Give Yourself Little Treats Sometimes

I’ve found that my productivity varies wildly based on the time of year, the phase of the moon, my mental state, the quality of my morning shower thought session, and how enthusiastic I am about what I’m working on.

I like to give myself “little treat” issues occasionally to keep my motivation up: issues I pick up outside of the product backlog that are quick to fix, fun to do, and give me little dopamine hits.

These keep my average motivation level up, give me a chance to remember why I’m a software engineer, and don’t really eat into the time I already have budgeted to work on other stuff: I’m highly motivated to get it done, so I do it quickly and enthusiastically and it doesn’t make my slog work any slower to deliver.

Give yourself treats. Side projects. Little tweaks. Fun stuff.