Mental Health and Dev ft Dr. Courtney Tolinski - Depression, Anxiety, Imposter Syndrome, Focus, Motivation, Burnout

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk with Dr. Courtney Tolinski about mental health and web development. Sanity - Sponsor Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get a Sanity powered site up and running in minutes at sanity.io/create. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax. Freshbooks - Sponsor Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section. Show Notes 3:20 - Depression • Honestly just explaining depression would be great. Too many times I’ve heard “but you don’t look sad” • As someone who struggles with depression, what are some things I can do to rekindle and things I enjoy like developing and hobbies? This would greatly benefit me for learning more dev related things outside of doing it for work. • My depression is due to some other cause in personal life - two years into it. • Coding has bought me little life back as this is the only thing I have to do. • What can we do from an outsider's view to someone who might have depression? 12:23 - Anxiety • Imposter Syndrome x 1000 • How to deal with increased anxiety during these times? • How to avoid anxiety and feel useless when working products that you don’t appeal to you? • Wanted to ask the Dr about why do I feel that I have to work on 1000 projects that seem to never finish? 😣This is inducing a lot of anxiety sometimes. • I am on depression medication. Sometimes, I feel scared that I am so slow and don’t feel accomplished enough like people working at FANG, etc, being a SE. • How to deal with the anxiety caused by today’s events around the world and the need to isolate yourself from society even though we crave human interaction? 29:12 - Focus and job performance • How to keep motivation and focus? I find myself enjoying work but having a hard time focusing on it. All the “distraction-free” apps don’t work because I can turn them off and I feel they literally have no power over me. • Hardcore mode • Pomodoro technique 35:10 - Motivation and remote work • Bore-out • Burnout • How do you deal with loss of focus and happiness in web development (especially on remote jobs)? • Working for yourself at home, you don’t get a chance to bounce ideas and encouragement from others in an office. What’re some good ways to compensate for that to ensure you maintain a positive mindset? • Work on new things • Find ways to try new things 40:38 - Stress • Correctly identifying source of (negative?) stress. Not lashing out when under stress. • How to avoid eating to cope with stress? Links • Eat That Frog! - Brian Tracy • Pomodoro technique • Healthline • How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× • Courtney: Animal Crossing: New Horizons • , How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk • , The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind • Scott: The Engineering Mindset YouTube Channel • Wes: Toca Boca Shameless Plugs • Scott: All Courses • - Sign up for the year and save 50%! • Wes: All Courses • - Eveything is 50% off! Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! • Scott’s Instagram • LevelUpTutorials Instagram • Wes’ Instagram • Wes’ Twitter • Wes’ Facebook • Scott’s Twitter • Make sure to include @SyntaxFM • in your tweets

Release date

Lydbog: 1. april 2020