Software development is difficult.

In my experience, and from everything I've gathered from those in the game for much longer than myself, there's never a point where you can just sit back and say, "Ah, finally, I know everything I need to know!" Figuring new things out can be very rewarding, but the constant learning process can be extremely stressful at times. Here are a few tips that have helped me manage stress.

Get an easy win on the board

Something I find helpful to manage stress is to structure my day so that the first task I work on is an easy win. Tinker with CSS to make a UI element look good, add a small feature that I already have a clear path for, etc. Once I get my win, I take a small break, then immediately dive into the difficult task looming over me that I know will require a lot of reading, learning, thinking, coding, and debugging.

Since I already have a win on the board for the day, the stress of learning and implementing something new is lessened, because I won't feel like the day is a total loss if I do not complete the task at hand. If I don't quite get it the first day, I typically find it easier to jump right back into the difficult task the next day, because it's the last thing I was working on before quitting time, so my mind has had time to decompress and think about the problem from another perspective.

Decompress - give your mind time to rest and reset

The brain has two modes - focused and diffuse. Focused mode is pretty obvious - it's when you're actively engaging in thought. When you're coding, reading documentation, or determining how your code will be organized, your brain is actively processing and focused.

Diffuse mode is the mode our brains go into when we are resting, exercising, or otherwise are in a daydream state of mind. It's important to allow our brains to decompress and go into diffuse mode when we've been working hard at a problem. It allows our minds to reset and it allows our subconscious to make connections that we may not have come to if we just continued to tackle a problem head-on. Some of the creative geniuses of our time have stated that their best ideas or solutions came to them when they were drifting off to sleep or out enjoying a walk.

Besides helping the development process, allowing ourselves to relax and taking our minds off of the problem for a bit can help reduce the stress associated with development.

Go easy on yourself!

When I'm really just struggling with something, whether it's a new technology or concept, or getting a feature to do exactly what I want it to do, or a sneaky little bug that keeps popping up after I thought I squashed it, I like to remind myself how far I've come. I like to take a step back from my momentary frustration and remember that I've been in this place before, and I've overcome hurdle after hurdle to get to this new, yet familiar place of struggle.

Sometimes things just take time. It's good to be easy on ourselves and give ourselves the time it takes to learn and to grow, and remember that nothing worthwhile comes with ease. The fact that we find ourselves in struggle is a testament to our grit and strength. Rather than steep in the frustration, let's give ourselves a break and remember how far we've come, and how many times we've experienced similar obstacles that we eventually surmounted.

If you made it this far, I hope some of this helps you. Thanks for reading!