Shrek Reflection and Productivity Techniques for Coders

Unit 7 — Used to; Comparisons as...as

Reflections on Shrek

I didn't use to like animated movies, but after I saw Shrek, I became a fan. It's one of my favorite movies ever. The story is interesting from beginning to end. If you haven't seen it, it's about an ogre named Shrek who used to live alone in a swamp. One day, his peace is interrupted when a group of fairy-tale characters, who used to live in their own kingdom, invade his home because they were expelled by the evil Lord Farquaad. To get his peace back, Shrek agrees to rescue Princess Fiona, who is trapped in a tower guarded by a dragon, so Farquaad can marry her. Shrek and his new friend, the funny Donkey, have many adventures along the way.

Shrek is as dramatic as a live-action film, and Shrek and Fiona experience the same emotions as ordinary people. Their voices are perfect, especially Mike Myers as Shrek and Eddie Murphy as Donkey. The story has many jokes for adults, so it's fun for the whole family. The animation is not as modern as that in current films — animation technology has improved a lot since 2001 — but it will always be a great movie.

Trying Naomi's Productivity Technique

After I heard this podcast, I knew I had to try Naomi's technique. I don't have many problems with emails, but I have had a lot of programming work. Up to now, I have had a lot of trouble managing all the coding tasks for my different projects. To be honest, sometimes I haven't coded as much as I should because I have been tired, busy, or had something better to do. I have always felt worried and stressed about it.

So I sat down and made a to-do list. Even that was a little frightening. I put all the tasks into two groups: short tasks (that I could do in less than five minutes) and long tasks. I immediately started with a few short tasks — I fixed some small bugs, cleaned up my code, and did things like that. I felt much happier right away. I had so much energy that I worked on one of my "long tasks" afterward — I have been writing a function for my project that's due next week. So far, this has been working well! I have been feeling more positive about what's on my to-do list. From now on, I am going to try to code a little every day, and I'll probably finish my project early next week. If you have been stressed about organization, definitely try Naomi's plan!

Task Groups

• Short tasks — tasks under five minutes (fix small bugs, clean up code, small adjustments)
• Long tasks — larger items that require more focused time (for example, writing the function for the upcoming project)