Articles by thaianhduc

Mindset

In 2022, I gave a presentation in my company to share about my experience. It is about building affective teams, producing high-quality outcomes.

As anything else in life, contexts matter. It works for me, might not work for you. We all struggle in our own ways. The key is to struggle well.

Everything starts with the mindset. Here are a few from my experience.

Changes are inevitable. Anticipate them, design to deal with them

Customers change their mind. They want different behaviors, different features. Whenever you start a project, a feature, a piece of code, keep that in mind. Just smile and say "Not a problem!" when they appear.

The key point is "design to deal with them." You cannot deal with changes from your wishes.

Ready to rework, to throw your beloved code away. You do not provide code, you provide solutions

Developers tend to treat their code as their babies. Code is simply text, a tool to solve problems. If it is not right, not solve the problem effectively, throw it away and write new one.

But that is a waste of time, of effort? Oh, then think carefully before you code next time. I usually do not accept any explanation if the code does not do the right things and do them right. Less code is better than more code.

Extreme Ownership: You own everything

As a team, we own the outcome. Everything. There is no such thing as "I am only responsible for backend, frontend, or QA." If you do not understand what "Extreme Ownership" means, ask Google. The right book, the right guy will appear at the top.

Win the war not the games

The war is the product in production. The games are sprints, incremental deliveries, phases, … all intermediate results during the development. Every sprint is a success, the team killed all the backlog items, PO/PM were happy. Boom, the system dies in production after a few days.

Every step, every decision must have "win the war" in mind, AKA production-ready mindset.

When something does not work, simplify/remove processes, and abstractions, NOT create more

Ask "what prevent us from delivery?" Usually, you will find some rocks standing in your way. Find and remove them.

I practice them in leading team, writing code, design systems.

Vacation vs. Training

Vacation vs. Training. What are the similarities and differences? Breaking them down into stages, they operate similarly but with different perceptions.

Effort and Reward. Dopamine pathway.

People do not see the "effort" part of the vacation. It is the accumulation of

  • Working hard to save money for it, preparing for the job before leaving
  • Planning for the trip
  • Headache, unpleasant experiences with the traffic, services, delay
  • Kids, packaging
  • A few other hundred things

The reward is the perception of a pleasant and relaxed destination. Whether that is a resort, a beach, a mountain, or whatever that is. After all the hustle to get there, you feel relaxed and rewarded.

Training. Well, the same thing. The reward is after training sessions. You get stronger and faster. Always have a better feeling and a better mood.

And what are the differences? The perception and the recognition of people are different. Vacations, people see the reward yet ignore the effort. Trainings, the opposite; people know the effort yet ignore the reward.

How about the aftermath? Vacations usually come with a dopamine crash. I have seen many people feeling tired on the way home. They are struggling to accept that vacation is over and tomorrow is work. Training? No, there is no dopamine crash. The effect is there within you, lasting for days.

Vacation and training are excellent activities. If we depend on vacation to balance our life, the ratio is too small (think how many vacations you can take in a year?). However, if we depend on training, we can do it daily, 100% ratio guaranteed.

Irony

At work, want to go on vacation
On vacation, work, answering emails, social media
While working, checking the phone, social media
While driving, listening to music
When not having a gym, wish to have a gym to start exercise
When having a gym (in hourse or shared in condo), wish to have a part to run around
While having breakfast, lunch, dinner, checking phone, social media
Gathering in a coffeeshop, everyone checks their own phone
Working from home, wish to be in the office to improve communication, team building
When in the office, nobody talks, everything is done via chat, digital tools
Sleepy, tire, want to sleep, be on bed, and then checking phone with social media
While drinking beer/wine/alcohol, talking about being healthy
.
.
.

We simply cannot focus on the ONE thing we are doing/having.

Well, that is how it works I guess. What if I practice to pay attention to the one thing I am doing, whatever it is. The irony is that I was thinking about the irony list while I was walking down the street to buy a bottle of coconut water. Irony!

