How to have more fun programming (especially if it's frustrating right now)
Original email from 25 Apr, 2025
I slowly hold my breath and get ready to aim. I only have one last shot left...
*Whoosh*
The arrow hits the board a little too far to the right of the target.
Aww drat. That was my fifth arrow. I put the bow down.
"You're out of shots! Hope you had a wonderful time!" the kind blue-robed woman said with a smile.
I turn back to Rebekka, who has a sheepish smile on her face.
"Guess who got all that on camera! 😄"
This happened last Sunday, on Easter. We went to a small medieval fair where I got to shoot a bow and arrow for the first time.
Being able to wield a bow and arrow was probably a highlight of the fair. It was hosted in a very old but beautiful church (which was now a museum). There were small dnd tables you could sit down to play in, live "ye-olden" rock bands and singers, and small little "medieval themed" shops all around. And we ended that day by buying some nice big cookies and sweets.
Notice the bolded words I wrote in the last paragraph? I did that for one simple reason.
Memories of events are measured by their "peak" and their end.
This is something I learned from this Veritasium episode a while back:
We'll call the peak "the moments of an experience that are the most joyful, funny, painful, saddest, or scary". They tend to be the part of that experience that defines your memory of that moment.
The end is... well, the end of the experience before you switch to another activity.
When we remember an activity of any kind, our brains don't fully record the whole experience. It tends to overvalue and better record the absolute best (or worst) part of the activity and the ending.
Think of when you're watching a series or a movie. Which one was your favorite? Think about how it ended.
Now, think about the movie or series that had the WORST ending. Would you watch it again? And was it Game of Thrones? 👀
The same goes for our experiences. And, well, since this is a Frontend newsletter, it only makes sense to talk about programming.
What's your most memorable moment programming?
For me, it's never been the normal work. Adding a paragraph or matching a design with CSS never stands out. It's usually the really hard problems. The ones you stay hours thinking about and debugging. The ones that take days or even weeks to understand and solve in your team. But you know why you remember those the most?
Because those types of problems always end with a great big "AH-HA!" moment. The peak AND the end are one and the same.
It's the adrenaline of figuring it out, having things *click*, the relief of not having to think so hard anymore. That feeling is what many programmers live for.
So, now knowing what you know... how can you make programming more fun?
If you're finding certain aspects of programming annoying (or just getting yourself to sit down and code), maybe use this to your advantage.
Maybe start with something easy to get warmed up, do the hard problem that you want to solve, and before you finish, eat a piece of candy and listen to some music you like. Or finish up with an easy problem that makes you still feel like you got this.
Because you do.
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend 🙂