Great advise. We developers often tend to imitate working code samples just to get out a working product. This may be fine for prototyping, but for real-world products, one has to write his own code and find his own style.

I like the tip of talking to oneself very much, because I do perform this on a regular base when I am trying to solve complex problems. Talking to myself helps me to stay focused on the problem, and also my two colleagues at work do this because of the same reason. Others in the same room may be annoyed, but in the end, the result of your work is what counts - any discussions have to wait until the problem is solved.