For a long time, I believed the best developers were the ones who never stopped — coding day and night, always shipping, always grinding.
If I wasn’t pushing myself to the limit, I felt like I was falling behind.
So, I kept running. Tutorials, side projects, hackathons… non-stop.
But instead of growing faster, I just grew tired.
Eventually, I learned something that completely changed my path:
I didn’t need to try harder —
I needed to breathe.
The Silent Pressure We All Feel
When you’re learning to code, there’s this invisible scoreboard in your head.
“Why am I not as good as them yet?”
“Everyone’s building amazing stuff — and I’m still debugging.”
Social media doesn’t help either. Everyone seems to be miles ahead.
But here’s the truth: coding isn’t a race.
It’s a craft, and crafts take time.
What Happened When I Slowed Down
At first, slowing down felt wrong — almost like giving up.
But instead of forcing progress, I started focusing on intentional learning:
- One solid concept instead of five surface-level ones.
- Reading code slowly and asking why it works.
- Building half-finished projects — and actually understanding them.
- Taking guilt-free breaks when my brain said “enough.”
The result?
I didn’t just remember syntax — I started thinking like a developer.
The Real Win: Confidence
When I removed the pressure to keep up, something beautiful happened.
I became calmer. More curious.
I stopped measuring progress by speed and started measuring it by clarity.
Bugs stopped being personal.
Errors became puzzles, not failures.
And slowly, confidence replaced comparison.
I No Longer
❌ Rush through tutorials to “get ahead”
❌ Code on bad days just to feel productive
❌ Compare my beginner steps to someone else’s highlight reel
❌ Equate busyness with progress
Now, I code to learn, not to prove.
What I’ve Learned
Learning slower doesn’t mean learning less.
It means learning deeply.
It means building a relationship with your craft, not just racing through it.
So if your coding journey feels heavy — pause.
Give yourself time to absorb, reflect, and rest.
Because sometimes, doing less is exactly what helps you grow more 🌱
Stay patient, stay passionate, and most importantly — stay kind to yourself 💙
Made with ☕ and curiosity by Mohit Decodes
LinkedIn • GitHub • Daily.dev
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