Here's some ideas: (1) Address the stress issue. Get some sort of excercise or at least take a walk after lunch. I personally don't like the "E" word (excerci

Here's some ideas: (1) Address the stress issue. Get some sort of excercise or at least take a walk after lunch. I personally don't like the "E" word (excercise) so substitute things that are fun (mtn biking, skateboarding, climbing wall, etc). Preferably with friends. (2) Charge your batteries Get 8 hours of good sleep. Everything is sooo much harder when you're tired. It's hard to work on even a fun project when you have no energy left at the end of the day. (3) Make learning fun Find some sort of project that interests you that stretches you some. The idea is to learn algorithms for your project not just because you wish you knew them in an interview. Let fun "pull" your learning instead of guilt/duty/whatever "pushing" you to learn. Do not quit your job before you have another. As someone else mentioned, some places actually have a policy of only hiring people who have a job already.