Programmers need to start meditating now

For over 20 years, the meditative focus of programming has been one of the best parts of my job.

Every week I’d spend countless hours in a flow state, which quiets the default mode network. The DMN is responsible for daydreaming/reflection but also rumination/worrying, so quieting it settles your mind. If I didn’t manage to write code for a week, I’d start to notice it.

Now it’s context switching all day

I’m clearly much more productive now. I’m doing five things at once very effectively, switching between multiple agent sessions from morning to night. After working full-time like this for ~8 months, one thing I’m sure of is that this way of working involves much less time spent in a flow state.