My name is Ricky, and I don’t challenge myself.
Self-motivation is something I struggle with daily.
I take the requests and expectations of others seriously. When I don’t accomplish them, it upsets me. But I don’t feel that same passion when failure just means letting myself down. When I set goals for myself, I need to take them as seriously (or even more seriously) as the goals set by those around me.
Luckily, Social Tables is a place with high expectations. We, as a company, expect everyone to work hard, push themselves, and grow. I have taken on more responsibility in the last 9 months than I thought I would in the next 5 years. I have led teams, interviewed my new colleagues and helped make hiring decisions. I am helping organize of one of the most exciting new JavaScript meetups in DC. These responsibilities have pushed me to grow as a developer, as a teammate, and as a person. I get excited going into work knowing that I will be challenged and that I will continue learning. But for now, I am not confident I would continue on that track without those around me.
Here are two things I’m working on to get there:
Holding myself accountable
I’ve always heard that a good way to keep yourself accountable is to make your progress public. Everything listed there is a goal I made for myself in the last week — and have failed to hold myself accountable for not doing.
Stickk allows me to make public commitments. I can also choose to select an independent referee to verify that I’ve kept my commitment, and I can even put money at stake. Some of my commitments take full advantage of these more exciting features, but most don’t. That’s because only doing things when money is at stake isn’t really self-motivation. Huge thanks to my colleagues, Jeremy and Ian, for helping me find an app that suits my needs.
Making myself uncomfortable
I find that I am most successful when I am out of my comfort zone. When I don’t have the ability to coast. As much as I’ve grown in my time at Social Tables, there are still things I haven’t done which make me uncomfortable. Things like making pull requests against major projects or answering questions on StackOverflow. I am open to suggestions for other commitments that would push me out of my comfort zone or expose me to new and exciting things. If you have an idea for any other commitments, let me know!
I don’t want to be a person who coasts, and I’m confident that I have surrounded myself with people who won’t let me. But that’s not good enough. It is my responsibility to better myself, and that’s what I am committing to.
