Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) 30th US President
Programming Triggers
When programming, what are some of your triggers? What causes a disproportionate emotional response?
Firstly, most of my programming has been solo. In my experience, many of my triggers come from other people. I have also taught programming. The teacher-student relationship is different in that it is also a power relationship. From an educational perspective, the main trigger would be students who do not make an effort to write programs and to learn.
Where I’m the programmer, working alone, I invest a lot of myself in my work. I get annoyed when something I have been working on does not run properly. Also, it irritates me when there are parts of a program that I do not understand.
I now realise that when I start the bootcamp, I will be working closely with others. As with the kitchen/restaurant analogy for the bootcamp experience, in the kitchen there needs to be a lot of give and take. The experience of reading and reflecting on Search Inside Yourself will make me more aware of my triggers and how I can better respond to them.
The Siberian North Railroad
How did you find the Siberian North Railroad exercise (Stop, Breathe, Notice, Reflect, Respond)?
The Siberian North Railroad exercise asks you to bring to mind an unhappy event or an experience in which you were triggered. For me, this happened earlier this year. A number of my friends joke about me being a teacher and the excessive holidays we have to endure. I had spent the entire mid-year break (two weeks) writing subject reports. I had been at school nearly every day of the break. I was desperately in need of the holiday, but it had not eventuated. When a friend made a crack about the school holidays, I reacted instinctively to this trigger and said some things that offended my friend and his wife. It was several months before I saw them again and was able to apologise.
Believe it or not, I still have or had some residual emotion from this experience. The exercise helped me to let that go. In future, I have to notice when I am being triggered and to respond mindfully, not instinctively: with a fight or flight reaction.
