How to Stay Productive During the Pandemic
By: Julius Uy
Tags: Life Lessons, Technology, Life, Health, Mental Health

This paragraph ought to be one of those things most of us just skip because the meat of the article is right down there. So instead of me wasting my time and yours to read through a wall of unproductive text, let’s dive into it.

1. Expand Your Network with People Overseas

Back in the pre-pandemic days, we tend to spend time with strangers at networking events. Now that large in-person gatherings remains untenable for the medium term, take this opportunity to join free (and paid) events online. For example, I joined Plato earlier this year to give back to the community. Plato is an online mentoring platform for Software Engineering Leaders (although now it’s expanding to Product Leaders as well). With Plato, I had the chance to talk to people from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, USA, and so forth and we exchange experiences and leadership nuggets.

Plato also has Plato Circles where a small group of engineering leaders can share their thoughts on a certain subject matter and cross-mentor each other. Having the opportunity to learn and chat with people facing very similar issues helps in maintaining one’s mental health and sharpening one’s toolkit in the field of engineering leadership.

2. Learn a New Skill

There was a time when people thought that the advent of automation will cause us to work less. To some extent, this is true. People now work far less hours than ever. Yet it is also true that work is becoming more and more complex that working hours are becoming less predictive of productivity at work. During this pandemic when most of us are at home, it would be nice to block off some time (and location if necessary) to learn a skill or two. For example, various co-working spaces charge a discounted sum to use their premises. One can consider using weekends-only subscriptions for a time of quiet and self-paced learning.

I have been a mobile software engineer for most of the last decade of my career. This meant I am not as well versed with infrastructure, databases, and web technologies as I would like to be. Yet now, I am put in a strange position to lead an engineering team with barely a need for mobile technology (and our mobile app is written in React Native, which of course is anathema to Kotlin and Swift purists.)

Udemy and Coursera offers a number of interesting courses for one to learn things beyond their immediate purview. In my case, I spent a few weeks studying AWS, Data Warehousing, Application Security, Product Management, and a couple of other things. I’ve also read more books this year than previous years ranging from negotiations, stock investing, design, psychology, software engineering (of course), organizational leadership, and so forth. To be clear, this is not to say that I’m putting myself on a pedestal. This is simply to share what I did over the past few months. In essence, try to learn something that would be useful for you. If you’re in Product Management, maybe learn some basic SQL. If you’re in Finance, maybe learn a bit of Software Engineering to understand why Software Engineers keep complaining about tech debt. Always be learning!

3. Live Healthier

Singapore was put on lockdown from April to June due to increasing number of COVID-19 cases. With productivity dampened, This could be a good opportunity to stop putting off those health improvement plans. One of the smartest marketing campaign Apple had was Think Different. When the crowd is walking one way, stop and think whether walking the other way helps you get ahead in the long term.

Different people have different virtues. I am always of the opinion that our choices have consequences. The reward for procrastination is the present and we pay for it in the future. On the other hand, The reward for hard work is the future and we pay it with the present.

When I last did my health check, the doctor said I was 10kg above my weight limit. Since a lot of things I can do before the pandemic swept the world is no longer feasible, I decided to give myself one year to drop 15 kgs which will put me in a healthy spot with much room to move should I want to lose more or gain back what I lost. As of writing, I’ve shed 13 kgs in total since April. I didn’t fast. I ate whatever I want. I just decided to plan my nutrition intake and added exercise. (I was a couch potato for the most part of my life)

The trick is to set a long term goal and enjoy the short term in light of the long term. If you’re thinking of losing weight, set a realistic goal, one that you will be comfortable with. For example, set a goal to lose 0.5 kgs a month. Also, don’t monitor your weight everyday. You’ll gain and you’ll lose because of your food intake. Look at your weight week on week and stick to your nutrition plan. Also, contrary to what other people might tell you, do not fast. I’ll tell you why. The moment you starve yourself, you will want back that which you starved yourself of. When that happens, you’ll put in more weight than you did before you lose them. The goal is to enjoy the small, almost unnoticeable improvements over time. Eat healthy and tasty food. It’s a diet change, not a fast. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

