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

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