Published: 2023-11-02
Written by: Jessica Wilkins
3 min read
One common thing I hear from beginners learning how to code, is “How can I stay motivated?”
My answer for them is to not chase motivation but instead aim for discipline.
When you are first learning, you will probably have tons of motivation and excitement for starting the journey. You probably have bought a few Udemy courses and maybe built your first small web app.
But then, a month or two goes by and you hit a wall. The motivation is gone and you are left with the reality of how much you still have to learn. You start to wonder if you are cut out for this. You even start to wonder if you should just give up.
The good news is that most people feel this way. The bad news is that most people give up at this point.
A lot of beginners will stop until the motivation comes back. But the problem is that motivation is fleeting. It comes and goes. It is not something you can rely on.
Instead, you should focus on building up your discipline. Discipline is what will keep you going when the motivation is gone.
When I was a musician, there were plenty of times when I didn’t want to go and practice. Even though I loved music, there were times when I just wanted to hang out and chill instead. But I knew that if I wanted to get better, I had to practice. So I created a routine.
I would practice every day for 1-hour intervals and do multiple intervals a day. I would do this no matter what. Even if I was tired or didn’t feel like it, I would still practice.
This act of discipline is what helped me when I was learning how to code. I made sure to carve out at least 1 hour each day to dedicate to learning and practice because I knew that was the only way to become a developer.
What worked for me was to start with something that I enjoyed doing. So that could be anything from practicing CSS, working on a side project or watching parts of a YouTube video. Make sure to choose something that you like to do and start with that.
Then you can take a small break and do another interval focused on something that you need to work on. This can be working on Data Structures and Algorithms, working through harder coding challenges or debugging an issue in your code.
In the beginning, you might find yourself doing more of the things you enjoy and less of the things you don’t. But that is okay. The important thing is that you are building up your discipline and creating a routine.
Once you lock into a new routine, you will find that you are making progress and that will help you stay motivated.
Learning how to code is hard. It takes a lot of time and effort. But if you can build up your discipline, you will find that you can keep going even when the motivation is gone.
So if you are struggling with motivation, try to create a routine and stick to it. You will be surprised at how much progress you can make.
Also, it helps to build in public as a way to stay accountable. The 100 days of code challenge is a great way to do this. You can share your progress on Twitter and maybe even inspire others to do the same. 😀