Fwiw, I've never had good flow states. :p When I code, there's always so much stuff I don't know that I have to look up or so many big design/refactoring quest

Fwiw, I've never had good flow states. :p When I code, there's always so much stuff I don't know that I have to look up or so many big design/refactoring questions that I'm discovering in real time and have to grapple with. It's as flowy as your car getting stuck in the mud every 2 miles and having to get out and push. It's as productive as having a bipartisan Congressional hearing on the best posture to use every time you have to push it out of the mud. Incrementalism and time management are my friends cuz it's exhausting to do that for too long without breaks! Nevertheless, programming remains my favorite professional and hobbyist activity.