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The S.T.U.P.I.D. Email – Jul 4, 2021
By Bruno Souza | book
Skill, Thought, Unique, Person, Interesting, Daring
A fun, weekly round of Career ideas!
Whenever I talk with people about their career,
I always ask about what would be an awesome year for them.
(What would you answer to that?)
(Let me know by replying to this email!)
Very frequently, people list their plans and lots of things they want to do that year.
Spend X hours a day learning this or that technology.
Post that many articles on blogs or social media.
Pass in an interview in that famous company.
Develop this software and finish that course.
It usually sounds very complicated, with lots of moving parts…
(Maybe your idea of a great year is full of steps and things to do?)
When I work with you, I will spend time to understand what you want to happen, so we can simplify and focus your efforts.
Simplify is a great skill.
It is not about making your goals easier, or reducing your results.
To simplify is to go to the heart of the problem, laser focus on the goals, so you can prioritize the right things.
“Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler”
Albert Einstein
We tend to complicate things…
Maybe we are afraid that the simple things look just too simple?
And they indeed may be.
In particular, people like to simplify by making things “a clear cut”.
Do this.
Don’t do that.
It is usually never that simple.
You are a unique person, in a unique situation.
Go talk with someone that you trust, to help you simplify, but not over simplify things.
A mentor is a good option.
Another option is my book The Best Developer Year.
It has helped many people to plan their year.
It can help you too!
So many unique things…
You.
Your situation.
Your combination of skills.
What you bring to the world.
Go find the biggest problem YOU are the best person to solve.
Consider ALL that you did.
ALL your skills.
ALL that you like.
ALL your experiences…
You have a unique combination of skills, likes, experiences, and insights.
What is the biggest problem YOU can solve?
(Maybe only you?)
If you don’t know the answer to that question…
Neither the people that have THAT problem will know that YOU can solve it!
If they don’t know, they can’t hire you…
My favorite software development simplify tactic is refactoring.
Refactoring is turning the complex simple, without making it dumber or less useful.
Behind all refactoring techniques, there is one connecting idea:
You can have simpler things that do the same thing as the complex one.
It is not about making things “simple”.
It is about making things “simpler”.
My go-to person for refactoring discussions is Scott Wierschem.
(Scott is the author of Keep Calm and Refactor blog)
This week, Scott will interview his friend and author of the
book “5 lines of code”, Christian Clausen,
and they will talk about refactoring.
What is and how to be wonderful at it.
I’ll be there, helping out.
Want to join us? You can register here!
This week I put a lot of focus on finishing my new book about speaking.
“The Little Book of Speaking Talents”
The content is done.
With the help of a few friends, I’m looking over to polish things a bit.
Are you using public speaking as a way to improve your career?
Does it feature in your plans to do it more and better?
Maybe you want to start doing it?
While my new book gets the last touches…
How about taking a look at my Low Hanging Talks e-book?
(get it here).
It features 4 places and 5 types of presentations that you can try out today!
(Download this e-book to be the first to know
when the Little Book of Speaking Talents comes out!)
This week, dare to simplify.
Dare to remove instead of adding.
Dare to speak clearly instead of fancy.
Dare to refactor legacy code instead of creating legacy code.
Dare to focus.
Hope you enjoyed those tips! Let me know what you need to get your career moving!
Cheers,
Bruno.