20 Things You Need to Stop Doing in 2020

For years I have written a year end post about things that didn’t happen to me for the previous twelve months. This year I’ve decided to pivot that theme. Instead of a post all about me, it’s now a post about you. Well, you and all the stupid and horrible things you do all year long.

So, here’s my year end post, my gift to you, a list of 20 things you need to stop doing in 2020. You’re welcome.

Using antiquated technology

The line in the sand for me right now are the ages of my children. If any software was written before my kids were born, don’t use it. But that measuring stick won’t work for everyone. So, here’s something easier to consider – make certain you are only (at most) one full version behind. If someone advises you to not upgrade because “it ain’t broke”, remind them that security never sleeps.

Responding immediately

Stop doing that. Trust me on this, your response to that email/text/slack can wait. Don’t believe me? Try an experiment. For one month do not reply immediately to your emails. At the end of the month add up the number of emails you received, and the number of emails that required an immediate response. I’m willing to bet that the number is quite low, much lower than you realize. And once you realize just how few require an immediate reply, you’ll never look at email in the same way again.

Over-thinking everything

Some things in your life require deep analysis and thought, no question. But you don’t need to spend 30 minutes ordering coffee at Starbucks. Lots of things in your life are like that coffee, you should be able to just make a decision and move on. But for whatever reason we tend to analyze lots of decisions in our lives that don’t need any extra analysis.

Doing unproductive work

Start tracking your daily tasks and see which tasks (and times of day) are the most productive. Chances are you have a few tasks that don’t align with your highest level of goals. If you want to become the world’s best widget-maker then you need to focus on tasks that help you achieve that goal, and spend less time on tasks that don’t help you get there. Yes, this also means you should stop playing games on your phone instead of doing real work.

Pretending that work-life balance exists

It doesn’t. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the idea of work-life balance is a myth perpetuated by HR departments that are trying to recruit you. This is especially true the higher up the corporate ladder you find yourself. And yes, that means if you are self-employed, you are essentially your own CEO, and you don’t just work at home but you also live at work. So stop pretending that any such work-life balance exists, it doesn’t. What you really have is work-life management.

Multitasking every moment of the day

Would it hurt you to focus on the task at hand for once? You don’t always have to be doing three things at once. Like texting and driving, for example. Remember I told you how that email can wait? Yeah, that is especially true if you are driving. Try living in the moment a few times a day and you may be surprised to see the quality of your output rising as a result of your increased focus on one specific task.

Stop arguing with people on the internet

It’s just not worth it, even when they are wrong, and even when they attack you. The internet is a big place, and it is full of opinions. Let people express their opinion. It’s OK. If you really feel the need to inject yourself into a conversation, don’t do it. You won’t win. You can’t win. It’s the internet, and every time you try to get the last word in about something, or try to demean someone because you feel you have been wronged, all it does is make you look a little more foolish than if you had written nothing at all.

Comparing yourself to others

You’ll never be as good as that other person. It’s true. You will only ever become second-best, because you will always feel they are better than you anyway. It’s a losing effort, so don’t bother. Instead, find out what one or two things you like most about them and see if you can adapt those things to fit your personality or lifestyle. At the end of the day you have to be yourself, but it’s OK if you get some influence and inspiration from others. Just don’t try to be an exact replica because that’s creepy.

Thinking that you need to go it alone

I see this a lot. In fact, I lived it. I thought I was all alone in my role as a DBA. But I wasn’t, because I had a network of colleagues out there willing to help. You don’t need to do anything alone in life, you can always find someone willing to help. Even misery loves company. And whether you are a DBA or the CEO of your company, you don’t have to work in a vacuum, there is a network of your peers willing to lend you a hand. It’s OK to ask for help, to admit that you may have been able to do something better. If your end goal for life is to have “I did it myself” on your tombstone then you should expect a lot of lonely Holiday dinners.

Reusing passwords

Please, just stop this. It’s for your own good. Get yourself a password manager. Enable two-factor authorization when possible. Or maybe stop using passwords altogether and start using biometrics.

Thinking you need a blockchain

No, you don’t need a blockchain. And most crypto currencies are a modern multi-level marketing scam. Sure, there are a handful of legit use cases for these technologies. But chances are you aren’t one of them. (If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, you should make the time.)

Ignoring ransomware

It’s only a matter of time before you or your company is hit with ransomware. Phishing attacks remain popular, as do macros. Combine this with password reuse and it is easy to understand why ransomware attacks are increasing. And before you say “more training” is the answer, I will tell you that the real answer is better email filters combined with network segmentation, and a solid disaster recovery process.

Waiting to patch servers and systems

Apply security updates as soon as possible. Don’t delay because someone in accounting is inconvenienced. They will be more inconvenienced by a security breach that forces the business to close its doors. When it comes to security updates don’t wait for permission from 27 different teams to say “OK”. Tell them when it is happening, and why, and then get it done.

Storing credentials in GitHub

Honestly people, when I read stories like this one it makes me wonder if we should allow you to drive a car, or vote. I know there are ways to encrypt credentials inside your source control. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Use a password manager, please. Or a key vault. The last place I would want to store credentials is inside of source control. But that’s me. You do you.

Ignoring regular DR testing

I mentioned ransomware earlier, and having a solid disaster recovery process is necessary. Well, you don’t get there without practice. DR testing doesn’t have to mean all-hands on deck all weekend. You can do parts of it throughout the year, like practice recovering a critical database or system. Backups are useless, restores are priceless. (Ask anyone that’s been ransomwared.)

Restoring production data to dev/test systems

If you are restoring production data to a less secure environment you have increased your risk for data leakage. You must take the necessary steps to obfuscate that data before Adam in Accounting leaves his laptop on the bus full of spreadsheets with customer details.

Thinking cloud is less expensive

While it may prove to be less expensive in time, the initial migration and ramp up will not show much savings. And then, when hidden costs come in (such as AWS mysterious transfer rates) you suddenly find yourself paying way more than you were expecting. That being said, you can’t focus just on dollar cost, because there are more benefits to using a public cloud such as Azure or AWS than just shutting down your own data center.

Stop leaving your s3 buckets open

Seriously people, the default for S3 objects is “private”. This means that you are knowingly opening up your buckets to the world and you don’t seem to care. I can’t help you unless you want to be helped.

Stop believing you must always be working

Every so often some jackhole posts a message on Twitter or Facebook that talks about how you can’t be a success unless you are working nights and weekends. Don’t fall for this bullshit. You don’t need to work yourself to death to be a success. In fact, working yourself 80 hours a week is going to lead to burnout and mental fatigue. No one cares about effort, they only care about results. Focus on delivering quality work, doing something you truly enjoy, alongside others you enjoy being with.

Reading blog posts titled “20 Things in 2020”

They’re a waste of your time. Go kiss your children goodnight and read them a story instead.