Background

My computer setup is a MacOS computer that ssh’s into a linux computer, where I do my development. Best of both worlds. I’m in the middle of tricking out my devenv before I start a new job and this post is about one of the scripts I’ve written.

The Script

I’ve been writing code for 20 years and one of the interesting things I’ve learned about the craft is that I can write bad code when I’m not centered emotionally. I used to rely on emotions like anger and it’s various colors to help me focus, so much so that I would subconsciously look for things to make move me into that place emotionally to help me focus. Maybe at some point I needed that extra focus, and that’s the technique I embedded within myself to get there. “I’ll show you!”, by doing a great job?

I can speak to the self that first started doing this. For a young programmer, the frustrations can pile up. The squeeze is on. The technology is difficult and the people asking you to program things don’t understand how to set you up for success. This is the easy story to tell myself anyways.

The truth is more like, I lacked self-confidence, I didn’t like myself at times, and I started to hang a lot of self worth on being clever enough and smart enough to write software. And when you’re getting squeezed by the tech and the people, well, it becomes a battle for yourself in some ways. Defense mechanisms are engaged. Emotions are heightened. My fingers start flying. Negative tension and the resulting communication start to wear on both myself and my working relationships.

I don’t know if I’m past this. I do know that I can recognize these aspects of myself. I do have the capability to not have my feelings dictated by the squeeze. I’m confident enough to feel how I want to feel when I remember that I have this capability and confidence. But I need a little help remembering.

When I ssh into my linux machine I see the motd banner. Message Of The Day. I’ve modified the motd to include helpful reminders for each day of the week, like, “Are you centered?” and “Are you balanced?”.

Figuring out how to edit your motd is an exercise I leave to the reader.