Overview
This is my reading notes from the book "Soft Skills: A Guide to Survival Beyond Code" , mixed with some insights, recorded as a bit of my life , and also reminded me how to go in the future, I believe that to others Also useful.
Burnout
At work, we all get to a state where we're uninterested, low motivation, physically and mentally exhausted, progressing unusually slow, or appearing to be making no progress at all. The harder we work and the more productive we become, the less pleasure we experience from it.
Most of the time, this burnout is completely natural, and it's not a serious problem. In fact, most of us will eventually hit a wall no matter how hard we try—when our initial interests and motivations wear off, we don’t have enough accomplishments to convince ourselves to get them back.
This is when we need to cross that wall and remind ourselves that there is something good waiting for us at the end . It's not enough to do that, we also need to create a set of rules for ourselves to keep us going . For example, set a schedule and stick to it.
Any action is better than no action
Any action is often better than no action, especially when you have been stuck in an unpleasant situation for a long time. If this was a mistake, at least you learned something. This way it is no longer a bug. If you still choose to stagnate, you won't learn anything.
In a programmer's career, nothing is more deadly to productivity than inaction .
What's the worst that can happen? If you're struggling when it's time to make a decision, you should always ask yourself this question. Most of the time, the answer to this question is that you find yourself wrong and take other actions.
Often, doing nothing is like sitting in a parked car and turning the steering wheel. Have you ever turned the steering wheel of a parked car? It's not easy. But it's much easier to turn the steering wheel when the car is up and running.
self marketing
Why do some bands only play in small bars, while others are able to tour the world? Is there such a big difference in strength? The answer is that the difference in strength is not that big at all, the real difference between them is nothing more than marketing. The better you are at marketing, the more your talent will shine through , which is why learning marketing skills is crucial for software developers .
The problem is that even though we're all marketing ourselves, most of us aren't doing it consciously. We surrender opportunities and let others and circumstances define us. Don't think the programmer field is any different. You may be the most talented programmer in the world, but if no one knows you exist, you are nothing but a cloud .
create value for others
The key to self-marketing is getting people to like you and want to work with you . In order to do that, you have to provide them with value . If you continue to improve yourself without bringing value to others, you won't get very far, because everyone will leave you.
Don't try to be a successful person, but try to be a worthwhile person. If you can help enough people get what they want, you'll get what you want.
People only care about themselves. No one wants to hear your success story or why they want to help you succeed, but they definitely want to hear how you can help them succeed. So, the basic way to make any self-marketing effort work is to help others succeed.
It turns out that the most creative people are also the most helpful.
How to create value for others:
- You have to explore what other people are interested in , look at the essence through phenomena, and find ways to provide value.
- You want to provide real value to others for free , because free content is easier to share than paid content.
- Spread your value across interactive media . For example, speaking, there is nothing more exciting than going to the podium to give a speech. This way of directly communicating with the audience face to face and getting feedback directly has a special magic that cannot be compared with other methods.
select a market segment
You have to think hard about what value you can offer. What unique qualities do you have ? What can people expect from you? Can you simply make others understand what you do? What unique value can you bring?
overcome embarrassment
Many times in self-marketing, we feel this way— looking like a fool .
If you look like a fool, what 's the worst case scenario ? And when it's all over, no one will remember that.
Be prepared to face criticism, but don't be afraid. There will always be people who don't like what you say or disagree with you. So what? In the world of the internet, everyone has the right to express their opinions, so don't let that blow you away.
Michael Jordan said: In my career, I missed more than 9,000 shots and lost nearly 300 games. I would have had 26 kills and missed the pitch. I have failed time and time again and that's why I was able to succeed.