Getting Too Absorbed in Your Side Projects

Posted on March 14, 2019  |   2 minutes  | Dave Bennett  | Life

When I start working on a side project, I fall into a really bad habit of getting too absorbed in it. The second I get home from work, I will start coding and testing for hours until I have to force myself to go to bed with only six hours of sleep at best. All the while, my laundry starts to pile up, my kitchen doesn’t get cleaned, and my social contacts get neglected from any meaningful conversation. [Read More]
thoughts  side projects  focus 

Happiness and Anticipation

Posted on March 9, 2019  |   1 minutes  | Dave Bennett  | Life

I am beginning to see the relationship between happiness, anticipation and dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for reward-driven behavior and pleasure seeking. (Psychology Today). When we get a hit of dopamine, we feel good! Anticipation is the simple act of looking forward; usually to a pleasurable experience but it could also be negative. In my previous post about Proven Ways to be Happy Again, I mentioned this thing called hedonic adaptation. [Read More]
happiness  self improvement  biology  psychology  thoughts 

Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Happy Again

Posted on March 6, 2019  |   5 minutes  | Dave Bennett  | Life

During the winter holidays (peek depression season), I took a free online course called The Science of Well-Being offered by Yale University. It was actually recommended in a HackerNews comment that I came across in a thread about different MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) to take. Other than my obsession with self help porn, I took this course because I wanted to learn on how to be happy again with life. [Read More]
happiness  summary  self improvement 

Ebooks are not social

Posted on March 3, 2019  |   1 minutes  | Dave Bennett  | Life

If you are trying to be more social, consider investing in traditional books over EBooks. I know this sounds crazy, and no, Amazon did not pay me to say this. Ebooks are missing an important aspect that we have always took for granted in traditional book. There is no easily visible cover! This means people have no idea on what you’re reading. With traditional books, its out in the open for everyone to see. [Read More]
ebooks 

My Computer Science Degree Was Not Worth the Cost

Posted on September 7, 2018  |   2 minutes  | dave  | Life

I am a 2018 college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. I recently got hired for my first full-time software developer job. As any new graduate, I was eager to go to work and put this shiny new degree to good use. After just a few weeks on the job, I had a horrible realization. Four years of undergrad and \$80K taught me nothing of value for today’s job market. [Read More]
computer science  degree