The strangest thing happens when a colleague hops on a video call and I share my screen. Instead of feeling miserable and stupid, a flip switches in my head and I’m able to crank out more code in just a half hour than I have all day. Besides the obvious way that pair programming is able to get a developer unstuck—referred to as “rubber ducking”—I have found that there’s even more at play for me.

There have been times in my past when I’m tasked with learning up to two hours of music on a few weeks’ notice, and these types of challenges are very complicated for me. On the one hand, I consider myself a professional musician, and learning songs for a paid gig is something that’s expected, and it’s generally not considered a big ask, and is often really fun. On the other hand, learning a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time is fucking hard! 😂

It’s often during these days of intense practice and learning that I feel like an imposter when I can’t figure out the simplest of parts, and there are still a dozen more songs that I haven’t even started on. As the deadline approaches, I sometimes even begin to feel dread and regret.

And, yet—when it’s showtime—I have no problem knocking it out of the park! 🎉

Whatever happens in my brain between the despair and the performance also seems to happen when I’m at work. I don’t know if it’s a general brain thing, a musician-brain thing, or a my-brain thing, but I’m willing to bet that it’s mostly due to being a performer. When there is a paying audience, the stakes are significantly higher than just toying around on your own.

Likewise, when there are colleagues lending an eye and their time, it’s not unlike having a paying audience watching your every move. The stakes are much higher than when I’m coding alone, and I think that’s the secret to unlocking whatever part of my brain that pushes me past the finish line when I’m coding or drumming.