Tao Te Ching, Verse IX: Leave Some Space Empty

Tao Te Ching, Verse IX: Leave Some Space Empty

As I write this I feel completely exhausted. I've been ill for a week. I have some home stuff that I need to do and I urgently need to do it. Maybe I shouldn't have spent the whole weekend doing Python.

Whoops.

But I was ill and so the blogging was easier to do.

I think it's stopped raining so I should run to the shops. But anyway here I am so nevermind. I should eat too before going shopping anyway.

Blogging and content creating can feel like screaming into a void

Sometimes I wonder. Who is reading? Is anybody reading? On LinkedIn I get comparatively few likes - it's completely unpredictable - but it seems like so many people read. Like people stop me.

I have been stopped by strangers who read my posts. 

Or people who have never reacted go "Oh my god I love your posts I read them all." Anyway I don't do it for that. I do it for the love of software engineering.

If my journey means anything to you or if you're watching in any way I'd love to know.

But that's not why I do it. I do it for the love of God. I do it for the love of Software Engineering.

Better stop short than fill to the brim

One of my fave alternative translations of this is "filling to fullness is not as good as stopping at the right moment."

So we implemented a 6 pm finish for this.

Admittedly I'm still doing this.

But no more work or courses after 6.

After next week I'll experiment and see how much I can handle after work; maybe an hour of Python is okay.

By taking the evening off today

  • I could reflect on the problem I'd solved today
  • I could reflect on how I could reflect on it further - I want to review it tomorrow for practise
  • I could think about the guidelines my manager set me yesterday better
  • I could think about what are the bigger questions that I have to be asking myself as a software engineer
  • I could think about how do turn product features into technical requirements and deliver and design those solutions... 💖
Thank you.

pictures of dark green code for a background. bright neon green and pink text reads: take the evening off

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu - chapter 9


Better stop short than fill to the brim.
Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Claim wealth and titles, and disaster will follow.
Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.


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