the Debug Life: Recent Episodes
Mitch
00:00 Introduction
00:54 Why You Need a Mentor
01:44 Network With People in the Tech Industry
02:44 Ask for Help
03:36 Analyze Your Company
04:30 Conclusion
A couple of years ago, while I was living in Denver, I wanted to buy a house. And so I started job hunting at some point, NASDAQ headhunted me, and my friend Will loaned me a suit for the initial interview. I got hired by NASDAQ, but after a few months, I was utterly stressed out. I hated the job. I couldn't get anything done. I didn't get the results I wanted. I just wasn't happy.
Another friend of mine at the time, Justin, was a remote software developer and showed me what it was like to work remotely, so that's something that I really aspired to. Because of all these struggles and because he saw how hard I worked, my friend will, who was obviously also my mentor, set me up with his company, where I was able to work remotely. And this made all the difference in the world. I'm still with this company today. I love my team. I love the product we're working on, and just that one key relationship has helped me so much.
As a young professional tech, the skill to set boundaries at work is essential to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Here's how to say no to colleagues and managers without compromising the work you get done or how you're perceived. First off, look at everything that is expected of you and how they impact the product and yourself, and the team. Prioritize according to which ones are most important. Then whenever your manager asks you to do something, you'll be able to tell them, "I would really like to get this done, but I have other things that require my attention and with a much greater impact." "Can we talk about what I should deprioritize in order to get what you're asking me to get done?" More often than not, you'll find them willing to drop the issue.
00:00 Introduction
00:10 Learn to Say No
00:54 Use Routines
01:56 Time-Block Your Schedule
02:51 Unplug to Recharge
03:47 Look for Win-Win
04:34 Conclusion
Meditation is a practice that involves training the mind to focus and relax in order to achieve a heightened state of awareness, inducing mental and emotional calm. It's a technique to improve mental clarity, increase self-awareness, and reduce stress and anxiety.
Someone who is mediating might not seem to be doing much other than breathing or repeating a mantra over and over again. Inside their brain, however, a lot is happening. Modern diagnostic and imaging techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), show that meditation can have a wide variety of positive impacts on the brain and mental health.
00:00 Meditation
01:14 The Science Behind Meditation
03:49 Getting Started with Meditation
Journaling is the habit of keeping a record of your thoughts, feelings, insights, and struggles and wins in your life. Whether you decide to write by hand on paper, type on the computer or use an app on your phone, journaling is a fantastic and low-cost option to maintain and improve your mental health.
The idea of starting a journal and thereby setting the expectation of having to write may seem overwhelming at first. But the idea isn't to write an entire chapter every day. It doesn't have to be a beautiful story, and it doesn't have to be polished. The idea is simply to do a "brain dump" and transfer whatever is taking up space in your head to paper in order to create more room in your head. Some days that may be a few paragraphs, and other days you may only write one sentence.
00:00 What Journaling Is and Isn't
01:09 The Benefits and Purpose of Journaling
03:08 How to Get Started With Journaling
Impostor syndrome is the belief many of us hold that we aren't actually as capable or smart as others think we are, no matter how much evidence there is that we're successfully navigating our professional and personal lives.
Impostor syndrome isn’t a diagnosis or a medical problem but a pattern of thinking that can lead to self-doubt, negative self-talk, and missed opportunities. According to the Journal of General Internal Medicine, more than eight out of every ten people experience impostor syndrome.
00:00 What Impostor Syndrome Looks Like
01:19 Impostor Syndrome is Just Another Variation of Shame
03:01 The Solution to Impostor Syndrome Is Exposing It
In today's fast-paced and high-stress world, burnout has become a common problem that affects many of us. It can leave you feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and detached from your work or personal life. Today, we'll explore the science behind burnout and how you can use neuroscience to prevent it.
Statistics show more than half of young Americans don't feel close to anyone, and that number has doubled since the 1980s. Part of being human is that we all feel lonely at times. Even the most extroverted people have likely felt the urge to connect and experienced sadness from being unable to interact with someone.
In today's fast-paced world, the pressure to do more in less time has led to the widespread belief that multitasking is the key to achieving success. However, research has shown that multitasking is nothing more than a myth. Today, we will explore why multitasking is ineffective and discuss the switching cost and its demands on cognition.
00:00 Multitasking has become mainstream
01:30 The switch cost
02:33 Not everything is equally important
00:00 What Is Dopamine?
