{"id":1010,"date":"2012-11-20T15:22:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T15:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.efrontlearning.net\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2012-11-20T15:23:01","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T15:23:01","slug":"zen-in-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/zen-in-software.html","title":{"rendered":"Zen in Software"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>The Zen philosophy asserts that inner peace and enlightenment can be attained through self-contemplation and meditation rather than devotion, faith and belief.<\/p>\n

Life is more often than not too fast, complicated and cluttered. Simplify and you\u2019ll be on the right track\u00a0to inner peace and happiness. This is the foundation\u00a0of Zen and perhaps strangely, can lead to better software as well.<\/p>\n

Slow down, take a deep breath and try to do nothing for a half an hour. Can you even do this? If you can\u2019t, you need to work on it. Inner peace is just not possible if you’re stressed!<\/p>\n

Below you will find the 10 basics steps that will lead you to Zen.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Slow down, take it easy<\/li>\n
  2. Breathe right; deep into your diaphragm<\/li>\n
  3. Less materialism, more spiritualism; get rid of the clutter and live simply<\/li>\n
  4. Less TV, more doing; reading, writing, singing or dancing<\/li>\n
  5. Less work, more play (perhaps the hardest step of all)<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t worry about things you can\u2019t change or the future; live more in the here and now<\/li>\n
  7. Less effort, more focus; do what is needed to be done, not what you feel like doing<\/li>\n
  8. Less driving; do more walking, jogging or cycling<\/li>\n
  9. Less intake, more output; less consuming, more creating, inventing and doing<\/li>\n
  10. Eat right; less garbage more nourishment<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the most basic terms, Zen is about keeping a balance \u2013 between work and personal life, day and night, essence and clutter, thoughts and actions, yin and yang.<\/p>\n

    This short list rings all the right bells even when talking about creating better software. Coding is a bit of art \u2013 no art can be done right if you always run behind deadlines, or if you work endless nights and days. This extra effort may seem important for our perfectionist society but in essence does not lead to a better product. Even worse, it can lead to less happy – and less productive –\u00a0people.<\/p>\n

    However, don\u2019t think that Zen means work less; it means work better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Eating well, having a well rounded life and understanding what should be done now and what should be left for tomorrow are important. \u201cGetting rid of the clutter\u201d is also essential for a good programmer. From personal experience, well-rounded individuals tend to be better programmers as well. Even when they don\u2019t shine\u00a0in core programming, they are team players, they can support people and they can document software or make a presentation if and when needed. Not surprisingly, these\u00a0are the core qualities of a winning team….\u00a0 and a better product at the end of the process!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Zen philosophy asserts that inner peace and enlightenment can be attained through self-contemplation and meditation rather than devotion, faith and belief. Life is more often than not too fast, complicated and cluttered. Simplify and you\u2019ll be on the right track\u00a0to inner peace and happiness. This is the foundation\u00a0of Zen and perhaps strangely, can lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-practices","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nZen in Software - eFront Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/zen-in-software.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zen in Software\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Zen philosophy asserts that inner peace and enlightenment can be attained through self-contemplation and meditation rather than devotion, faith and belief. 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