4. Have Fun in your Zoom Meetings

Working from home relieved us from one very important social interaction: water cooler conversations. Those conversations help establish rapport and generate ideas. Of course, lunch conversations fall under the same vein. That’s if you eat with your team. One would be surprised how much people in positions of leadership don’t eat with their team. What’s not surprising is that most people in positions of leadership are not considered as part of the “in-group” of their team.

Here’s a trick. Have fun in your meetings. Joke around. Laugh. Enjoy the time with your team. Now one might think this is just one of those self-help ramblings. Not so. Everyone is susceptible to Pavlovian Conditioning. It’s basically the phenomenon that people associate non-related things with a stimulus. Throughout your life, think about the times you laugh. Start with say, when you’re 3 years old all the way until today. What were you doing while you were laughing?

One of those things would be that you’re laughing because you’re playing with people dear to you, such as your parents, siblings, or friends. Now when you make your team laugh, you’re subconsciously rehashing those fond memories when they laugh. It then creates rapport. Again, this is Pavlovian Conditioning. It’s irresistible even if they know you’re doing it to them.

With that rapport, people will start to like you and consider you in their “in-group.” The deeper you get into a person’s in-group, the more productive your interaction is likely to be. This has been proven time and again across multiple research such as that of Alexander Haslam’s in his book.

Have fun. That’ll neutralize the productivity dip fostered by less in-person interaction. Of course, now that you know this trick, do not use it for ill. People with much experience in compliance professions such as sales know this all too well.

5. Give Back to the Community

A lot of research has shown that the pursuit for money, fame, power, and glory does not provide lasting happiness. Jack Higgins, author of The Eagle Has Landed in the later years of his life was asked, “What was one lesson you learned which you wished you’d learn sooner?” He replied, “that when you get to the top, there is nothing there.” Of course, those who believe in God (such as myself) would argue that bliss is found in investing in eternity. But what if you haven’t found yourself in that soul searching spiritual journey?

Research has shown that the pinnacle of happiness is found in helping others. Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and several others noted very similar realizations in their later years. Now, a question must be asked. Who’s more successful? Jeff Bezos or Mother Teresa? Take a long pause there and think about it. Who lived a more meaningful life?

During this period of pandemic, more and more people are reporting issues on mental health. In Japan, the amount of suicides this year has exceeded the previous years. Think about a cause that you believe in and give back. For example, in tech, ageism is a very real thing. The tech industry overvalues experience and undervalues strategic and intellectual flexibility. Many people are talking about underrepresentation of certain tribes of people.¹ Think about helping out on things that hardly anyone is representing for. How do we make tech accessible for everyone, for example, even those in their fortys thinking of becoming a software engineer? How do we create a safe environment where toxic behaviors are frowned upon? How do we discourage tribalistic me vs. you behavior in the industry?

I have been very fortunate to have a very low score in neuroticism, which is a key predictor of depression. Software Engineering Leadership is a very lonely role. The higher you go, the more lonely it becomes. I recently had a Software Engineer in senior leadership position in another company tell me that when talking with the senior leadership, he’s the only technical person and hence is unable to convince the team that their company is in flames because of misappropriated investments and not because his team is not performing. Think about helping other people out. Start a small group for like-minded individuals for engineering leaders. Talk about problems in your organizations and how to fix them. At Google Developer Group Singpaore, it is not surprising in hindsight that our most famous events are those concerning matters of personal development. Help people out. Be a force of good to the world.

See you in 2021!

While air travel will remain restrictive for the most part of H1 next year, I do hope H2 will start to see borders open up. Stay productive, have fun, and learn from the ride!

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¹ I shall not venture further into those as that’ll simply open up a can of worms.