigot and write code, then turn it off again and go home to their
life. Their t-shirt might read "code, get paid, go home."

I read the headline and disagreed, I read the article and realized the author
isn't driven to create with code. That is totally understandable, it is a
small percentage of the population that is. But the phrase speaks to that
small percentage and not to them. Like art, if it doesn't speak to your soul
then just ignore it and move on.

~~~
noobermin
I think something that needs to be discussed then is not to exclude the spigot
people from the hiring process just because they aren't driven to create like
you are. Unfortunately, it comes across as attacking you, the creation types
while it should be attacking employers who think Mr. or Ms. or Mrs. spigot
would be a worse worker than you.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I think that is a really important point. I got dinged[1] on my Intel review
for "sand bagging" because I had estimated it would take three months to write
an instruction assembler for a chip I was working on validating, I got it done
but my manager claimed I had spent almost all the time "goofing off" and then
wrote it in the last couple of weeks. Unlike hardware which had all these
great milestones to indicate progress, creating a new program was think,
think, think, blammo!

This has always been a challenge for me (and at this point I suspect always
will). I don't know exactly how I come up with the stuff I do, it just sort of
pops into my head. More rigorous people who can write down a series of
milestones and check points are great at giving visibility into the process.
My workaround has been to work with good project managers when I can and talk
to them about what I know and don't know about a project. The "don't knows"
become future deliverables, the "knows" become steps that can be done now and
shown as progress.

Looking back on my career I have been the most successful in a group which is
a mix of types, call them artists and engineers. There is probably a
management book out there somewhere that addresses that question.

[1] Or "constructively criticized" using the Intel vernacular.

------
rplst8
Generally, this is an easy stance for young, unmarried, and otherwise
unattached people to approach their career. A warning to those that think this
will enhance their opportunities later in life. It won't. Sure there are a few
great employers out there that will reward you with loyalty (or massive sums
of money) but that is the exception.

After a life of nothing but work, no matter how much you love it at the time,
you fill find yourself middle-aged and burnt out - and possibly regretting
your entire career choice. This is coming from a person who was the class
computer nerd, who ate, slept, and drank everything computer and software tech
related for 25+ years.

I'm not saying tech is bad career choice - it isn't. But once you get burnt
out at something, digging ditches out in the sunshine (or rain for that
matter) looks much more appealing.

~~~
xabotage
I distinctly remember sitting in yet another dull sprint retrospective and
thinking, "Boy, I wish I were a firefighter."

Granted, that line of work comes with its own drawbacks and I would certainly
get bored of it the same way I get bored of software (or else worn out from
the demanding physical aspect), but some days I'm surprised to find myself
wishing I could "dig ditches out in the sunshine" or something of the sort for
a living.

This combined with the "eat, sleep, code, repeat" mentality I see in others
makes me wonder if I'm really cut out for a software development career.

~~~
javier2
I have had a literal ditch digging job, and I hated that even more. But I
still find myself longing for such a thing. Maybe if I could just have 3-4
days per year? xD

~~~
rplst8
My ideal would be a mix. One sprint of code. One sprint of building houses.

~~~
ryanSrich
Buy a house. I love doing yard work on the weekends after 50+ hours of tech
startup bombardment all week.

------
jaywunder
I think the OP misses the point of the shirt. Lot's of different subcultures
and activities have this type of shirt. Someone could just as well wear a
shirt that says "Eat. Sleep. Hike. Repeat." And people wouldn't actually think
the person _only_ hikes. The shirt is completely ironic because to suggest
someone _only_ codes all day is ridiculous. The OP misses the irony.

~~~
rplst8
The difference is, Hiking is good for you.

~~~
ryanlol
Money can be good for you.

~~~
geofft
What's the point of money if you have no time to spend it?

~~~
unlinker
You can drive a BMW and wear a Rolex on your way to work and feel better about
yourself.

