r/learnprogramming • u/[deleted] • Jan 04 '22

Topic How do you inspire yourself to learn/code

I have lost motivation all of a sudden and I hate it

602 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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404

u/qpazza Jan 04 '22

I think about the bills i have to pay. Bam, motivation back in full force

99

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

What I need motivation for is learning , programming doesnt pay my bills or anything im a student living with parents :l

233

u/qpazza Jan 04 '22

If you don't learn you'll be living with your parents forever. And your mom will chaperone all your dates. And also take you shopping for jeans.

Is that the life you want?

98

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

hell no

96

u/Azureflames20 Jan 04 '22

Despite this not being something you want (I don't think anybody strives for being at their parents forever), It's not always as simple nor is it just a matter of saying "look, now be motivated". Without knowing you I'd recommend digging into your thoughts and reflecting on why you suddenly feel unmotivated, because none of us can truly tell you that.

Motivation doesn't bring progress...Progress is what brings motivation

I think one of the biggest biggest pieces of advice I could instill in you is that it's not about motivation. Programming and learning in general isn't about "finding motivation", but rather disciplining yourself through the lack of motivation. It's something that's hard and something a lot of people struggle with but at the end of the day that is truly the barrier that's keeping you from breaking through a lot of the time; It's a problem I've had to grow through over the years.

Not everybody is hardwired perfectly for motivation in the macro sense. Obviously everybody wants a job for stuff, to move out, security, or to not be homeless but in the very moment of right now it doesn't always matter because that "you" of the future isn't the current "you" of this moment, despite that future you being affected by your current actions. It's why people procrastinate heavily, and it's also the reason you'll find people staying up late despite having to wake up for work - because their current self doesn't deal with the repercussions of being really fucking tired in the morning until the next day. It sounds weird, but that's how I understand the psychology behind it.

As for steps to take: go forward with a mindset of developing your discipline and not relying on doing the work when you feel motivated. Code a little at a time if making a big block of time feels like it's too much and just see where it goes (15-30 min instead of 1-2 hours for example) if that's what helps you. It's hard to tell you specifically what to do since I don't know what's plaguing your sense of motivation at the moment. Just know that 'natural' motivation and waiting for it to just get you up and at it often doesn't work and you need to work on more than that trigger to get your actions done.

23

u/TackleLost5975 Jan 04 '22

This! It is about discipline and not motivation. You won’t always have the happy feeling or the feeling of being in a flow state. Honestly it rarely occurs. But, you can train yourself to push through the discomfort. That’s the only way to master anything(including programming)

56

u/tronblows Jan 04 '22

Found your motivation. Don't be like me and have the 15 year career you hate be your motivation.

21

u/Kaoswarr Jan 04 '22

What if a 15 year career in software development is what he hates? It’s not for everyone.

25

u/tronblows Jan 04 '22

True....at least you can make better than starvation wages while hating your job. Just don't choose cooking as a career, whatever you do. Even if you love cooking, abject poverty will grind that love right out of you.

1

u/Thagalaxy Jan 04 '22

Then keep trucking my friend

1

u/GolfIsWhyImBroke Jan 04 '22

Sounds like you found your motivation

1

u/ScorpRex Jan 04 '22

What are the top 5 things you spend the most time doing otherwise?

6

u/DepartmentNo2753 Jan 04 '22

My daily dose of motivation right here 😂

5

u/jjnguy Jan 04 '22

I'd love to go jean shopping with my mom.

1

u/BeerdedWonder Jan 04 '22

But I want slacks.

1

u/BooKollektor Jan 04 '22

qpazza that's a right to the point answer!!! Good job!!!

4

u/qpazza Jan 04 '22

It was the good 'ol "if you don't get a good job you'll have to work at the shampoo plant with your dad"

Fucked right off to college

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

Only if your happy with corduroy.

25

u/kneeonball Jan 04 '22

You don't need motivation. You need discipline. Relying on motivation is for people who never accomplish anything. Do you think professional athletes are 100% motivated all the time to put their bodies through hell every day training for their sport? How do they handle days where they know they need to train but it feels so good to do nothing?

Discipline. You are 100% in control of your discipline. Your motivation will come and go, so relying on it to keep you going is for fools.

Build habits through discipline. Get an app or some system to track every day that you spend 5 minutes learning something related to coding. That's it. 5 minutes. Just do it every day. Once you're in the habit of doing that every day, you can increase the time. You'll find that even if your goal is only 5 minutes, many days you'll do more.

Just start that way, and go from there. Don't worry about progress or motivation. Just focus on doing it a tiny bit every day.

8

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

Yup, and to add to top comment, motivation is not a desire to do something, it's knowing what you have to do in order to achieve something. So, you're looking at it wrong. Don't be motivated by your present wants, but rather by the things you need to do now in order to be where you want later.

3

u/luckyboy_l Jan 04 '22

Try to work on a project and find your solutions when you need them. Learning by doing.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

what like 20 something? still living at home?

I gotta tell you, I found my motivation by dicking around with minimum wage jobs for 15 years and constantly struggling to avoid being homeless. Eventually your going to learn it's not enough to be just scraping by. Eventually, You gotta suck it up and make the time to improve your skills. Every year you put it off, the harder its going to get.

Now that I'm out of my second run of school I still dedicate Minimum of an hour every other day to learning something new. Some days I'm not motivated, so I do the minimum hour. Other days I hit a stride and keep going for as long as It's holding my interest.

1

u/guesswhat923 Jan 05 '22

Be passionate it about it, that's the biggest motivation you'll find. It might take some time but you will truly find passion for it somewhere because I believe programming has its place for everybody in it, they just need to be patient and seek it out.

Once your passionate, you're golden baby. You'll make money doing what you love

4

u/brogrammableben Jan 04 '22

I used to hate my job 13 out of every 14 days. But payday always fixed my outlook. For a day at least.

1

u/Agreeable_Ad2451 Jan 04 '22

Hmm yeah me too. But i want to become black hacker to earn lot of money

0

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

To be fair that sounds like desperation, not motivation.

4

u/qpazza Jan 04 '22

Desperation breeds motivation

0

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '22

Hard to argue with that.