Appreciate yourself and improve yourself instead of feeling bad

— 4 minute read

This is going to be a sensitive topic for me, and perhaps you can relate.

As a developer, you might hit roadblocks, burnouts, or imposter syndrome.

These are natural causes, and it's we can deal with them in many ways.

Let's say you are hit by Imposter Syndrome, this is how you might feel:

  • I'm don't know enough, better find another job
  • Wow so many people are better than me
  • Surely they can find a better person for the job

And they are all negative thoughts, and yes I've felt all of these at some point in my life.

But can we turn them into appreciation/positive thoughts?

  • I have the option to grow and learn more
  • There are many people I can learn from
  • I can grow in my job and grow with the company

You see, similar topics, but way more positive. And the thing about that is it works magic, you will feel better about the job, yourself, and life in general.

This in return will make you more productive.

Turning roadblocks around

Roadblocks are a super annoying thing for me personally. Imagine you're working on an advanced topic in which you might have little to no experience.

Your boss and colleagues however are relying on you to bring the project to a good end, in a reasonable amount of time.

The moment you hit the roadblock, you might consider giving up and admitting defeat.

But that would be the easy way out, and nobody wants that.

So let's turn that negativity around.

  • Wow this is a great opportunity to learn something new
  • Convince your boss to invest in a course you can do on the topic
  • Perhaps you can work with an experienced person in the field of this topic?
  • This is a great moment to introduce or start pair-programming

As you can see there are actually many positive sides to a roadblock.

And yes sure, they don't always work out like that, but the point is to not give in on the negativity and twist it to something positive.

Burnouts, can they become positive?

Burnouts are the worst things. They sneak up on you, and you might not even see it coming at all.

All your hard work and running forward to a full stop.

Surely there is nothing positive in that?

And I'll be honest with you, it sucks! I've been there and you feel like it's the end of the world.

So what might we change to make it slightly more positive?

  • My body needs to recover
  • I can fully calm down and reset my mind
  • My boss now knows the workload was way too much
  • Perhaps your boss even will help in investing in some courses around this topic
  • Your colleagues will help out, and that's a great bonding experience

So even though this is one of the most negative things that can happen, we can try and see the positives to it.

It's not just about work

From what I've learned in this positive twist technique is that you can use it for many things, not just work-related.

Perhaps you've hit a point where you fatigue at the gym, and it might stop you from going altogether.

But perhaps turn it into:

  • Now I can take some time to go for long walks and explore the area
  • Perhaps I should go do some hikes in the recovery time
  • Pick up another sport for a bit

I feel like there is always a point at which you can positively twist a negative thought.

And I challenge you to actively do it for the next week! Every time you have a negative thought, just come up with 1 positive twist to that.

Let's see how you feel after that week.

Thank you for reading, and let's connect!

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