If you’re like me, you usually go to work, sit on your butt for at least 8 hours, staring at a computer screen all day. Then, you come home and sit on your butt and watch tv ’til you pass out. I used to convince myself that this was normal for a programmer, because what else can I do besides stare at a computer screen all day (by the way, even though I use two flat panel LCD monitors, I still get exhausted staring at them all day), but then I tried something different.

Now, I still stare at my monitors for 8 hours a day, but I recently tried taking a 30 minute walk before I go to work in the morning. WOW, now I know this may have been obvious to those who exercise on a regular basis, but my life has completely changed in the course of a couple of days. I’m now suddenly able to think clearly, I don’t get as tired, and I’m able to be a lot more productive at work and in my life!

Before all of this, I was the poster child for lazy programmers and I thought I was going nowhere. I realized that 10 years ago, when I first started programming, I could knock projects out really quickly and with no problem. Over the last few years, I noticed that I wasn’t the programmer I was in the past, and I thought my mind had stopped working in that area of my brain! I was completely frustrated and ready to give up on programming, but I used to really love it so I knew something was wrong.

I’ve always known that no exercise and a poor diet only leads to problems, both physically and emotionally, but of course I was always too stubborn to do anything about it, until now that is. I’ve only been walking for a couple of days, but I can already see the results…yeah, I am in that bad of shape. It’s pretty pathetic, but I know I’m not alone.

Let me give you an example of just how much simple exercise helped me at work:

I have been working on a project for about a year and still have not really gotten anywhere with it, and I’ve been extremely frustrated with the fact that it’s not a huge project but I couldn’t get my head around it (On a side note, my dad and I own our own company, which is why I still have a job…mainly because of other streams of income produced by my earlier programming projects.). Anyway, over the past few weeks, I have been trying to figure out a way around a problem and it seemed no matter what I tried, I always failed. Sometimes, I would get lucky and something would work, but for the most part, I simply haven’t been able to think like a programmer consistently, for a very long time.

My parents have been on my case for the longest time about how I need to exercise (and start eating the right foods too, but I’ll conquer one problem at a time) at least a little each day. I have tried walking in the past but really didn’t pay attention I guess, or didn’t want to change for some reason, because I always fell off the wagon. So, I decided to try walking in the morning again, and this time I am definitely going to stick with it. I noticed a complete change, the very first day I did it! I have been trying to figure out a solution to a programming problem for several weeks and it was driving me up the wall! The very first day I walked, I came in to work with a clear mind and a lot more oxygen than usual, and voila…out the code came! I couldn’t believe it, my mind started working FOR me instead of against me!

I was still tired when I got home from work, but I knew it was because I had actually used my head instead of beating it against a wall. I can’t say this enough, but if you’re in the same position I was, you NEED to try exercising just a little bit each day…it WILL change your life, I promise! You don’t need to overdo it, in fact overdoing it is probably a bad idea because you’ll want to quit really fast….I’ve been there too.

For now, I’m sticking with my 30 minute walk each morning, come rain or shine. I hope that my solution will become your solution, or even part of the solution. My dad always says “There’s only one way to eat an elephant….One bite at a time!”. So, even if a little exercise is only part of your solution, your life will be that much better…trust me!