Coder’s Block and How to Overcome It

4 min readJul 25, 2022

Every programmer inevitably runs into a wall similar to what writers call “writer’s block” — that feeling of wanting to write a story but not being able to.

I call it coder’s block.

You’ve set aside some time, you’re at your desk with your code editor open, maybe some background music playing in your headphones, but — nothing.

Why does this happen?

Burnout.

If you’ve been coding for a long time without adequate breaks in between for weeks or even months, you might be burned out.

Burnout is common in every industry, so it could be one of the reasons you can’t code anything or don’t feel like solving any problems.

Programming is a focus-heavy activity; even a little burnout could lead to an unproductive day. The first and most obvious way to try to remedy this is to take a break.

Take the weekend off if you can. Exercise for 30–45 minutes thrice a week for the next two weeks. Anything that can take you away from your desk for extended periods that doesn’t include coding will probably help.

Build on this by improving your schedule to include more breaks and relaxing activities to ensure you’re not stretching yourself too thin.

Biting off more than you can chew.

Being put off by large tasks happens to everyone. Sometimes, you can control how much goes into your mouth; other times, the food gets shoved in there.

Regardless of how much you have on your plate, you can always break it down into small chunks.

Proper planning and time management can turn the biggest tasks into more manageable pieces and still be completed in time. The key is to identify these tasks early and take action before things spiral out of control.

No one likes to wash that one plate in the sink. This then grows into two plates, a fork, and three cups, and before you know it, you’re waking up the next morning to one messy kitchen.

Wash that plate.

Mental health.

Various personal life events can severely impact your motivation. Death of loved ones. Moving to a different city. Job rejections.

Recovering from these isn’t always easy, and their effects can bleed into other areas of your life. How can you soften their impact, then?

I’m not an expert in mental health, but experts do exist. A therapist would be in a better position to help with this one.

Some life events may not even be recent, but that’s where the therapist comes in to help you debug your life.

Lack of direction.

The workplace usually has guidelines, targets to reach, and deadlines to meet. Maybe you often live up to these expectations, so why is it so hard to transfer this to personal projects?

You have a passion for them, but why do you always get stuck at the beginning?

Personal projects are notorious for somehow leading to coder’s block. The reason is that they don’t have as much direction as projects in the workplace.

You’re most likely working solo, trying to map out the way forward and write the code at the same time.

Set aside time to plan the project, what tools you’ll use, how long it’ll take, and so on. When ready, start writing the code.

If you still experience coder’s block, break down the small tasks into smaller tasks and spread them out even more. You’ll take longer to get there, but slow motion is better than no motion.