01:15 The Causes of Dopamine Imbalance
02:36 Strategies for Maintaining a Healthy Dopamine Balance
Dopamine plays a crucial role in how we perceive pleasure in our lives. However, excessive consumption of processed foods, technology overuse, chronic stress, and inadequate sleep all disrupt our dopamine levels. Today, we explore the causes of dopamine imbalance and provide you with practical strategies to en ensure a healthy balance and improve your overall well-being.
Today, we explore the idea that focusing on one thing each day is the key to achieving extraordinary success. Despite our tendency to multitask, success comes from doing the right things in the right sequence, with each action building on the last. We also delve into the concept of the domino effect and how focusing on the right priorities can lead to momentum and awesome results.
00:00 Going Small by Focusing on one thing
02:00 The Domino Effect
02:52 Focus
The pursuit of a perfectly balanced life is a common goal, but often an unattainable one. Work-life balance has become an important concern, especially with the rise of technology and the shift towards remote work. Today, we will explore the concept of counterbalancing as a solution.
00:00 Introduction
00:43 The Unattainable Ideal Of A Balanced Life
01:35 History Of Work-Life Balance
02:37 Counterbalancing
Intermittent fasting is a diet that focuses on when, rather than what, you eat. Followers of this diet eat only during a specific time period or just one meal a few days a week. Fasting can help your body burn fat more effectively and has been shown to have several potential health benefits.
00:00 Introduction
01:06 How Intermittent Fasting Works
01:50 Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
03:37 Drawbacks of Intermittent Fasting
05:00 Intermittent Fasting Plans
While blue light is environmentally friendly, it may not always be so friendly to our health. For example, blue light can affect your sleep and potentially contribute to disease. Until the invention of artificial light, the sun was our only source of light, and once it had set, people spent their time in relative darkness.
00:00 What Is Blue Light
02:21 Blue Light and Sleep
03:18 Blue Light and Eye Strain
04:03 How to Limit Blue Light Exposure
00:00 Introduction to the Amygdala
01:35 Emotions and Social Behavior
02:37 The Impact of Stress on the Amygdala
04:43 Strategies for Calming the Amygdala
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure of cells located in the temporal lobes on both sides of the brain, just above the hippocampus and below the frontal lobes. It is part of the limbic system, a group of brain structures involved in processing emotions, motivation, and memory.
The amygdala's primary function is processing and responding to emotionally charged events and regulating social and emotional behavior, including the fear response. It receives input from various senses, such as sight, hearing, and touch, and helps to identify and respond to emotionally charged stimuli.
The amygdala is also involved in the consolidation (e.g., storage) of memories, especially emotional ones, and plays a role in triggering memories during the retrieval process. Finally, the amygdala is also involved in the stress response.
The amygdala plays a crucial role in our emotional, social, and professional lives. Therefore, understanding its functions and how to maintain its health is vital for mental and emotional wellness as well as being successful in life.
Motivation is best described as the process that initiates, guides, and maintains human behavior. It's a condition inside of us that desires a change, either within ourselves or in our environment. At the core of motivation is the energy for persistent goal-directed behavior. When we are motivated, we get into motion and take action, for better or worse.
Since motivation is a driving force behind all human behavior, understanding how it works and the factors that influence it can be important for a variety of reasons. Understanding motivation increases your efficiency, encourages you to take actions that are in alignment with your goals, and helps you avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as unnecessary risk-taking and addictions.
00:00 Introduction
00:51 Types of Motivation
01:35 Components of Motivation
02:56 Improving Motivation
04:31 Motivation as a Habit
We often interpret failure as rejection in one way or the other. The brain can perceive rejection as threatening our safety and survival, thus activating mechanisms that make us feel distressed. The brain evolved to keep us alive, and it uses these painful mechanisms to get us to do whatever it thinks will lead us back to safety.
00:00 Our Biological Response to Rejection
01:37 Rejection and Failure
03:19 Processing Failure
Core values represent the fundamental beliefs you have about your life. They not only guide your behaviors, decisions, and actions but also bring you a sense of purpose and self-confidence. They serve to remind you what’s important to you and the things you want more of in life.
The society we live in defines success as achieving certain goals such as fame, wealth, status, and respect; a big house, a fancy car, and a large salary. If you identify with this standard of success, you set yourself up for unnecessary suffering because you will always be striving to reach the next goal.
True success is being exactly who you are by living in alignment with your values. This doesn’t mean giving up on your goals; it means using your values to set your goals.
