Ten years ago I got pains in my hands and after various visits to my GP I was referred to a specialist. He dutifully looked at my hands and arms and asked lots

Ten years ago I got pains in my hands and after various visits to my GP I was referred to a specialist. He dutifully looked at my hands and arms and asked lots of questions about where the pain is, what I do for a living, what medication I'm on, do I have any family history. He then told me I was an idiot. He didn't understand why I thought I could type for 15 hours a day. Why I expected my tendons to put up with this kind of punishment. I got the feeling that if he could he would have kicked me in the nuts. He told me he could give me medication to reduce swelling but what would the point be. The pain is there because you are pushing yourself too far! Hmm I thought. What an idiot (with a lot of letter after his name). He told me to stop being an idiot and come back in six months if there was any pain. I was pretty young at the time, I went to my boss and we spoke about the specialist. He told me I was an bloody idiot (I'm English so we're allowed to say these kinds of things to each other btw). He said it's "..great that you want to work for 15 hours a day but think about it. Your body is telling you something". Then he told me something that changed my perspective on coding. He said "It's not how much you type it's what you type". This single sentence made me a better, healthier, more considered and sophisticated programmer. For the last ten years I've been a better, more productive programmer and if I ever see that specialist again I will shake his hand with my very healthy pain free hands. Good luck