How to manage the learning pressure in IT?

I am a 13-year experienced software engineer. In my career, I am working hard to deliver projects and to learn something new. I am a father of two boys and currently facing tight deadlines in my current project. Due to this, my learning is being affected; I am struggling to learn amidst increasing pressure. I am also experiencing health issues that are making it difficult to focus, adding extra pressure. Whenever I waste an hour, I start feeling guilty, and it ruins my entire day. Kindly help me break out of this pressure cycle. How do you manage learning and handle pressure?

Answer

This is a great question and a very common struggle. Balancing work, personal life, health, and learning can be challenging. I remember facing similar challenges a few years ago. Balancing tight client deadlines, family commitments, and health concerns was indeed tough.

Here are a few lessons I've learned from those experiences that I'm happy to share with you. 

You’re not alone!

Let me start by saying that you are not alone. At some point in our lives, almost all of us struggle through this. So, don’t feel pressure or anxiety about it. You must also not feel guilty if you are taking breaks.

Budget your time

We do not spend enough time on planning how we spend our time. I strongly believe that time budgeting is more important than money budgeting. In other words, we need to analyze where and how we spend our time.

Once we know how we spend our time, it is much easier to cut out the unnecessary tasks that are useless to us and not helping us to get better.

It is also very important to put some time aside for yourself daily. This time does not include your family, friends, or anyone else. This is just for you. It could be 30 minutes or 1-hr a day. It could be when your children are at school or sleeping. You may have to wake up early. This is the time you should not be distracted and focus on your health and mental sharpness. Usually, going to a gym daily works. Waking up early in the morning before everyone else does also work.

Balance is the key!

Life balance is an art, and it takes time, practice, and discipline. More than anything else, you must be patient. 

But before that, let me start with this. If you are spending time on your health and learning, you don’t need to feel guilty about it. If you are honest about your work, you will be alright.

Prioritize and create a daily to-do list

Creating a daily schedule with realistic goals is very important. Besides your Todo list in Agile boards, it is important to make your own personal to do list that includes your work, health exercises, learning, and family time.

Many of us work from home. Trust me. Sometime it is difficult to put a time aside just for yourself. 

Delegate and seek support!

Often, I see senior folks put ton of responsibility on themselves. It is very important for us to grow as leaders to start delegating work and seek support as needed. I also see many people struggle through problems and try to solve everything by themselves.

Honestly, its just fine to seek support.

However, there is a fine line between seeking support and being annoying. You can’t be asking help for every little thing. You should be respectful of others time.

Your smartphone is your biggest enemy!

Your smartphone is your biggest enemy when it comes to work life balance. I highly recommend keep your phone away from your work desk. Ignore social media. Social media is the root of many mental problems today. 

I usually keep my phone away from my desk and when I take breaks, check my phone once every couple of hours. Social media I only check when I’m free and doing nothing.

Learning is continuous!

Learning means growth. In my early days, I used to think I’m learning for my company. But the reality is, the learning was for me. I remember one time my boss told me to go attend a conference. I felt like it was unnecessary for me. But let me tell you. That conference changed my life. I realized that it was more for my own growth than the company.

Same applies to learning. Every time you learn something new, or update yourself, it is more for you than your job.

Tip: Break down learning into smaller pieces and try to learn smaller lessons but make it a daily habit.

For example, if you start your work at 8:30am daily, you can start at 8 and from 8 to 8:30, keep that for learning. 

Energy matters. Make a healthy habit!

Energy matters. Body and mind are one thing. Your mind affects your body and vice very.

Sitting long is one of the major reasons of many problems. While taking frequent breaks, build habits stretch, walk, or do some quick exercises. This can help reduce physical strain and improve focus.

Ensure you’re eating well, staying hydrated, and getting enough sleep. Good physical health is crucial for mental focus and productivity.

I usually take a 5-minute break every hour and a 15-minute break every 2 hrs. In my 5 minutes break, I spent stretching. Daily, I have three 5-minute breaks spent on stretching and light exercises. Then I’ve two 15 minutes breaks usually I spend in my yard outside walking around my flowers and plants.

I’m sure most of us have some meetings where you can just listen in. In those kinds of meetings, I prefer to take them from outside and walking. 

Shut down your brain

Like a computer or phone, our brain gets overheated when you have too many processes running in it. Means you are thinking about too many things. It is not a bad idea occasionally to shut down your brain and not do anything at all. 

Yoga is the best way to shut down your brain. You could find another way that helps you shut down your brain from outside activities. It could be hiking, biking, watching a movie or whatever it is. Find your own way to shut down your brain occasionally. 

Summary

As we adopt more and more technology, our lives get busier and busier, but it is up to us how we manage and utilize our time and brain. The more we plan, analyze, and schedule, we get better at it.

Stress is something that is all in your mind. It is up to you how much stress you take. No one can really give you stress if you don’t want to take it.