202312091526 Get good with your tools

Any skill that requires use of instruments or tools can be improved by increasing your proficiency with those tools.

As a programmer, these tools are things like editors and shells, reporting systems, languages, and more. Simply investing the time to be good and fast at using these tools will dramatically increase the quantity and quality of your output.¹

More broadly, what we're achieving here is a reduction in the explicit thought and effort that goes into turning our ideas into reality. Whether it's just typing out the code that I'm attempting to produce or soloing on a guitar, being better at the physical actions so that more of my mind is devoted to higher level thinking will yield positive results.