> Try not to jump straight into the code, sometimes it's OK, but it can also be distracting. I strive to first form a reasonable conceptual model of my approach

> Try not to jump straight into the code, sometimes it's OK, but it can also be distracting. I strive to first form a reasonable conceptual model of my approach before implementing it in code. This was probably the key takeaway for me. Too often, specially when I'm solving hackerrank/leetcode challenges, I jump straight into the code without bothering to think about the problem first, at least for a moment. Now I keep a physical notepad to write and/or draw at least basic models of whatever non-obvious problem or issue I'm given. I've noted that it's helped me quite a bit, at least to give me a general idea of what I should do.