Hey everyone and welcome to today's episode of Developer Tea. In today's episode we're talking about rushing. One of the reasons Developer Tea is short is because I know that you, as a constant learner, the people who listen to this show are typically constant learners, I know that you value your time very much, I value my time very much, and I hope that I can send the message of that value to everyone who listens to this show. Now there's something that we need to address though, and it's something that is particularly true in the cultural realm for developers today, and that is a tendency to rush. And we've all been there before. We've all felt this tendency. This sense of rush. And a lot of times we justify rushing by saying that it is actually velocity, it's speed. But take a moment and think about this concept of rushing. What exactly constitutes rushing? Well typically if you are rushed, this is how I would characterize being rushed. If you are rushed, then your mind is on something. In the future. Your mind is on a deadline. Or perhaps you are meditating on something else that you want to be doing. You're not focusing on the thing that is currently in front of you as much as you are on whatever is happening after whatever it is that you're doing at the moment. And so a lot of times what ends up happening, and we're going to talk a little bit more about this in this episode. A result of rushing is that you are accomplishing a different goal than what you are currently working on. Think about that for a moment. If you are rushed, your mind is focused on a different goal than what you are currently working on. Or your mind is focused on a different end point than the present moment. I was listening to an interview with Robert Persig. And if you're not familiar... Robert wrote kind of his breakout book in 1974. It's called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. And although I haven't yet read the book, one of the themes that Robert mentions in this interview is the idea that sometimes it is better to travel than it is to arrive. This is a quote that he takes out of the book. And they discuss that concept. Sometimes it is better to travel than it is to arrive. And if you think about our discussion... If you think about our discussion on rushing, this is completely applicable to that. So if we are focusing only on the arrival point... In other words, if we are solely focused on finishing... Let's say finishing a task. If we just want to be able to check off a box, then it's possible that the route to finishing that task, or perhaps the task itself, should be rethought. It's possible that we're missing something. So I'm going to talk a little bit deeper about this. The value of that traveling aspect. The road rather than the destination. We're going to talk about that as well as give a few tips on how to avoid rushing right after we take this quick sponsor break. Today's episode is sponsored by Dolby. This is a great sponsor for today's episode because if you are going to focus on the quality of every single step in your... Your application. Let's say you're making an iOS application. Dolby supports iOS. Now, the reality is that your users, the users of your application, they want better audio. In fact, 90% of users say that good quality audio is important to them across their digital ecosystem. And this is certainly included, or including, their iOS applications. So if you are an iOS developer... You probably don't necessarily need new audio assets. The audio itself was probably recorded on high quality equipment. What happens after the recording is when the audio can turn bad. And that's when it's getting compressed, right? The codec. And that's what Dolby is stepping in to provide. Now, you can do this conversion in the audio programs. If you already are using an audio program, something like Adobe Audition, that certainly supports. The Dolby codecs. But you can also do it through Dolby's online encoder. It's totally free for developers to use. Go and check out what Dolby has to offer to you as an iOS developer by going to spec.fm slash Dolby iOS. Dolby iOS. Thank you again to Dolby for sponsoring today's episode of Developer Tea. We're talking about not rushing today. And really the... The hypothesis of rushing is what? Well, it's staying in the moment, right? This is something that we've discussed in the past with a previous sponsor, Headspace, for example. Staying in the moment. This is a very common theme if you are into meditation. If you've ever studied anything about Zen, it's really about being mindful of what is happening now. Not allowing your mind space to travel into the future or live in the past, right? All that. What that means is that your attention, what you are thinking about and how you are engaging your thoughts, right? That's as simple as it gets. The engagement of your thoughts is focused on the present moment rather than on something that has yet to happen, which can cause anxiety or something that has happened in the past, which you can't change. Now, I want to focus for a second on why we think it's important to rush, right? As developers, of course. So much of our time is demanded. And we're always trying to get faster. We're always trying to learn new things in order to have a leg up. That's because the industry does move very quickly. And so we feel the tension of trying to keep up, right? And so much of the time, what that means is the thing that we decided to do, yesterday's future, which is today. Yesterday, we were focusing so hard on today. And then today, we're focusing so hard on tomorrow that we're never actually able to focus on now. And so the tools that were being praised for their innovation, the technology that we were so excited to adopt just yesterday or last year or whatever period of time you want to pick, those technologies, now we are so focused on the next technology that we're not able to do it. And so that's why we're so excited to adopt today's technology. And so the tools that we're being praised for their innovation, the technology that we're using today, that we can't really reap the benefits of focusing on implementing today what we were excited about yesterday. So we have to delineate between the excitement and the preparation of using a new tool in the future. We have to delineate between that excitement and the anxiety of not feeling like the tools we are using today are reasonable enough to give our attention to. Because what's so often the case is that we're not able to do it. And so what's so often happens is because we're so focused on reading about tools in the future, we end up maybe silently criticizing the tools that we're using today and not giving them the quality attention that is necessary to do our best work. I can guarantee you that your best work will be performed when you are not rushed. And I mean this not only in the sense of rushing to complete something, but also in the sense of rushing to learn something new. Trying to innovate so quickly that the steps to innovation suffer. The traveling suffers because you're so focused on the destination. Your best work will be performed when you are focused on that work. It seems simple, and yet we get this wrong all the time. This is true both in the sense of our technology tools that we're using today, and in the sense of our everyday, whatever tool it is, whatever language or thing that you want to upgrade, that you're so rushed to upgrade. This is true for that, but it's also true for our positions, our career moves. Because if we feel so rushed to get a promotion or to get a pay raise, then we're not taking the time to give what credit is due to our current situation. We become perpetually... unsatisfied. And we always have to remember as developers that there is a healthy awareness that creates a positive sense of momentum without creating a debilitating sense of discontentment. In other words, we need to be aware of what is next because the industry is changing and we must change with it. But in the process of changing, we must also pay attention to the fact that we are not just a product of the industry. We need to pay attention to what we're doing on that road. We can't simply hyper-focus on change so much that we forget what it means to be productive. We can't focus on change and innovation so much that we forget what it means to deliver value and to be consistent. We can't focus on our promotion so much that we forget what it means to be loyal. We can't focus on our career moves so much that we forget that we're not just a product of the industry. There is value to be had at every step in your career. So I want you to take some time and think through what is causing you to be rushed. What things are pressuring you to focus instead of focusing on the thing that you have in front of you today, instead of focusing on now, what is pressuring you to constantly look forward? And equally, what is pressuring you to constantly look backward? How can you... you enable yourself to do your best work by focusing on what you have in front of you today. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Developer Tea. I hope that this gives you a sense of confidence that you can move forward and think very deeply about the work that you do each and every day. That's another side effect of this rushing is that you're unable to really deeply, with conviction, build good software. It's a very practical effect that it has. And I guarantee you, if you take some time and carve out that kind of protected space of focusing on the now while you are working, you're going to reap benefits from it. I hope this sparks positive conversation between all of you who are listening. And you can always reach out to me on Twitter at at Developer Tea and also at Jay Cottrell. Most of the tweets coming from Developer Tea are about the show. And the tweets coming from at Jay Cottrell are usually my personal opinions. You can also always send me an email at developertea at gmail.com. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Thank you again to today's sponsor Dolby. If you're building an iOS application, and you haven't thought more about your audio than just using a core library or something like that, I highly recommend you go and check out what Dolby has to offer. You can get surround sound in your iOS application. That is a reality with Dolby's Codex. Go and check out what they have to offer spec.fm slash Dolby iOS. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Developer Tea. And until next time, enjoy your tea.