~~~
paganel
Don't wear a BMW nor a Rolex but I imagine that the novelty and the "feeling
good about yourself" caused by the possession of these two items would fade
out pretty quickly.

~~~
unlinker
No problem. You just buy a suit then. And then a huge telly. And then a new
pair of shoes. Believe me, you'll never run out of shiny stuff to buy.

------
smoyer
I'm married and have four kids, though two have now left the nest. When I read
this, I think about all the times I set aside my code to do something more
important - interact with my kids, nurture my wife, and pursue hobbies outside
the technology world (I run, bike and sail).

But ... you might be surprised to learn that I love that tee-shirt. I think
there are many who are misguided enough to ignore balance in their lives
completely (this shirt is not for them). For me, technology is my main hobby.
I get paid for it at work (aren't I lucky), sometimes I get paid for it at
home (I have a consultancy) but most of the time at home, I'm coding (or even
building electronics) for fun. Other times, it's a project I'm playing with
that I wouldn't otherwise get to do at work.

In any case, I'm not advocating living an unbalanced life. Nor am I describing
a life of crunch-time (my home projects very rarely have deadlines). What I'm
saying is that I truly love the time I spend on technology and identify with
the shirt as a statement of that affection.

EDIT: It's a rainy Saturday morning here ... I got the lawn cut last night, my
daughter is away playing viola at a concert and I'm kind of chilling with my
wife and son. While we're siting in the living room watching the rain, I'm
updating the Ansible scripts I use to keep my laptops, and workstations up-to-
date [1].

I've got two hardware projects planned for next winter - I'm going to get my
COSMAC ELF [2] running again (my first computer based on an RCA 1802) and I'm
going to turn my old Sun E450 [3] into a TEC-based mini-fridge for my office
(if anyone needs Sun E450 parts let me know).

[1]
[https://github.com/selesy/workstation](https://github.com/selesy/workstation)

[2] [http://www.cosmacelf.com/](http://www.cosmacelf.com/)

[3]
[http://www.tech.proact.co.uk/i/sun_enterprise_450.jpg](http://www.tech.proact.co.uk/i/sun_enterprise_450.jpg)

~~~
thearn4
I'm married with a 11 month old son, but definitely identify with this
perspective on it. I'd never sideline my family to squeeze in an extra bit of
work for the sake of work, but still strongly identify with the passion for
technology that got me to where I'm at today. I hope I can raise my son to
appreciate an appropriate balance.

~~~
smoyer
I've had a lot of fun working on technology projects with my kids. I'd say
these projects are too numerous to mention but as an example, my daughter and
I wrote a program (well ... I wrote it and she specified and QA'd it) that
finds CRISPR sites in a mouse genome for her lab project at Johns Hopkins
(she's a doctoral candidate in molecular genetics).

So share your passion for technology with your child(ren) ... it's really
never too early to let them touch it if you're careful. My daughter once
deleted C:\Windows because she never "played that game" and wanted to install
another game before I got home (her mom told her to wait). That OS never
booted again ... we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could
have a bit more control.

In general, I think it's good to let your children fail at things they want to
try themselves - my job as a parent is to keep them from failing at things
that are fatal, or have long-term consequences. And you'll find that they're
fearless around your computer. They'll just click until it works if they have
to. It's a funny contrast to teaching computers to senior citizens, who are
afraid any wrong keystroke or errant mouse-click will permanently break
something.

Of course, if they're not interested, you can't effectively force your love of
technology on them. But I'll bet you can find something that they _ARE_
passionate about that you find interesting too. And isn't that a better way to
spend time together than sitting in front of a TV?

~~~
qb45
> we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could have a bit more
> control.

That sucks, poor kid. I knew my Windows 98 activation key by heart in my early
teens :)

~~~
smoyer
She was five at the time ... she obviously didn't know what she was deleting.
And there have been plenty of times I've "paid extra" (in money and/or time)
to allow my kids to keep a fearless curiosity.

------
shrugger
Yeah, fuck enthusiasm! /s

I can understand that we might want to avoid the obsessive behaviors of some
developers that could be considered unhealthy, but blaming a simple catch-
phrase isn't going to get us anywhere.

What if the shirt said, "Coding is rad" ?

I say that all the time, and people just give me that look that says, "Ha,
what a nerd" and it's fine for me because I can maintain my enthusiasm. Other
people need a little bit more of a push to continue to push themselves to be
the best developers that they can be.

Should developers be monks that only exist to program? No. Should developers
take pride in spending their time learning and improving? Yes. Should
developers be upset over a t-shirt that has no impact whatsoever on their
life? No.

I hate this sort of reactionary outrage, it's more counterproductive than
buying the stupid shirt is.

~~~
dasil003
It's not the shirt that bothers me, it's the fact that Google tries to create
this kind of work culture internally with perks designed to keep you at work
longer, and then they sell this shirt so they can profit even more from the
wider developer community's passion.

