I haven’t written in a long time. I didn’t forget! I’ve been busy. I hate when people start blogs like this, promising to bring you along for the journey and then peter out after just a couple of months. Usually they start off hot but lose momentum quickly. I didn’t want to be like that. I’ve just been busy doing the actual work! But, here I am with another post (I’ll continue posting monthly, most likely towards the end of the month).

I recently had a revelation that led to a major breakthrough: for me, coding is an emotional problem. It’s all about being able to control my emotions in order to focus on the task at hand. Because coding is still so new to me, there isn’t just one situation or one emotion that upsets me.

Fear of getting stuck on a problem and not being able to finish a project. Frustration with not being able to solve a problem or solve it the way I want to. Anger over not being good enough; not being able to solve the task at hand; not being able to put up a good enough project to make the career change I want to make. Feeling inadequate because I’m stuck in my shitty career. Hopelessness when I’m stuck. Elation when I finally hit that breakthrough.

It can be overwhelming to go through all these emotions during the course of a project, but I’ve learned a few tips from my other major hobby: doing triathlons. A triathlon is a long race. And it takes a lot of training. But the key is to break the race into small chunks, quietly celebrate the completion of each chunk. Remember that there will be good and bad parts but persevere and it will blossom into confidence.

Sound familiar?