This is something that’s been on my mind regarding a LOT of things. It probably came about in the past year or so, regarding coding-related “opportunities”. But I think it carries over into a lot of other areas too.

SYOP: Set Your Own Pace

As I’ve been making this career transition into software engineering, there have been times where I’ll get exposed to this thing I could try or that thing I could work on or this other code challenge or hackathon I could take part in. And while those are all great, at some point, you can’t chase every opportunity that presents itself to you. You can’t just react to all the stimuli around you.

You have to Set Your Own Pace.

In the end, only you know what works for you, how much time and energy you have, and what you want to spend it on or invest it in. But the world will ALWAYS have alternatives for you to pursue. And some of them will look VERY much like things you SHOULD do. But it’s important that YOU be the one who drives your life and career, not the Winds of Fate™.

SYOP isn’t about being lazy. It’s about being YOU. If you want to be ambitious and pursue LOTS of things, that’s fine. Just make sure they’re the things YOU choose to pursue. If you want to focus your time and energy on a smaller number of things that are of meaning to you, don’t let “the world” push you into thinking you need to do more. Do YOU. And if that means some Self-Care Sprints, so be it.

Set Your Own Pace.