Training Protocols

I have accomplished a few things in 2022 regarding physical training. I need to improve my overall health and wellbeing. Because I am entering my 40th soon. I need to be well-prepared for the next life period both physical and mental health.

My starting line is:

  • Cannot run 5K without fatigue and muscles soreness
  • Hardly swing 8K kettlebell

There is no problem with them at all. However, I did not feel I was strong, energized during the day.

At the end of 2022:

  • Finish a full marathon strong in five hours (Not a fast run but ok)
  • 32K kettlebell swing, 10X10, 100 reps in total
  • Feel stronger, resting heart rate less than 50 RPM
  • Essential blood test numbers are good

Ok so? What does it mean? In retrospective, It means a ton to me

  • Trust the process. Trust the training
  • Do the work (train) and adjust along the way. Mine body gives me instant feedback
  • Patience. Measure a progress in months, usually 3-6 months
  • Do your own research. Read books about the subjects you want to master

I DO THE WORK AND I GAIN CONFIDENT. Whatever I got are the sideeffects (consequences) of WORKING/TRAINING.

Goal

Build the habits, learn skills that allow me to train as long as I am alive.

I do not set a goal of "being healthy." For many people, it is actual a wish that never comes true. In my mind, "being healthy" is the consequence of training properly.

Objectives

To move toward that goal (and never finish/accomplish), I need to dig deeper into the physical training. The information out there is overwhelming. There are millions of good guys trying to teach you how to train, how to have six packs, loose weight, …

I need good objectives to filter the signals from the noises.

Here they are:

  • Simple. If it is not simple, it will not last.
  • Train anywhere, anytime with minimal or none tools. If it depends on the gym, advanced technology equipements, it will not last.
  • Short amount of time, 30 minutes should be good enough. Excepts for the running, it might be hours.

Focus Areas

I am not interested in body building or becoming an athlete. I train to be ready for whatever life offers me. That requires:

  • Endurance
  • Strength
  • Nutrition (Food) and hydration

Endurance Training

There are some types of endurance. I use running to improve my endurance. I thought I just put on my shoes and ran. Well, I could but not too long and soon fatigue, injuries came.

I read a couple of books and listened to podcasts. I highly recommend the POSE method, by Dr. Romanov The Running Revolution (The link directly to Amazon, no affiliate).

Strength Training

Kettlebell training with books from StrongFirst founder Pavel Tsatsouline. Here are books I read (Links directly to Amazon, no affiliate)

Nutrition (Food) and Hydration

I need to learn how to fuel my machine. There is no single answer to this question. However, there are things that work for me (at lease so far)

It does not mean vegan. I eat all kinds of food with awareness. It is a journey with fun.

Hydration – Embrace the salt

2023

2023 will be fun. I am on the right direction. A few things I will focus on

  • Faster. Slowly run faster
  • More weight. Strength training is forever
  • Breathing technique

Ok cool, so far so good. Now get back to the training. Wake up at 5AM and train.

Physical Training Books

Books that help me becoming physically better, stronger. Training is good. Traing with the knowledge is better.

Kettlebell Simple & Sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline

I started my strength training journey with that amazing book. I read it many times to ensure that I understand the concept and skills correctly. During the training, I check again. Sometimes, I realized that I missed a minor point. However, that "minor" is a major part in the training. Be sure to read it word by word.

You will need a set of kettlebells. I have 8kg, 16kg, 24kg, and 32kg. The 40kg will come soon.

Power Speed Endurance by Brian Mackenzie

I read the Running as a Skill and Strength as a Skill sections. There are Swimming and Cycling. However, I do not train them. I realized that I was running with a poor technique.

Becoming a Supple Leopard by Dr. Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza

It is an eye opening for me. It teaches me how to move correctly, how to perform movement safely. The training is transformative, meaning that it is applied in daily activities. We get hurt and weak because of, mainly, our poor mechanic movement. We do not know how to walk, sit, pick up somethings, … correctly.

The book explains everything in detail. And it has everything you need to know to train, to improve your physical being.