The Operating System of You
summary
Argues that daily habits — the “firmware” — explain big performance gaps and gives concrete fixes: prioritize sleep and ergonomics (RSI can pause careers for months to years; vertical mice ~$90 and ergonomic keyboards help), exercise 3–4×/week (Stack Overflow regression shows a 2–3% salary bump), use writing + spaced repetition as external memory, adopt a GTD-style inbox and Eisenhower prioritization for scheduling, automate sleep cues (router off at 10pm), and consider voice coding (Talon) to avoid repetitive strain. Teams show ~3× variance in throughput; changes are practical and tested.
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chapters (25)
- 0:00Intro
- 2:20Developer Career variation
- 4:10Not to mention team* performance....
- 5:58Tactics, Strategies, Principles
- 10:50Sleep
- 13:38Ergonomics - 4 step checklist
- 14:24Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
- 17:06Basic RSI fixes
- 19:12Exercise and Eating
- 21:22Exercise & Income
- 25:03Storage (Memory)
- 26:03Writing for Developers
- 28:14Pick Up What They Put Down
- 29:05Networking: Market Yourself
- 31:47Virtualization = Empathy
- 36:16Scheduler
- 36:57GTD for Email?
- 37:45Scheduling Algorithms
- 38:24Eisenhower Matrix
- 41:34The Ghost in the Machine
- 42:03The System Process
- 42:14When your System Process Dies
- 45:56Emotions
- 47:13"Good Enough" Is better than
- 49:23The Operating System of You
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