I know that Google pays their developers well, and personally I am a bit of a
workaholic myself devoting long hours to my company, but still there is
something that I find unsettling. I wouldn't deny anyone their passion, and I
wouldn't judge someone for spending all their time programming; the hair I
want to split is doing so as part of a cheerleading exercise for a major
corporation just feels exploitative somehow. Maybe that criticism is unfair,
but Google is no stranger to handing down unfair decisions ;)

~~~
shrugger
Don't they have the right? I mean, a developer that's talented enough to
attract attention from Google then surely they'd be smart enough to know what
constitutes working 'too much.'

I don't think Google exploits its workers anymore than they exploit
themselves. If you think you've worked too much, then go home? If they ask you
"hey, do you want to pull a 80-hour week this week?" why should you say
anything other than: "fuuuuck no"

Going even further, it wouldn't shock me if at least a subset of Google
programmers go home and -- sit down and start programming something else. If
they were going to do it anyways, and Google's going to pay them their dues,
hell, I'm all about it.

Eat, sleep, code, get paid, repeat.

~~~
sz4kerto
> I mean, a developer that's talented enough to attract attention from Google
> then surely they'd be smart enough to know what constitutes working 'too
> much.'

Of course not, not at all. We all have different skillsets, and good coding
ability does not mean you're good in everything else.

~~~
shrugger
Which is not at all what I said. I didn't even mention coding abilities.

A developer does a lot more than just write code, but let me clarify: Anybody
that's smart enough to hold a job should know when they are being asked to
work too much.

~~~
alecdbrooks
I don't think knowing when you're being asked to work too much is a thing that
comes automatically with whatever job skills you're hired for. Even if you
work in management or HR, where having a sense of "too much work" is part of
your job, you might not be objective enough to apply that expertise to
yourself.

And even if you know you're working too long, you might not feel empowered to
do something about it. This could be because you literally don't have the
power—your employer requires everyone to work unreasonable hours—or because
you lack the confidence or skills to use it.

------
uhtred
I get the feeling those t-shirts were thought up by someone who doesn't "code"
for a living (i.e. a higher up management type). Before I got professional
full-time work as a developer I was obsessed with "coding". Now, I've become a
little jaded through working with horrible spaghetti code legacy systems,
solving problems I don't care about, whilst doing all this "agile" stuff. Now
I've become obsessive trying to think of business ideas / products I can
create to help me escape it all (and just program for fun, or as a means to
run a business or supply a product).

~~~
hunvreus
A business will consume you in ways you'd rather not think about. If you're a
founder, you won't be sitting coding all day long for happy customers. You'll
be juggling tons of crappy responsibilities and shipping code that is good
enough to work (kinda).

Just find a better company or work on Open Source and then grow this into a
business (look at how Ansible or GitLab pulled that off for example).

~~~
uhtred
I guess I mean I'd like to run a "lifestyle" type of business; something where
I don't make a ton of money, but enough to get by (rather than a startup where
I'm hoping to solve humanity's problems with a single app and make millions or
billions from it). Actually the company I work for is the best company I've
ever worked at! I think I just don't find satisfaction in the 9-5 corporate
grind.

~~~
hunvreus
Yep, but even that mystical "lifestyle business" (otherwise known as "a
business") is a lot of non-coding work. For a healthy dose of realism, I
suggest you watch some of the MicroConf videos [1] (and definitely go there if
you can).

[1]: [http://www.microconf.com/videos](http://www.microconf.com/videos)

~~~
nightski
Meh, it's all about how you choose to run your business. I run a small
business and spend a few hours a month on non-technical tasks (accounting,
etc...).

------
k__
One day, everyone has to decide what they want from life...

We only have finite time and need to use it carefully.

I was a big nerd in school and from 11 - 17 I put most of my time in video
games and coding. This helped me greatly in my carer, but I ended up without
any of the typical experiences people have in that age.

Later I decided I also want different things from life. Finding partners,
learning instruments and getting fit was a huge cut for my coding skills.

What I learned was, that there are always people better than you, but they
bought this with their lifetime. You don't need to be the best developer
around, it's okay if you're average.

