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Discussion on: Staying motivated...😕😲

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Dwayne Crooks

Motivation is overrated. You need to put habits in place so that you can keep pushing forward even when you're not motivated. Articles on Motivation by James Clear.

Learn to embrace boredom and expect that at some point you will get bored. It's inevitable.

Personally, I've struggled with staying motivated. In the past I'd start projects, be highly motivated in the beginning, lose motivation somewhere in the middle and fail to complete the project in the end. It's typical that we software developers have many incomplete projects laying around on our computers.

What has helped me:

  • Having a set goal for any project (learning or coding) I start and defining what it means to be done. As well as the appropriate systems in place to support my achievement of that goal. "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems" ~ James Clear.
  • Working on it for a set number of hours per day, everyday until I'm done. I usually do it for 1 hour per day and I strive for everyday because that ensures it becomes a habit. If I have the choice to work on the project 7 hours on Sunday or 1 hour everyday I will ALWAYS choose to do it 1 hour everyday. (Why? Because it builds the right stuff in you like patience, consistency and other long-term values.)
  • And these books: The Dip by Seth Godin, Atomic Habits by James Clear and Deep Work by Cal Newport.

Ruheni Alex, may I ask what you're trying to learn and how you're approaching it?