This week I decided to talk about a couple of things that I feel like probably a lot of you might go through on your way to getting where ever it is you want to get to. And that is that burn out feeling or lack of motivation after the fun of doing something turns into well work. And having the patients to get to your goal. In my case, I have been really hitting that wall lately after doing school work and studying math/programming every day. It starts to wear on you but here is my advice to this. When you start feeling like you are going to hit a wall keep going don’t let your self-stop. Because the moment you do chances are you won’t come back to it. It may suck that day or week but if you can find some sort of goal to complete that day as small as it maybe it will give you the motivation to keep moving forward. In my case, it was getting through a little bit of math before work today. Other days its just getting through a chapter or getting a basic programming project done. Now another thing to keep in mind is to give yourself a break in-between. I try to set aside my weekends to do nothing but play video games and go out to lunch with my brother. This way I get to give my self-something to look forward to during the week to get me to the weekend. I try to use it as a reward system to get things done. Lastly, keep your end goal in mind of what it is your trying to achieve by working on whatever it is your doing. In my case its to be able to get into a programming position and getting into a better position. And until that happens I must keep pushing through the hard days and keep my focus. So overall if your going through that burn out phase don’t stop keep going and see it through to the end.
So, the next piece I wanted to discuss is having the patience to get to your end goal. I can’t stress this enough because I can care less how many success stories you read about how x person got a job in blank months. Which by the way I wish there would be less of these stories because while that situation worked out for that one person. It's not how it works out for everyone else. And I feel like it just gives this false reality that you can just sit down and begin something and in 6months be working for Google. When a lot of the time it takes a lot of time and practice and hard work to get into where ever it is your trying to get to. And it’s a reality that sometimes you must come to terms with that your journey is going to take a lot longer than you may have expected. And you must prepare for the long haul. Rather than thinking of the short term. This way you are not disappointed and give up when you don’t make it where you want in a short period of time.
Overall just keep focused on your goals have patients put the work in and you will get where you want to go. As always thanks for making it to the end of the post. I hope you get something out of it and keep on pushing forward.
Top comments (10)
I appreciate this article because my classmates think coding the whole week without having fun hanging with friends on weekends makes them loosers, but from your article I kept in mind perserverance and small milestones from monday to friday maters alot and then hangout with friends on saturday to re-energise!!
Thanks for reading. Yes exactly I also would say if any thing if you still want to see your friends through out the week. Hang out with your friends at the end of the day. If any thing once you got your work done. Or even use that as a goal to get work done. But it defiantly does not make you a loser because you want to put the work in. You will find that the more you put the work in the better off your going to be. Then the people who just goofed off all week wishing they could be in a better situation. So keep on pushing forward.
Thanks Alex for sharing this. It's such a good reminder. I like how you've listed out perseverance and creating small milestones to get you moving towards the next step no matter how small the progress.
This is definitely key. A single step doesn't get you far, but many small steps covers a lot of ground. I've tried to do this often, taking a huge task and breaking it down to the smallest, action that I can definitely take for the sake of keeping the momentum going.
Yea not a problem I am glad you enjoyed reading it. And yea breaking things down I feel like is really the most efficient way of doing things. Especially with out just getting over whelmed and hitting that burnout stage.
Great post and important reminder for everyone. It's really easy to get wrapped up in trying to push your career and forget about what's really most important: your health (physical, mental, emotional). Just like in the timeless story of the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady is the best way to build yourself in a sustainable and healthy way.
Yes exactly its one of though's things that no matter how hard you push something or work on something its not going to come any faster. So defiantly not wroth sacrificing every thing else in the process.
Great article, Alex.
I feel burned out sometimes too when I'm at a computer learning to code for almost 9 hours straight.
Sometimes you do need to step away from the computer and go walk on the beach, see a movie, or engage in a fun hobby.
And I totally agree with you when you say, "I don't care about person x who got a programming job in y months (normally 3 months) because those situations are unique and far fetched.
In any case, persevere and don't give up. The excitement of seeing a project coming from thought to reality is nothing short of exciting...even if it is a simple web app.
Have a great one.
Pavon
Say no more 👏 👏👏
Thank you for this Alex. I just recently quit my job as a web developer due to burnout and now I'm in the process of finding what aspect of programming I really love and pursuing it. I would love to hear more about your journey and I'm looking forward to learn from it. Best regards.
Your welcome. I am glad you were able to get something out of the post. And also good luck on your next step of the journey. Some times things like that just have to happen in order to lead you to the next best thing. That you will end up enjoying the most. And yea I plan on making more posts as I go along so I appreciate you taking the time to read it and coming along for the ride. Best of luck in your new adventure as well.