But I have to admit, my girlfriend made me an ESCR shirt and I like to wear
it, so people "think" I'm 100% dev, haha.

~~~
baby
> there are always people better than you, but they bought this with their
> lifetime

This is so true. Unless you spend your life doing something you will never be
as good as them. You gotta choose what you want, but being the best at
something is a heavy life decision.

------
closed
I didn't see anything alarming in this phrase, but from responses in this
thread it's clear it strikes a nerve with some people.

And that's really helpful to know. I came into the thread seeing nothing wrong
with it, but now have a sense that it might be a bigger issue than I had
realized.

Another commenter mentioned that many groups use the ol' "Eat, {VERB}, Sleep,
Repeat" slogan on t-shirts to express enthusiasm for something, rather than a
top-down expectation. But maybe the issue of separating work / personal time
is hot enough in tech that the slogan ends up reminding people (like OP) that
there's a risk others will try to convince you to take it seriously as a
requirement for your career.

This kind of thing comes up in academia, too--where there's a pervasive
I-love-science-so-much-I-work-late-into-the-night-every-day mentality. Eat,
research, tell people how late you were up researching, sleep, repeat.

------
hunvreus
The first featured post from the same author reads "How I fell in love with a
programming language" [1] and dissect his "love" for Kotlin (the same way DHH
"loves" Ruby).

Being a dad, I'm pretty sure he's able to appreciate the difference between
him saying "I love Kotlin" and "I love my son". Well, that t-shirt is no
different.

I've often liked the no-nonsense talk coming out of 37Signals/Basecamp, but
this sounds like over-reaching.

[1]: [https://m.signalvnoise.com/how-i-fell-in-love-with-a-
program...](https://m.signalvnoise.com/how-i-fell-in-love-with-a-programming-
language-8933d5e749ed#.p7shka3un)

------
lsiunsuex
While I don't agree that programming needs to be all consuming, spend enough
time around new programmers and you'll see a difference in passion. Someone
who does programming because they can earn a pay check vs someone that does
programming because they truly enjoy it.

You don't get that passion by doing it 9-5.

Programming CAN be all consuming if you let it and for a while, I did. I had
so much work to do be it at my day job or side projects that it left 0 time to
do anything else. Because of that, I gained weight and generally feel like
crap most of the time (let's not even talk about actually sleeping through the
night)

It's important to take some time and do something else. I'm trying to make it
a point to spend at least an hour a day bike riding or roller blading or just
even spending time with my wife. You'll go insane otherwise.

The eat, sleep, code, repeat may be originated from this
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoRkg5-Ieg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoRkg5-Ieg)
but I don't think that's the first occurrence of a "repeat" phrase...

~~~
falcolas
> You don't get that passion by doing it 9-5.

You can't get passion for a subject by dedicating a majority of your daily
hours on it? Seems like that could be the very definition of passion.

I get what you're trying to say, but I firmly believe you are wrong.

> I'm trying to make it a point to spend at least an hour a day bike riding or
> roller blading or just even spending time with my wife.

One hour out of 15 you spend awake? Seems like your hobbies are getting the
short shaft here. But then again, so are you - having a diversity of
experiences will make you a better programmer by opening your mind to other
experiences, rest, and the time to allow your brain to bake a problem into an
elegant solution.

~~~
bad-joke
> You can't get passion for a subject by dedicating a majority of your daily
> hours on it? Seems like that could be the very definition of passion.

I've been wondering this myself lately too. What's the difference between
someone who spends 100 hours doing something with rigorous discipline because
they're trying to cultivate a passion, and someone who spends 100 hours doing
something because they're passionate about it? Warm fuzzy feelings?

------
riebschlager
I think the larger issue here is that few people are going to drop $25 for a
t-shirt that says, "EAT. SLEEP. CODE. MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BALANCE OF BOTH
PROGRAMMING AND NON-PROGRAMMING RELATED ACTIVITIES."

~~~
parennoob
I created a Teespring shirt campaign to test that here. I think we definitely
need a lot more counterpoints to these CODE ALL THE TIME movements.

