Are you like me? Or do you have discipline?
Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 04:00PM If you are anything like me, you've started more things than you have finished.
We're innately curious about the things around us and inspired when we come across people who have mastered their trade. We see people create cool and beautiful things and think, "Man, that looks easy, if I put in a little time I can do that in no time." What follows is a few days or weeks of focused and dedicated learning. During this time we make some progress, but not much. In fact, the progress that we do make only gets us to a point where we can truly begin to understand the complexities of the task we are undertaking. Things that look so easy as an outsider begin to take on odes of complexity that we never knew existed. We realize that this is actually going to take work to accomplish! It's at this stage that we usually lose interest and let ourselves get lost in the gap between where we are and where we want to be. Soon after, we stop finding time for our new project and almost forget we ever started.
Fast-forward 1 or 2 years and we realize that if we had simply stuck with it and continued working, we would be that guy that inspired us in the first place! The 2 years that seemed like an eternity when we were just starting out feels - in hindsight - like a small moment in time. Why not just stick with it in the first place? If only it were that easy...
I think this happens to a lot of people - actually, I think it happens to most people. I've had this experience with learning instruments, blogging, carpentry, coding, and a host of other things. The main obstacle to following through on projects like these is discipline. Having the discipline to sit down and practice while you could be doing things that come natural and are easy is difficult. Its hard to justify the tradeoff because - as is the case with any skill worth having - the payoff isn't immediate.
4 weeks ago I began (again) teaching myself Ruby on Rails. I am hoping to avoid the pitfalls of looking too far ahead, knowing that if I do I will fall into the same trap that I have in the past. I am tackling this project 1 day at a time, trying my damnedest to stay disciplined and learn something each day. If anyone has any advice to save me from myself, I'd love to hear it.
Reader Comments (21)
Get "customers". After you've learned a little bit, ask your local favorite restaurant or a nonprofit or a and ask if they need a website built. Be honest about the fact that you're just learning, but having someone who wants you to succeed can help a great deal. It won't keep you from getting distracted or give up on something, but it will mean that the task is still there when you wake up tomorrow. It will mean that when you go back to that restaurant you'll be reminded that you were working on it.
-- Andrew Farrell
oh and, you should learn python and either django or flask instead :-P
Yes I'm like you... Thanks for having the courage and will to write this
Haha, most people are like you, I guess!
You have described my attitude at new things more than any other article has
Don't be disheartened, I'm exactly the same, I recently realised though that it's not a lack of dedication but rather reaching saturation that stops me progressing, I cram for a few weeks then give up, but I always eventually come back, always. The secret for me is not abandoning a project or deleting it but making sure to always leave it in such a way that it's easy to pick up. Often I reach saturation after a few weeks and just need a break to let everything I've learned sinkn in, otherwise I can't learn anything more
Hope that makes sense
Jt
The book Mindset by Carol Dweck has helped me quite a bit. It's a quick read. If you read it I'd be curious to hear what you think / if you think it's premise will help you.
The book Mindset by Carol Dweck has helped me quite a bit. It's a quick read. If you read it I'd be curious to hear what you think / if you think its premise will help you.
So I was thinking I need to finally start working on learning python because I haven't been doing very much since school started , and while poking around on the internet instead, I found this. Thanks for the encouragement!
It's difficult, but that's why its valuable. Build your character, it'll serve you well.
Overlap your skills when learning new stuff: Eg it seems you're great at photography, so make a simple rails photo slideshow.
Start small, and build. Don't bite off more than you can chew: Eg don't try to learn anything more than the absolute minimum between each time you ship.
Learn to SHIP. Eg build a small site or open source project, and ship it! This will keep you motivated.
Find your intrinsic motivation. For me, it was when i had an awful soul sucking job and just HAD to do something to improve my lot in life.
Find friends to walk the journey with and keep each other accountable. Eg i started a book club.
Yup .. I'm in the same boat.
It's one of the pitfalls of being an INTP.
Once I understand the basic theory of how something works, I feel satisfied, knowing that I could make it if I really wanted to ..
I also hate getting caught up in the nasty details of implementing the thing; they are very demotivating.
I have no solution yet .. :/
Yeah, the details are what makes learning something new seem daunting. The Funny thing is that they are usually minor things that appear bigger than they are
Thanks for the comments everyone. I posted in the syracuse airport and got hit with all the responses when i landed in SF.
Thanks for the advice and tips. I also plan on writing about the process which i hope will help.
Im glad the post was helpful to people! Good luck with the next project your curiosity leads you too!
"in the beginning there is always suffering" my father told me on his deathbed last year, it was something i knew but he solidified itin my mind, knowing how much he suffered and struggled to achieve the things he achieved in his lifetime and what a disciplined man he was. in the beggining your mind always wants to avoid discipline, hard work and get back to what its used to: "laziness" most thoughts are doubts, fears, put them aside and you shall be stronger :) good luck in your endeavors
It's old, but The Now Habit is a spectacular book about this kind of behavior. I recently picked it up and have started putting it to use. I'm making progress with my similar problems as a result. Previous attempts to defeat my procrastination and lack of persistence with other techniques usually gave no results at all, so I'm very pleased so far. Check it out and see what you think.
I'm currently finishing off a project for the first time ever. What has gotten me through it is baby steps. I pick an issue I'm going to solve in about 30-60 minutes and then I do that issue and nothing more, that keeps me from getting discouraged. And if I fail I will only have wasted a maximum of 60 minutes.
The other thing, which might be even more important is that when I have been inspired by something, an article or a lecture or whatnot, I read/watch/litsen to it several times a week. A one-time-read will leave me with a feeling of enlightenment which will pass in at most a day, but when reading multiple times I begin to understand more nuances and the details which make up the whole starts to fall in their RIGHT places. Ofcourse this will only allow for a couple of articles as inspiration for each project, but they're easy to pick out, it's the ones that you'll want to read over and over again.
I wish us both luck and I hope we will finish something some day.
Can completely relate to this post - with discipline you can achieve most things. Another good book on the subject is 'Bounce' by Matthew Syed
It's easy to discount the things we actually do know though, because once we achieve mastery, they become simple.
For instance, I guess I rate my linux skills.
Get Gentoo running on a random device? In a weekend? Sure, if it's been ported to something similar before.
But I have trouble even seeing that skill as sellable because it's so easy.
Try telling that to my mum who gets confused by MS Word.
You have a lot of skills that you have genuinely mastered to an unusual extent. Consider how easy high school math papers seem these days, and that most people struggle to pass them, then forget the little they did know.
If you can spot these competitive advantages you have, it's a great thing. Probably. I'll let you know when I can do it.
Very true Sam. I think recognizing what you are actually good at is as important as figuring out what you aren't good at.
Fredrick - Congrats on finishing the project. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Thanks Kavin, I was and i am still like that. But here my husband become my best friend to push me every time when lose interest or faith on me. what i like in your post that you just pen down my feeling which i usually don't except:)
Another book to consider is "Change Anything". While I'm not sold on the online tool (you pay for it after x months) the book breaks down the things that help/hinder our goals. By looking at our internal motivations/abilities, our peer group and how they can help out and our environment impacts our success the book gives some good ideas on how to improve the odds of following up. Worth a look.
same as me