Hello, for the past few days i have not had the motivation to continue programming on the curriculum. I feel it’s hard to get started and get going, even though I love programming and problem solving. Does anyone have good tips on how to overcome this or how to deal with this?
Why did you start to begin with?
For me that is (obviously) what helped me start to begin with and keep my motivation up until I had a phase of a couple of months where I pretty much did nothing. Absolutely nothing.
But somehow that switch turned on again, I remembered what motivated me initially (for me it was the idea of learning a skill on my own and being able to make a living by doing so, but anything goes) and since then I have been suuper productive.
So from what I am getting from you is that you like problem solving (I love it myself too).
I personally don’t enjoy Html/css that much, since it’s not so much used for logical problems.
So if that is what you’re dealing with I recommend watching the Python tutorial on the FCC channel, and working on some projects with Python.
Being able to find a stable source of “motivation” is important for times when the going gets rough. I find leveraging both FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and “Shiny Object Syndrome” can help “get you back on track”, or at least on a track.
If you just “aren’t feeling it”, its worth considering a short break. During which you can leverage the two above effects to start pushing you back to learning.
Both FOMO and “Shiny Object Syndrome” are usually just negative distractions and usually used in those negative contexts. However if your already doing something else, you can “trick” yourself into getting some motivation to focus back on what you want.
So for example, if you just don’t feel like coding and would rather watch TV. What if you watch a movie where a brilliant hacker does a bunch of stuff in like 5 seconds. After you stop laughing and enjoying yourself you might want to go do a few things yourself because it did look cool, even if it was totally fake/dramatized. Suddenly your back on track learning something interesting. Even if it isn’t how to hack a satellite in space to save the world
Another example would be simply be just reading about tech. You might find an article about how to use X to handle Y. So you might want to jump back and play around with this new tech you just found yourself. Suddenly your at least learning about some new things.
So finding your own source of motivation of why you do it is important going forward. It could be one of the above, or something else like hating your current career, or a personal goal, or having some community support, or just because you love learning. Identifying it, and leveraging it when you “need the boost” always helps.
Good luck! 
And when i have coded I have done it at the absolute most 3hrs a day and felt so exhausted after it. How do professional devs manage to not get exhausted? Is it more fun when you actually know how to program something meaningful?
Hi @Nicke!
I just learn at my own pace and make sure to start the day with something that I enjoy.
So if you love algorithms, start your day with some leetcode.
If you love html/css start your day with a small side project like recreating a small design or playing around with animations.
Then you can dive into the curriculum.
If you start with things your enjoy then move to the tough stuff it becomes easier to get started.
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I’d say there is a difference between learning what to do, and actually doing it. If your just starting out and having to learn a lot of things at once it can be draining.
As you gain more experience, the stuff you did in the past becomes more routine, so you end up doing more busy work than hard learning.
That doesn’t mean you end up doing 100% of everything correctly with no problem, as problems always come up. So you could spend a portion of the day hitting your head on the wall. (or possibly longer, depending on the problem)
Technically a developer is paid to deal with those issues day-in and day-out, which is one of the main reasons why the profession usually pays pretty well.
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Dont push yourself, take breaks and rest. If you ponder on more complicate problems you might end up exhausting more than usual, so that should also be considered when looking at how much time you can spend coding at one go. It also matters if you dwell on topics that are familiar to you and you manage to achieve progress, versus topics that you are unfamiliar and you need time to learn. The later require more time and motivation, while being in your comfort zone can remain entertaining unlike actual ‘labor’.
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