00:00 What Are Core Values
00:24 Why Core Values Matter
01:41 Core Values Give Direction
02:28 Core Values Simplify Decision Making
03:17 Core Values Boost Wellbeing
04:00 My Core Value: Freedom
04:47 Identifying Core Values
00:00 What Is Empathy
01:05 Types of Empathy
02:15 The Importance of Empathy
03:16 Lack of Empathy
04:18 Empathetic Conversation
05:58 Empathetic Habits
07:22 Why I Care About Empathy
Empathy is the ability to sense other people's emotions and imagine what someone else might think or feel. Empathizing with others enables you to act with compassion and find ways to reduce their distress and your own.
Empathy isn't reserved only for challenging moments in life; it also allows you to share in the excitement of others and experience joy together. It will enable you to create more meaningful relationships by authentically connecting with what others think and feel and for others to connect with what you're feeling.
00:00 What Is Self-Medication
00:58 My Self-Medication Story
01:55 Reasons for Self-Medication
02:29 Types of Self-Medication
03:28 Signs of Self-Medication
05:14 Dangers of Self-Medication
06:13 Awareness and Self-Medication
07:24 Beliefs and Self-Medication
08:30 Alternatives to Self-Medication
In today's busy world, fueled with anxiety and stress, many people seek relief through substances. You might smoke weed after a long day to relax or have a snack to distract yourself from feeling lonely. Maybe you turn to prescription drugs to finally get some "quality sleep," or perhaps stimulants to keep you focused during the day.
Using substances such as alcohol or drugs in this manner - to manage symptoms of mental health, is known as "self-medicating." Maybe you're perfectly aware you have mental health issues, such as being under too much chronic stress, but you're not aware of any healthier ways to cope.
While self-medicating can undoubtedly offer relief from discomfort in the short term, your struggles will gradually compound and increase in the long term. Whether you use alcohol, drugs, or prescriptions, the habit of self-medicating can lead to addiction and increased mental health problems.
True confidence isn't characterized by the absence of fear but rather by having a positive relationship with it. Any time you step out of your comfort zone or take a risk, you will feel fear. That's not weakness because fear isn't your enemy; it's a powerful source of energy you can tap into for your own benefit.
Building confidence requires continuously practicing your skills until they become second nature. Whatever we want to feel comfortable doing, we must put in the effort to practice it. The actions come first, and the feelings of confidence follow as a result of that work.
Studies have shown that over half of the American population believes doing their taxes is easier than figuring out how to eat healthily and over ten billion donuts are consumed in the US every year. At least one in four people eat some type of fast food on a daily basis, and only three out of ten Americans believe that all calories play an equal role in weight gain.
The nutritional aspect of fitness is incredibly important, and it can either work for you by enhancing your results or against you by causing a plateau in your progress. Proper nutrition does not equal buying the latest supplement fad but rather following a set plan that increases the momentum toward your goals.
00:00 Introduction
00:46 My Story
02:15 Macro- and Micronutrients
04:02 Bulking, Cutting, and Maintaining
07:55 Cheat Meals
08:58 Recommended Food list
09:41 How to track calories
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Why Sleep Matters
02:19 Mental Health and Sleep
02:51 Physical Health and Sleep
03:21 Weight Management and Sleep
04:04 Cognitive Function and Sleep
04:51 How to Sleep Better
We all have the inherent intuition that sleep is essential to our well-being, but many of us are forced to push back our bedtime due to our busy modern lives. Neglecting sleep may appear to pay off in the short term, but a sleep deficit will severely impact every area of your mental and physical health in the long term.
Sleeping properly helps fight inflammation, reduces cognitive and physical disease, and makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Given that one in three Americans sleeps fewer than six hours a night and an estimated 20% of vehicle crashes are linked to drowsy driving, we may want to start paying more attention to the vital activity of sleeping.
Focusing your efforts and doing the work isn't easy. You have to create time within your busy schedule to pursue something that will challenge you mentally, emotionally, and maybe even physically.
You already spend so much of your energy working for a paycheck. In comparison, setting and achieving your own goals is a small investment in your future with a far greater return than any typical job could give you.
Getting things done also improves your personal life because happiness is the result of realizing what you're capable of and overcoming the limiting beliefs you have about yourself.
