Saving the best for what matters most


I had recently started learning Android programming in a bid to refresh my programming skills as well as to stay relevant. Vogella provides some very good Android tutorials for free or you can opt for their professional Android development course.

One of the components I started with was to program a simple ListFragment. Learning and programming in my spare time at the end of the day, I encountered a NullPointerException during the course of development which I could not figure out after a week of troubleshooting. (This was before I learnt to use the debugger.)

So one fine evening, I decided to look at the code again before dinner and television got in the way. Lo and behold there it was - my logic error staring at me right in the face. What I missed after a week of troubleshooting was finally found, in 10 short minutes.

On hindsight, it was probably because I had prioritized coding over other distractions such as television and Facebook surfing that I was able to re-look at my codes with fresh eyes, before my brain got tired at the end of the day. We all have limitations - limited time, limited energy, limited resources. If we were to squander it away on the less important things, we will not have enough for what is important.

So what is important to you? Start prioritizing it over the other 'distractions' in your life, today and every day before your time, energy, or resources is depleted on other pursuits.

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