[https://teespring.com/eat-sleep-code-go-outside](https://teespring.com/eat-
sleep-code-go-outside)

------
jayd16
I'm against long hours as much as the next guy but these shirts are just meant
to be enthusiastic. Pick your battles guys...

~~~
bogomipz
And the author says as much. He's saying that the choice of slogan seems to
have a larger subtext. There's no battle being waged. Maybe reread the
article?

------
gtrubetskoy
I share the sentiment of the article, but have another issue. What is this
obsession with "coding"? As in producing lines of code? I'd encourage
programmers to "code" less and think more. And the best time to think is away
from the keyboard, perhaps on a walk, or with your family.

Consider that some of the cleverest things in programming, be it algorithms
like sorting, hashing or whatever, ideas and inventions that actually make the
computers do what they do can usually be implemented in very few lines of code
or explained in a page of text, but may have taken collective lifetimes to
come up with.

------
louprado
At least it is still "eat, sleep". Soon it will be "soylent, provigil".

------
dham
I never forget the years working Christmas and Thanksgiving at the movie
theater, or bagging groceries at Harris Teeter pretty much every holiday(that
was actually a huge step up because I didn't have to work Christmas day). Sure
work sucks sometimes but I keep those days in the back of my head at all times
and I never take what I have for granted. While my roommates in my late teens
and early twenties, sat around smoking weed and playing video games and
racking up student debt, I worked on paying cash for community college and
learning more and more about programming which I had already started learning
at an early age.

I still get up every day happy to go to work. I haven't dreaded work in 9
years. I have a 10 month child now and yea I don't eat sleep code, but it's
actually given me more motivation to start a small Saas companies on the side.
Just side projects to see if they stick. Bring in a little extra cash. If my
employer wants a little extra work here and there that's fine. If they begin
to expect it every day then I'll just go to the next thing, but I sure as hell
rather sit at a desk and do something I enjoy than bag groceries or do
construction.

------
jack9
That's a funny sentiment, because I'm here on a saturday morning (like all
mornings for the last 30 years) browsing the internet for news with a
particular interest about programming.

------
omarforgotpwd
There is a song called "eat sleep rave repeat" which is about taking drugs and
going to raves every day. Eat sleep code repeat is, I think, just an attempt
to make a funny play on that song. Obviously eat sleep anything repeat is not
a healthy life style. Pretty funny how this joke was lost on the author and
the entire thread.

------
havetocharge
The OP is overreacting big time. Offended and horrified by a humorous shirt.
First world problems.

------
omarish
We should be careful to not conflate intensity (at one's work) with being a
one-dimensional human being. Intensity is generally a good thing. Being one-
dimensional is not.

Regardless of whether you're just starting out and are the most intense
programmer ever, or if you've been at it for 20+ years, there's immense value
in understanding and being proficient at many things other than software.

Many big discoveries happen at the intersection of two fields. A lot of our
latest breakthroughs in AI are based on our newfound understanding of the
human mind. Same with computational genomics. Black Scholes for option
pricing. The list goes on.

------
anoplus
I am bothered as-well by the "Eat, sleep, code, repeat" phrase. We must not
make things complicated just to create work. Work should lead to freedom. I
understand it is scary when a work is no longer relevant. But this is not a
technological problem, it is a political problem.

BTW, I think Universal Base Salary is a great answer to the speed at which
work gets irrelevant. UBI gives exactly the confidence to evaluate work
without pressure and bias, which I believe leads to even greater freedom and
productivity.

------
nzoschke
I know this phrase from the electronic music artist Fatboy Slim's "Eat, Sleep,
Rave, Repeat"

(Warning, explicit lyrics)

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoRkg5-Ieg](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoRkg5-Ieg)

It's a fun dance song, but the literal total opposite of a healthy lifestyle.

------
Kiro
What's with the articles lately discouraging hardcore programming? Are we
hackers or not? I just want to sit in a cellar with a big Unix beard, drink
Jolt cola and do programming 24/7.

------
49531
One hard issue I've been coping with is the fact that coding was my hobby
before it was my profession. I think that's a fairly normal thing for
developers. I mean, who wouldn't take a job doing what they were already doing
for enjoyment.

It's not that I want an unbalanced life, but when your hobby merges into your
career it becomes hard to diversify. I'm fortunate that I have a wife and kids
to help balance me out; without them I'm sure I'd be coding for most of my
free time.

------
sebringj
It's Bullshit but... the exception to this is if you're consulting corp-to-
corp hourly or doing you're own startup that's fine but otherwise it is
exploitive culture propaganda praying on the naive. (overly dramatic, its just
a fucking t-shirt). Also, "hump" should be added to this list prior to "sleep"
and possibly inserted after "sleep" and after "code" as well to cancel out the
long durations of solitary activity.

------
a-guest
The "Eat. Sleep. Code. Repeat." mentality, if understood in the context of
workplace environments where for all practical purposes this is the expected
modus operandi, should give any person who thinks the unexamined life is not
worth living reason to pause.

This story helps illustrate the mindset from a particular angle.
[http://www.hobodrifter.com/the-fisherman/](http://www.hobodrifter.com/the-
fisherman/)

------
fareesh
I think the post might be misinterpreting the intent behind the phrase. My
first impression was that it is a parody of the famous electronic dance song
with similar lyrics.