00:00 Creating Your Vision
02:03 The Biggest Myths and Mistakes
03:40 The Constants of Muscle Growth
04:47 The Science and Facts of Fat Loss
05:55 The Training Formula
07:21 The Workout Plan
Before you start lifting weights or start counting calories, you must have a specific and tangible goal in mind as to why you're doing it. If you have a vague, uninspiring or unrealistic goal you will quit before you know it.
You can rest assured that anyone who has the body you aspire to has very specific, actionable, and realistic health and fitness goal and is driven to progressively improve themselves every day.
Exercising isn't only about endurance and aesthetics. Admittedly, it can improve our physiques, sex lives, and dating opportunities, but that's usually not what keeps active people motivated.
Those who regularly exercise do so because it gives them an incredible sense of well-being. I exercise regularly because it makes me feel more energetic throughout the day, more relaxed, improves my memory, and makes me sleep better at night.
Consistent exercise has a profound impact on your mental health and relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts your resiliency. You don't have to go to extreme lengths to get these benefits; keep reading, and we will start slow.
00:00 Introduction
00:41 Mental Health and Exercise
01:19 Depression and Exercise
01:56 Anxiety and Exercise
02:28 ADHD and Exercise
02:58 Stress and Exercise
03:26 Trauma and Exercise
03:54 Exercise Moderately
04:22 A Bit Is Better Than Nothing
05:01 Insufficient Time
05:26 Insufficient Motivation
05:45 Exhaustion
06:12 Lack of Resources
06:36 Getting Started With Exercising
The human brain is the most powerful biochemical computer known to mankind. It is shaped by thought, speech, and behavior. Do you do everything you can to feed it positivity, or do you frequently notice yourself getting caught up in negative thought patterns?
Self-talk is your internal dialogue, or your inner voice. You may not always be aware that you're talking to yourself, but you do so almost every minute of every day. The inner voice is a combination of your conscious and subconscious thought, your beliefs and biases, and cultural programming.
00:00 Introduction
00:16 What Is Self-Talk
00:58 Negative Self-Talk and Mental Health
01:41 My Story Of Self-Talk
03:00 Levels of Self-Talk
04:33 Methods of Self-Talk
05:41 How to Put It All Together
“Everyone wears metaphorical masks during their lives. We all have different faces we show to work colleagues, or friends, or family. Sometimes we wear so many masks, we forget who we are underneath it all, but you have to find the courage to drop all the bullshit and reveal your true self.” ― Leisa Rayven
It's important to build confidence in social settings because it will make you more desirable and likable. People gravitate towards confidence and are pushed away by insecurity and over-confidence.
00:00 Introduction
00:20 The Confidence Building Benefits of Being Social
00:57 The Health Benefits of Being Social
01:40 The Professional Benefits of Being Social
02:30 Being an Introvert
03:05 Having Social Anxiety
03:37 Missing the Courage to Be Authentic
04:08 My Story of Finding Confidence
05:45 Confidence and Courage
06:45 How to Build Momentum
Burnout is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion caused by excessive stress and overwork. While it isn't an official medical condition, burnout has a significant impact on your productivity, creativity, relationships, and quality of life.
Burnout doesn't simply show up out of nowhere, its momentum builds each time you cross a personal boundary or spend effort on things that don't feel authentic to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:34 What Is Burnout
00:55 My Burnout Story
01:42 The Emotional Effects of Burnout
02:22 The Physical Effects of Burnout
03:14 The Behavioral Effects of Burnout
03:56 What Causes Burnout
04:19 When Work Causes Burnout
05:28 When Personal Life Causes Burnout
06:44 How to Prevent and Avoid Burnout
07:04 Habits to Prevent and Avoid Burnout
Have you ever felt like you're not good enough to do the job you've been hired to do, and that your boss may discover you as a fraud at any moment?
Perhaps you've felt like like you're only pretending to be an adult who's capable of making major financial decisions or raising another human being, even though everyone else seems to have everything figured out.
I remember how much of an imposter I felt like at my first "real" programmer job. I had been hired by Nasdaq to redesign the User Interface for an internal risk management tool. I heard a lot of big words flying by such as "Data Transfer Object", "Deltas", "Ephemeral Storage", and many more.
00:00 Introduction
00:50 What Is Imposter Syndrome
01:27 Symptoms of Imposter Syndrome
02:17 The Link Between Shame and Imposter Syndrome
04:31 The Solution
04:56 Focus on the Facts
05:20 Keep Track of Your Accomplishments
06:05 Stop Comparing
06:42 Let Go of Perfectionism
07:11 Talk to Others
00:00 Introduction
01:03 The origin of my morning routine
01:46 My realization
02:27 Why do you get out of bed?
