HABIT UPDATION - IT PROFESSIONALS

IT professionals need to update their habits to stay relevant and efficient in a rapidly evolving field. This indirectly includes adopting new technologies, improving communication and collaboration, and prioritizing continuous learning to address the constant changes in the IT landscape as well as life too.

EXERCISE

Each day involved some form of exercise – a jog around the park, a ten minute weights or yoga video on YouTube, to do one big stretch upon walking and then do five push ups before starting the day.

Switch off phone at 10pm

Social media can be time waster, especially in those moments before bed. During this habit inclusion switch your phone to flight mode at exactly 10pm each night.

Write

As a developer by day, you found a little creative of free-flow ability in thinking. Just sit at your computer and write for ten minutes about anything.

Learn to juggle

Studies have shown that juggling can give your brain a boost and make us more mentally alert.

Set a daily budget

You established a daily budget for food and basic necessities and included notes to control spending.

Podcast and news

As a regular listener of This Life, On Being, The Good Life, you wanted to stretch yourself and listen to a brand new podcast or news daily.

Meditate

Eventually found a five-minute positive thinking meditation, that is enough.

Vitamins

Make sure that the sun shines on you in the morning or evening.

Drink water

“Must Drink Water” – no other explanations required for this.

Read

You have to develop your own mindfulness by following this habit throughout your entire life.

Quit drinking

One of the most destructive habits is drinking.

Evening questions

“What good have I done today?” Before bed, you’d scribble a list of all the things you did well on today.

Oil pulling

Oil pulling is an ancient dental technique that involves swishing a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth for around 20-minutes. The idea being that toxins cling to the oil, so spitting them out improves your oral health, whitening your teeth, clearing your skin and giving your immune system a boost.

Take a break

It’s easy to spend the entire working day sitting down glued to the computer, or to work through lunch breaks. You made a concerted effort to get outside and go for a walk or run an errand and get some fresh air each day.

Social media limits

Rapidly switch your attention from an email, to writing a feature, to Facebook. Limiting how often you could check the time-zapping platforms to just once in the morning and once in the evening was admittedly more difficult than you imagined.

Do something new

Doing something new can be revitalising. A new conversation, trying oysters for the first time since childhood, meeting someone new, reading a new author, and going to a new place — each day you extend your bravery and curiosity by seeking out a new experience.

Practice say no

Often we say yes to things out of guilt, a sense of obligation, to be nice, or a plain disregard for our own time. But saying yes to things we don’t want to do isn’t nice – it deprives us of our time and creates a disconnect from our priorities. Practicing saying no was at times awkward and uncomfortable, but it taught you to better value your time and the time of others.

Give something away

Donate books, buy dresses for your friends or relatives and send a friend a gift. Gave money to someone in need, helping a friend to purchase a shoe and bags.

Set a daily intention

We can so often meander through our days not really knowing what it is we want to achieve beyond our to-do list. Setting a simple intention for the day such as smile more, or be kinder to yourself, or try to catch your thoughts before they spiralled into negativity helped you set a gear for the day ahead.

Do something that scares you

Doing something each day that scares you, however small, extends your comfort zone.

Make something

Decided to do a sketch each night. There was an initial fear of the pencil and the page, but then you reminded yourself of techniques – don’t worry about it being good; just draw.

The CLOCK Technique

This time management method was a favourite one, also found it to be a great way to get started. Knowing that it helps to skip the procrastination stage and speed through writing, leaving with the momentum to keep working through the breaks.

Air ROUTINE

By opening up the windows, you can improve air circulation and enjoy the health benefits of sitting comfortably for half an hour for reading or writing.

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We all have creative slumps. We miss deadlines. No one sticks to their routine all the time. We’ve got to be kinder to ourselves and stop berating ourselves for having dull days and instead enjoy them for what they are.

Incorporating even a few of these habits into your daily routine can lead to significant improvements in your physical health, mental well-being, productivity, and overall quality of life. Start small, be consistent, and gradually build up to create lasting change.