~~~
emmet
No I think most people get that, but even recommending it in a joking manner
is worrying.

------
andrew_wc_brown
Even if you want to eventually you won't be able to code around the clock.

I', now 29 but working for startups putting in 8-14 hours a day takes its
toll, and now I can't sit at a desk or my acid reflux will kindly tell me to
take a walk.

That or too much stress is hit, I'm out for the day with chest pains for the
next day.

Whats worse is you tell this to others and they don't understand because those
that have not experienced it don't understand.

~~~
krrrh
I understand. You're probably sick of hearing it, but try meditation. Either a
few minutes a day, or an app like Headspace, or jump in the deep end with a
10-day retreat, it doesn't really matter. You need to exercise your brains
ability to observe without reacting or that ability becomes weakened. It's
worth asking why it's so hard for the average person to do something as simple
as sit still for 5 minutes. The benefits of practice compound rather quickly.

Personally I found that a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat had huge lasting
benefits even after I fell away from a regular practice. To be honest, just
preparing for a structured environment where there was no way for me to be
reached, and no reading material let alone Internet, was all by itself a
revelatory and detoxifying process. The ten hours a day of meditation made it
possible to get through it.

~~~
spyrosg
Is just sitting there doing nothing enough, or do you need some technique? Do
five minutes have any effect?

~~~
krrrh
5 minutes does have an effect. A lot of the published research uses a dose of
20 minutes a day, and it can be a struggle to work up to that, but it is a
good goal. In a 20 minute session it can be common for me to feel distracted
and fidgety for most of it, but get a few glimpses or a minute or two of
detachment from the "monkey mind", and it has a big impact on the rest of the
day, and a compounding impact over time.

I think the easiest way to try mindfulness meditation out is the headspace
app, but there are a lot of different styles if that doesn't appeal to you.
Most mindfulness-oriented meditation taught in the west today won't demand a
set of beliefs and compatible with a secular rationalist perspective on the
world.

There is definitely technique; it's quite different from just daydreaming or
following every thought that enters your mind. You will typically have
something to focus on, usually the breath is used to start, but it varies by
tradition. The idea is to have something neutral that you can pay attention to
so that you can begin to observe the thoughts that arise in your mind without
reacting to them. There's a popular free book available online in various
formats called Mindfulness in Plain English that lays out the basics of
Vipassana style meditation, if you want a decent primer. The retreat I
mentioned was offered by dhamma.org aka the Goenka school.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions I might be able to answer.

------
Tiquor
Every subculture that requires some level of above normal commitment has a
phrase like this. Basbeall, ballet, musicians, dancers. It seems the current
Medium post flavor of the month is some semi formed shot at a tentative of
programmer/tech culture. Most end up being so overblown, like this one, it
just sound like middle schoolers in the cafeteria.

------
j1vms
Just be sure to love the shit out of most of what you do, otherwise what
you're doing just isn't sustainable for you. There are only a very, very few
exceptions to this.

Edit: also, it's almost never good on you, to blame others for when you are
stuck; it's better to be active yourself and fix things and try to get
yourself into a better place.

------
lohengramm
Personally, I like to focus on one thing for a long time, and then focus on
another.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to do so in a society that tries to level
everyone in the same way.

The best possible situation to me would be working nonstopping for months,
then do something else for months and so on.

------
sidcool
I have been trying to be a 10x engineer for the past 10 years and only been
somewhat successful.

~~~
ktRolster
What do you feel is limiting you from getting there?

I can tell you one thing that will get you close to a 10x developer almost
immediately: when you're at work, turn off your phone, and never open
distracting websites (like news.ycombinator). Most programmers are so severely
distracted, you can level up several times above the average just by focusing.

Another trick is to slow down somewhat, think more, and write fewer bugs (and
less repetitious code). Because fixing a bug after it hits QA (or a customer)
takes longer than testing it quick while you are writing it.

~~~
sidcool
I do that, but my anxiety kicks in when I face a tricky problem. Much time
goes into bringing focus back. I don't think I have ADD. But something's
wrong. Or I m just a slacker.

------
DougN7
Everyone figures out that balance is the key to happiness in life. Some are
wise and learn from others while they are young. Some of us have to spend many
years and figure it out the hard way ourselves, which brings some regret. Be
wise!

