How to Stop Feeling Lost in Tech: The Wafflehouse Method

Yacine Mahdid offers a two-day introspective ritual—the Wafflehouse Method—to rediscover direction and set meaningful, step-by-step goals when feeling adrift in your tech journey.

  • Acknowledging the Overwhelm:
    Many CS students feel paralyzed by stress—intimidated by AI, unsure what to learn, or questioning if tech is even for them. The first step is simply recognizing that state of being lost.

  • Step 0 – Disconnect for 48 Hours:
    Take two consecutive days off, ideally midweek, without telling anyone. This is your invitation to a focused, self-reflective retreat.

  • Day 1 – The "Vomit Everything" Session:
    Go to your favorite quiet spot—somewhere meaningful—and write, without judgment or filter, everything: your fears, regrets, hopes, what genuinely matters to you five years from now. Let your internal vision flow onto the page.

  • Day 2 – Enter the Wafflehouse:
    At a cozy cafe (like a Wafflehouse or local equivalent), begin refining your thoughts:

  • Define 2–3 vivid 5-year goals aligned with your inner image.
  • Interpolate those into 3-year and 1-year targets, adjusting as needed.
  • Create a detailed Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) of every step required to get from now to your 1-year goals, expecting hardships along the way.
  • Identify "knot points", research each, untangle with clarity ("knotledge").

  • Extract actionable tasks—first monthly, then weekly, then daily priorities grounded in your plan. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

  • Living the Plan:
    Return to your life carrying a deeply personal roadmap. Each day:

  • Complete today’s tasks that push you closer to meaningful goals.

  • Reflect weekly—tend your plan like a garden, adjusting nodes or timelines gently. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

  • The Trade-off of Ownership:
    This method demands raw self-honesty: with agency comes accountability. "There is no one to blame but yourself"—a liberating yet sobering realization.

  • A Lifeline for the Stranded:
    If you’ve felt too lost to ask for help, this method is Yacine’s gift—"never surrender." Transform confusion into clarity by building a path that’s yours alone.

The full post is available here.