Hi, everyone I have been using freecodecamp for a while. I have realized that being productive all the time is overrated no one does it. It’s just hype in younger people of completing things faster without really understanding them. I have experienced this many times, there are tons of youtube videos telling people to learn programming in 3 months / 6 months and getting a job. They have pretty good strategies but viewers don’t understand that everyone has a different speed and style of learning things and everyone is different. By watching some youtube videos I started my so-called productivity routine it was good first fifteen days after that the things started getting overwhelming, I decided to take a day off from coding, I was again good for the next fifteen days, the cycle continued until the last month where things got really overwhelming I took 2 weeks off in those two weeks I realized where I went wrong
Here are my learnings::
teenagers often confuse consistency with productivity there is a huge difference between being productive and being consistent according to me you can be productive for a couple of days ( productivity is simply generating output based on inputs ) anyone can be productive only a few are consistent.
Everyone is different, I often compared myself to others ( to be accurate the youtube tutorials) it’s human nature to compare but while comparing you should compare your present with the past and have a goal for the future.
It’s okay not to be productive things take time and pushing them would take more time ( before my 2 weeks break I was on the 10th step after the break I went back to 5) by pushing yourself you either won’t understand what you learnt and instead of upgrading the skills, you will be stuck on doing the same thing again and again.
Focus and being consistent are the keys to learning anything and everything ( productivity is just an outcome ).
Things take time often our mind tricks us and makes us feel unworthy, slow and lazy and remember no one has figured life out.
This was my realization and experience till now.
You may have a different experience, opinions please feel free to share.
I get that you cannot be productive all the time. Some concepts are harder to digest than others. What exactly do you mean by consistency?
I don’t think you learn to code in six months. You can learn a lot in that time but it’s not just about learning new concepts. You also have to integrate them with the knowledge you have already acquired. You have to practice what you’ve learned.
But, I must admit, I sometimes linger too long and I don’t improve my knowledge because I keep working on the same thing. I could have developed faster if I let go a little sooner and went on to the next thing. This is personal though. What works for me may be very bad advice for someone else. Yes, everyone is different.
Yeah, there are also a lot of videos explaining that the Earth is flat. Don’t believe everything you see.
It looks like you’ve come to some good epiphanies. The only thing that I’d add is that I think that focus and productivity are like muscles - the more you use them the stronger they get. There are a lot of good books out there about developing good work habits. I’m reading Deep Work right now and am enjoying it.
Consistency for me is doing something on the regular basis ( improving at least 0.1%).
In my case, I used to watch some productivity videos ( How to learn coding in 3 months, Mistakes beginners make, some basic coding tutorials etc ) and the funny part is I used to believe everything that I see. The problem with me was I used to be productive but the intensity was too much. Now I use the Pomodoro technique, watch some personal development videos, Listen to people on Clubhouse basically doing all the stuff parallelly instead of just coding straight 10 - 11 hours for a day and take a break for two days. I had this misconception of productivity that wasted almost 1.5 years, at last, we are the product of our own choices and the things we believe in.
The problem is I don’t have a mentor, so I had to and I am learning things the hard way ( but not having a mentor has its own advantages ) I hope I had one.
There are too many problems in my learnings ( I think life gives us problems because It wants to teach us something, it’s up to us how effectively we understand and implement our learnings).
Aha, well consistency is important but I agree, you’ve been pushing yourself really hard. I think you need to give yourself time. One doesn’t learn how to code in 3 months.
You write
and that
You may feel you are not productive enough but that is not necessarily true. You may be learning a lot more than you realize. It’s like growing. If you see a child every day, you don’t see it grow. But when you’ve been away two years and you come back you see a big difference. To the person that is with the child, it has not changed, and to the person who has been away, it has changed very much. These are only points of view not reality.
The theory can be learned in a few months, but the practice takes years. The theory has to be deeply understood and integrated with your practice. That takes time. Often I am learning but I don’t notice it and it feels like I’m standing still. I’m not though.
Have you started a project yet? Maybe it would help if you make something and submit it for feedback. That way you can connect with other people and listen to other voices too.
If you want to learn, be consistent, that’s important. You’ve written this yourself and I agree with that. Don’t force yourself to grow too quickly. That will make your knowledge superficial. The hard way is also the deep way.
People want shortcuts in life.
These videos appeal to that basic desire.
Why do you think the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry?
Everyone wants a short cut to lose weight.
It is the exact same thing with these videos.
In 90 days of learning, I can get a good job?
Count me in.
But what you don’t hear is, what happened to people that got a job in a short time span?
How did they do in their first year as a junior?
Are they even still in this industry?
Are they good developers?
I want to see those types of videos.
I wouldn’t worry about those videos. Just view them as click bait and move on.
I bet you have probably accomplished more in that time than you realize.
You should look at some of your earlier projects and code.
You will see how far you have come.
I looked at some of my earlier react projects and remembered how much I struggled just to build them. My code was a complete mess.
But now, I can redo those projects with minimal struggle and with much cleaner code.
Focus on the small victories you have achieved so far.
If you rush a programming job you miss key information, things go wrong, things don’t work, you get frustrated, and it takes WAY longer,
Trick is do things correctly, step by step and SLOWLY. By doing this you come up with a good solution much faster than you would by rushing. And if it does take you time, who cares? It’s not a sprint.
Thanks for this post. I am solving like one or two problems a day for most days and also a slow learner. I have also been skipping problems that get me stuck or frustrate me too much just so that I can keep going.
Here is my profile. If anyone else is a slow learner and does not have much time to commit then feel free to connect.
I am solving like one or two problems a day for most days …
These problems get tougher and tougher as you go along. What you’re describing is not that unusual.
I am solving like one or two problems a day for most days and also a slow learner.
Or maybe you are just a deeper learner. Or maybe this section you struggle a bit more but other sections will be easier for you and harder for others. Or perhaps you are misjudging yourself because you assume that this is easier for other people.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just keep learning.
I have also been skipping problems that get me stuck or frustrate me too much just so that I can keep going.
Yeah, I skipped a few and came back to them. I do that at work sometimes too - I have a few problems going and if I get stuck on one, I work on another for a while and just try to think about the other. Sometimes I get together with another dev and talk it out. Sometimes I “rubber duck” it.
Good to hear that it is not unusual to be doing what I am doing.
If something else come up, I do spend time on it or take breaks too. Like today I spent time making notes and watching YouTube videos on Atom Editor and some amazing packages. I never knew such an awesome tool with so much potential existed.
I want to enjoy and play with what I am doing with coding and learn a tiny bit more everyday, I know eventually be better than what I was looking back at myself and hopefully make something good and useful for the community
