For over 20 years, the meditative focus of programming has been one of the best parts of my job.

Every week I’d spend countless hours in a flow state, which quiets the default mode network. The DMN is responsible for daydreaming/reflection but also rumination/worrying, so quieting it settles your mind. If I didn’t manage to write code for a week, I’d start to notice it.

I’m clearly much more productive now. I’m doing five things at once very effectively, switching between multiple agent sessions from morning to night. After working full-time like this for ~8 months, one thing I’m sure of is that this way of working involves much less time spent in a flow state.

Until recently, programmers had a meditative job. Now that this has changed, every programmer should probably pick up a new meditative hobby or spend some time deliberately meditating with an app like Calm or Waking Up.

If you’re a programmer wondering why you feel different now that your work has changed, this might be part of the reason.