Attending to Your Well-Being

Practice · Chapter 17

Well-being is part of being great

• A key aspect of being a better architect has nothing to do with technical skills.
• Care for yourself mentally and physically — enough rest, exercise, healthy food — to perform at your best.
• Balance your life; do not over-focus on work. Have fun, enjoy personal life, and take breaks and vacations to recharge.

Being proud of your work

• Software work is fun, rewarding, stressful, and challenging — not always easy, but enjoyable.
• Take pride in your accomplishments: few people get to build software, and software can make a positive difference — easing jobs, saving time, adding joy.
• Satisfaction comes from knowing others benefit from and appreciate your work. If you are not proud of your work, figure out what to change.

Citations

• Software Architect’s Handbook (Packt, 2018), Ch.17 “Attending to your well-being” (incl. “Being proud of your work”), pp. 1185-1186.