> I need to learn how to truly disconnect from work, so that I can recharge. I need to learn how to drop this feeling, this heavy weight on my shoulders, that I

> I need to learn how to truly disconnect from work, so that I can recharge. I need to learn how to drop this feeling, this heavy weight on my shoulders, that I'm not a good developer, and that I need to work more to get better. Well, I can only really think of two angles about this. Your belief system, and your actions. Your belief system will influence what actions you take, or thoughts you have, in general. Then, you have the action/habit/thinking itself. I'd say if you identified that you want to do this, you just have to do it. But, that requires introspection, self-monitoring, and time. When you catch yourself thinking about work during some time you've decided to relax, then stop. Repeat as necessary. A few weeks disconnected can help weaken the habit, if you make it a point to do that persistently for the whole two weeks. But, that all takes mental control and introspection, for which I'd recommend meditation. After that, you almost have to run your mind in debugging mode, continuously. Habits thrive on auto-pilot. You can only reprogram your auto-pilot by conscious attention. Which means paying attention to every thought, constantly. You need to examine and fill out your belief system to support that. Like, you listed the problems of the reality of the field.. but, you didn't list some of the flip side, beliefs you can have there, like, "I can become more effective if I can disconnect". You'll want to make sure that you have a set of beliefs set up to support the change you want to make in your actions/patterns of thought. I don't think there's a magic bullet. It's hard paying attention to your thoughts all of the time and eliminating auto-pilot from your life. Most people never do for any period of time, but most people have vices, destructive habits, personality defects, etc.