How to become a developer -Part 2: It’s all about habits
This is the second of a five-part article. Here you have links to the other parts:
Part 2 -It’s all about habits
Intro
In this second part of the article, I will guide you through some changes that have to happen in your life, if you want to succeed in this Journey.
But why is this relevant? Because learning to code is hard. It is probably the hardest thing I’ve accomplished in my life. And when you are learning by yourself as I did, It just goes up to another level.
That’s why you will have to take into account that your present self might not make it. You will have to transform into a better version of yourself and unleash your full potential. They say your habits define who you are. So first, we have to define your habits.
A fresh start
Ok, this is the point where you have to leave your former self behind. You might have been the king of the world, but in this world, it counts for nothing. Here you will suck big time. Put aside your ego and everything you did before. In this world, you will start from zero. Take it as an opportunity to really challenge yourself and to find your full potential. It’s a fresh start, so why not trying to become the best you can be? It’s your chance to redefine who you are.
Prepare your mind
Remember when you first went to school, that every kid there were older/bigger/stronger than you? You had to endure all the pain of being a freshman right? Feeling powerless sucks! But as the years went by, things started to get better. Here is exactly the same. It will look like everyone knows what they are doing and you are totally lost. Coding is very hard at first but, with time, things will get better, I promise! If you need to get inspired, you can read this article: It is never too late to be who you might have been — becoming a developer at age 36.
This is an experience like no other and it will change who you are forever. You think you are doing this to become a developer but in the end, you will become so much more.
But, there is a catch. You will be leaving your comfort zone behind. In the beginning, you will suck at it (a lot) and, frustration will flood your mind. This is perfectly normal and it happens to all of us. Your brain is not used to being pushed and your ego is not used to being so low. There will be dark times when you will feel like quitting. Just don’t! Otherwise, you will miss this awesome opportunity to find that you are much more powerful than you have ever imagined.
Clear the crap out of your life
Before you start building something great, you will have to clean the structure where you are building on top of. Since you will be needing all the time you can find, It’s better to ditch the crap to make room for the things that really matter.
Television and newspapers consume too much time for the benefit you take out of it. Worst than that, it floods your brain with depressing information that will distort the picture you have of the world. You are bombarded with the worst that humanity has to offer. If you only see crap, you will only talk crap and you will find yourself surrounded by people that also like to hear and talk crap. Are you seeing the snowball effect? Or should I say crapball.
If there is anything worth knowing in the news, you will hear it from the first persons you talk to during the day. I assure you!
Stop for a minute, and find what else are you wasting unnecessary time with. You should ditch everything that is not pushing you forward in your objectives, like video-games, facebook, etc.. Wait!!! I was not referring to your girlfriend/boyfriend or anyone in your family. You can keep those, despite all the time-wasting pieces of evidence.
Organize your days
There are lots of changes coming up. The first one is to discipline yourself. Since you won't have anyone telling what to do, you have to be the one responsible for your progress.
It is a good idea to make a schedule for all 7 days of the week. Usually, people will say that you should skip the weekends to avoid burnout. But if you are like me and you have to work 8 hours all weekdays, you will find that weekends are when you can be most productive. Make a list of your priorities and include them in your daily schedule.
Even if you book time for family and friends (and you should), It’s important to code every single day so that you get the feeling that code is part of what you are from now on.
You don't need to follow your schedule exactly to the minute. But It’s good to have it as a guideline so that you can actively manage your time and make adjustments as you go.
Update your family and friends status
Family and friends are important and you should definitely spend time with them. But, they should have their time booked in your weekly schedule, otherwise, they will consume the time you have booked for your studies.
- Let them know what you are doing and how important this is for you.
- Let them know that the time for study requires your total focus and that you can’t be interrupted unless it’s a life or death situation.
- They should know when you will be available to them.
Time is short, make it count.
Sleep well
When we try to do more in the same 24h of a day, our first instinct is to increase our up time. This means we will stay up late, wake up early and, consequently, sleep less and less. This may work in the beginning but you will start to feel the burn and you will become less productive as time goes by.
Learning to code requires you to be able to focus for long periods of time. If you are not sleeping well you will have a harder time to get in that deep learning state of mind.
Of course, every person has different needs in terms of sleep. You should do what works best for you. Just be alert for symptoms like lack of focus/concentration. It may be related to your sleep habits.
Exercise your body
You are probably tired of hearing that exercise is an important part of your life. And it is. But why do I have to include it here? Because you have to be at your best, to accomplish great things.
Exercise will give you confidence and a clear mind. It’s the best way to get rid of all the bad energy that you accumulate during the day. It’s good for your health and for your mood.
Usually, I have the best ideas when I’m running or at the gym. Also, you can use that time to listen to audiobooks or podcasts and at the same time exercise your brain. You will sleep better and it will make your brain ready for another dose of Javascript knowledge.
Increase your motivation
Everyone knows that you are more productive when you are motivated. Still, we ignore it most of the time. Motivation comes from positive interaction with the world around you but, it’s not easy to get positive input every day.
If you ditched TV and newspapers, at least you are no longer having negative intakes. The way I find that works for me, is listening to some podcast, or audiobook about some motivating/positive topic on my commute. This will boost your willpower, will make you more energetic and makes you want to pursue your objectives every day. Oh, and it will also increase your knowledge depending on the topic you are hearing about.
Your lazy brain
Yes, everyone has a brain but, when was the last time you used it intensively? We live in a world where everything is designed in a way to make us use less brain power as possible.
For a product to be successful in this competitive market, it has to be designed in a way, for you to be able to interact with it effortlessly. One thing that is definitely designed to challenge you is a video game. But even this cannot be too challenging or you will lose interest. So it tends to be easy enough for you to solve it without getting frustrated.
This is the primary reason why learning to code is so difficult for a normal person. The problem is not the code is super hard, the problem is that we are not used to using our brains so intensively.
Your brain is lazy and you will have a hard time to get it in shape again. That’s why I’m always insisting that you have to endure the initial pain and frustration. You have to keep at it to develop some problem-solving skills and your brain will start to enjoy it more and more.
Be a developer
Become a developer and then learn how to code. You are trying to learn to code and I’m telling you to become a developer before you learn how to code, right? Yes, you heard it right!
For you to learn how to code you have to embrace that this is what you are now. You have to code every day. A guitar player plays guitar every day. A pianist plays piano every day. Cristiano Ronaldo plays football every day. I think you got the point!
Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell says that 10,000 hours of practice is what you will need to master a skill. So… get to work and keep at it. This is a marathon and you still have a long way to go, but if you keep practicing, you will get there.
Make it a habit
As I said, this is a marathon, not a sprint. And as in every marathon, consistency is more important than speed. You can do everything right in the beginning but if you are unable to keep at it, you won't make it.
What I mean with this is that all the productivity hacks I have shown you will only work with consistency.
Experts say that it takes around 21 days to form a new habit. But once it is formed, it becomes second nature and you don't even have to think about it. You will find a short text about it here.
If you can make it a habit, It becomes who you are.
“People do not decide their future, people decide their habits and their habits decide their future”. — F.M. Alexander
This is the second of a five-part article. Here you have links to the other parts:
Part 2 -It’s all about habits
