many established digital artists i follow recommend using traditional mediums (ie. pencil, pen, etc) every now and then to improve. it's another way to strengthen your foundations, like drawing boxes or a page of parallel lines.

is there an equivalent in coding? something you return to whenever you feel like you're stagnating or veering into "bad practices" territory?

the only thing i can think of is this video i am strongly encouraged to watch every year:
a talk about event loops by philip roberts.
https://youtu.be/8aGhZQkoFbQ/...