03:07 Debugging the snooze
04:35 Constructing the routine
04:54 Journaling
05:20 Meditation
05:41 Affirmations
06:17 Exercise
06:49 Reading
07:17 Sample Routine
Growing up, you were probably told that you could do, have, and be everything you wanted when you got older. Now that you've reached the adulthood you coveted as a child, are you doing, having, and being everything you've ever wanted? Or did you revise what you define as "everything" somewhere along the way?
The average American is $58,604 in debt, 17 pounds overweight, watches 33 hours of TV a week, reads only four books a year, consumes 11 alcoholic drinks a week, exercises only 17 minutes a day, and has less than one close friend.
None of those statistics may apply to you, but my point is that we have been domesticated by society to conform to certain behaviors and thought patterns that result in misfortune. I know from personal experience that loneliness comes from feeling disconnected, and we feel disconnected because of that domestication - we aren't in touch with who we really are, and so we wake up in despair.
My therapist once told me: "Anxiety, depression, and ADD are all riding in the same car. It is my job to determine which one is in the driver's seat and treat you accordingly."
Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health conditions and are easily confused. While there is some overlap in symptoms and they do often occur simultaneously, anxiety and depression are actually very different types of "disorders". Nearly half of all people diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety and depression are on the rise globally. In 2018, almost 50,000 Americans lost their lives to suicide, an increase of 14% since 2000, and on average over ten million adults reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the year prior.
00:00 Introduction
00:53 The Difference Between Anxiety and Depression
01:54 Anxiety and Depression Symptoms
02:26 Causes of Anxiety and Depression
03:29 Anxiety and Depression Long-Term Effects
05:16 Are Anxiety and Depression Curable?
05:36 Treatment for Anxiety and Depression
06:42 Medication for Anxiety and Depression
07:29 Foods That Reduce Anxiety and Depression
09:07 Habits That Reduce Anxiety and Depression
00:00 Introduction
00:32 How the Difference Shows in My Life
01:26 A Quick Word on Burnouts
02:36 An Objective Perspective on Solitude
03:30 Solitude as a Superpower
03:57 Leveraging Solitude
04:24 What Is Deep Work?
05:14 Styles of Deep Work
06:30 Disciplines of Execution
07:12 Putting It All Together
Loneliness and solitude may seem similar, but from my perspective, they are two entirely different states. The former represents feeling a lack of connection or belonging while solitude is the state of being physically alone yet enjoying your own presence.
We can feel lonely even when we're surrounded by others because loneliness indicates a lack of connection, whereas solitude is the state of feeling connected to your inner self and being at peace.
The last significant time I felt lonely was about a year ago when I...
00:00 Introduction
00:25 Uncaught Dangers
01:48 The Loneliness Pandemic
02:45 What to do
03:20 Making Adjacent Friends
04:49 Put Your Phone Down
05:40 Join a Group or Class
06:56 Do's and Don'ts for Starting Friendships
If you're a software developer (or engineer, for that matter), chances are you've been working remotely for a while now. Technology has ushered in an age where the vast majority of knowledge workers can perform their core responsibilities from home.
It's great to be able to set your own hours and avoid the dreaded rush-hour traffic, but remote work has downsides that go beyond domestic distractions and blurred boundaries.
Working from home affects you and your colleagues. With the proper awareness, this can be a good thing. However, the reality is that there is less spontaneous social contact between workers, something we are very much accustomed to by nature.
Research has found that digital channels such as Zoom don't trigger the entire range of physiological responses required for building trust and genuine connection. Only in-person interactions can do so - much like only nutrient-dense meals can nurture your body.
If you've ever felt like you're spending too much time staring at screens and not enough interacting with people in real life, I can tell you that you're not alone. A recent study found that excessive social media use can lead to withdrawal from real-life relationships and as a result, loneliness. It turns out that people who spent more than two hours per day on social media were twice as likely to feel socially isolated than those who only spent 30 minutes per day on the apps.
Loneliness is a topic that is often left unspoken. In our society, men opening up about their feelings is seen as weakness, and thus many feel ashamed to talk about it. But what if loneliness could actually harm us? What if we're not talking about it enough? Studies have shown that it can seriously impact our health and that community and social interactions are crucial for our well-being.