~~~
grosbisou
I disagree. Balance doesn't bring happiness. First of all I do not believe
balance is a definitive state but rather a constant work. You need to
constantly put things back into balance which is exhausting and time
consuming.

Secondly nothing great ever happens when things are in balance. Everything is
just average. You work enough to be able to do enough "life" things.

I strongly believe you need to be out of balance to really enjoy things. You
need to go all in at work for the necessary period time to be great. This is
when you really get pleasure out of it. But at the same time you must counter
balance by doing every life events available (i.e. never turn down a friend
diner, the gym, a date, a concert, ...). Go long at work and short in life
basically.

~~~
DougN7
> Go long at work and short in life basically.

Does that mean work late hours? If so, I very much bet you are young. As the
saying goes, nobody lies on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time at
the office.

------
fullshark
This guy must be overworked to take such issue with something so innocuous.

------
jcoffland
Many really good programmers "eat, sleep, code, repeat," some of the time.
Highly intelligent people tend to have intense focus. That's how they got to
be so intelligent.

------
kyriakos
I used to be like that, then I realised there's better things in life. So my
conclusion is that you need a balance. Too much work is bad but too much
family time is as bad.

------
746F7475
Man, people really do get butthurt over all kind of stupid shit.

------
fideloper
Similar opinion I've had about the phrase "never stop learning", which is a
common sentiment but can also be menacing threat depending on your situation.

~~~
tamana
Learning is extremely broad and diverse.

------
galistoca
I think this whole "you need a work life balance" propaganda can be as
misleading as "eat, sleep, code, repeat", especially for younger programmers
who have no idea and rely on more experienced idols (such as the guys at
Basecamp).

It really depends on what kind of life you want to have. If your priority is
more towards making a huge dent in the world, I think trying to have a "work
life balance" is a terrible idea. Here I'm speaking statistically because
there are rare cases where people stumbled upon success even without putting
all their life into it, but I would say these are exceptions, not the rule.

Most extremely successful people have had very abnormal life--far from a
balanced life--(Maybe you hear about them talking about having a balanced life
here and there but that's them speaking after they have achieved success. Of
course if you spent all your youth on working on something you would want that
time back. But I doubt they would be where they are if they actually did what
they say).

Take a look at Basecamp for example. I don't want to pick on them but there's
no better way to argue with their philosophy than what's going on with them.
Sure they were one of the pioneers in their space, sure their co-founder
created Ruby on Rails, and I totally admire what they have achieved, but what
have they achieved in the last several years otherwise in terms of their own
product innovation? They have killed most of its other products, and their
main product--Basecamp--is not exactly the mainstream product that everyone
uses. If anything it's Slack that will become what Basecamp could have been. I
watched one of their interview videos where they were talking about how they
thought about building an awesome new product but decided not to because they
didn't want to waste time maintaining a new product. Personally I cannot
sympathize with that at all.

Of course, it sounds like this is exactly the type of business these guys
want, which would let them live the lifestyle they want, but if you ask me, I
would choose a life where I create something that has extremely huge impact in
the world--hopefully even after I die--even if it means sacrificing a lot of
my "lifestyle". The Basecamp guys decided to live a life where they are mildly
successful and enjoy their life, but they probably won't achieve anything
world-changing if they keep doing what they do. That's fine and I'm sure they
don't care, and I'm not saying everyone should live a crazy life, but I'm just
saying it's as "such bullshit" to say everyone should live an unambitious life
as saying everyone should give up their life to be successful.

------
konne88
Such bullshit. With Soylent you can code while you eat :)

------
welanes
They were all sold out of “Eat, sleep, code, travel, meet friends, shop,
shower, jog, date, travel, watch GoT, procrastinate on HN, repeat” t-shirts.

------
albertojacini
> horrifying

is definitively too much. And also the interpretation is too strict. Why being
outraged for something like this?

~~~
Ace17
The author sounds like he's defending himself ; but from what attack?

------
transpy
Eat, sleep, work, complain about working, distract yourself, repeat.

------
imsofuture
Hyperbolic slogan contains hyperbole, news at 11!

