“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
-Thomas A. Edison
Here is the place I am currently at. Feeling a bit lost and distraught. Although I have read a lot of documentation and watched tutorial videos, when it comes down to "freehand" writing my code to create something, I feel like the person in the image, standing at the entrance of the daunting maze.
Still, I understand that this is part of the process and my determination refuses to let me cave in and see this project through.
I started late and decided to try something "simple" like a to-do list. As a consequence of starting so late, my to-do list transitioned into a blog application. I've added React bootstrap to add styling and utilize the components. I have created a card so far complete with an image and a brief description of the post's main idea. I've also added a button that I want to give the function of expanding the full post. I'm not exactly sure how to do this so far but I am determined to succeed somehow.
Top comments (10)
One of the biggest problems people face with side projects is starting without a clear idea of what they would consider success.
My advice is that after you know what success is in your little project, break what you want to do down. I mean waaayy down. Down to the point of almost trivial.
Accomplish those super small tasks. Do enough you finish your project. Super small tasks aren't sexy, but you can DO them. Getting a really small thing done feels better than getting stuck on a medium thing.
I'll give a quick example: Lets say you're doing a to-do list and you need to show a to-do. You might break down that task a bit like this.
<p>SUP</p>By the time you're done w/ that list, you are very close to having a todo item. I suspect most of those things don't feel too hard to do. It may not be the progress you dream of, but its progress.
"Down to the point of almost trivial" <--- this is the truth.
Learning to code can be super confusing and overwhelming, there will be times you feel like you are starting to grasp things interspersed by long periods of feeling like you have no idea what is going on. The best advice I can give as stated already is to work in very tiny incremental pieces. Don't think about building a blog, first focus on just getting a basic layout. Then maybe try to create an existing post as a markdown file and figure out how to get that to display... You may say, "hey this whole month I'm just going to figure out images, why are they not showing up? How can I get them to look good with my design". Go slow and work on really small features one at a time.
Thanks for the support. As someone at the beginning of this journey, it definitely helps to have as much support as possible and you make great points. The recurring theme I always get is to take it down a notch and start small which is something I need to get better at focusing on.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 I just watched The Gap linked from Why I Love Tailwind and thought you may want to see it.
Damn... I definitely need to play this before I start anything first. Thanks for sharing the video. It's crazy because recently I started to give myself deadlines and I will say that it has increased my motivation and even a sense of clarity. Pressuring myself pushes me further and that's a great feeling.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Totally cliché, but relevant here.
Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew: work in increments to get closer to your finished product.
Yes, cliché but also completely right! Thanks!
You definitely will. It might seem like an uphill task, but you can do it. 💯✨
Thank you for your support it is always welcome!