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141 How Do You Keep Your Motivation To Learn and Grow? · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Join us each episode as we tackle the questions you are asking about a career in software development, understanding the industry, and new technology.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're just starting out or you want to grow stronger as a developer, this is the place to get your questions answered.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: How do you maintain your motivation to learn and grow?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: New things come out all the time.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: How do you keep up and how do you not just get exhausted and overwhelmed?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is the topic for today's Dev Questions episode.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about maintaining motivation.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: And really, the first thing you want to say here is that motivation is fleeting.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's something that you're going to have for a little bit, but it's not going to last forever.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's helpful in the short term, but what you really want to cultivate is discipline.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a difference between motivation and discipline.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: And let's talk about that.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Motivation says I'm excited.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: When you're motivated, you're pumped, you want to do something, you have that drive, you have that desire to get going.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: And also you have energy.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: You've got that, you know, I can take on the world, I can do this, I can't wait to get started.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm looking forward to doing this.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: I am motivated.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: And because of that, you're also happy.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: You're you're excited.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: You're you're not saying, oh man, I'm bummed out.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: You're saying, no, I'm motivated.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: For whatever reason, I'm motivated.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that usually means I'm also happy to do this.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then when it comes to work, when you start getting into the work, you're like, this work feels easy because I'm motivated.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: I want to get this done.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: Whether it's because I want that job or I want that promotion or I want that education, whatever it is, you're like, I can do this.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that motivation can be really valuable.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: But here's what happens is that it doesn't last forever.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: It tends to taper off.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now, on the other hand, there's discipline.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And discipline is pushing through even on the hard days.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's not giving up even when you want to.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's putting in the time, it's being consistent regardless of your energy level.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see the difference?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: There's one side is fun and happy and enthusiastic, and the other side feels more like plotting or you know, just putting your head down and getting the work done.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't have discipline does not have to be miserable, but it is the idea that even when you don't feel like it, you still do it.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because you still push through.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: When January 1st rolls around, a lot of people make new years resolutions.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the biggest ones is I'm gonna get in shape or I'm gonna lose weight.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: And when it comes to gym memberships, gym memberships explode in January.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what happens?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: By about the middle of January, end of January, those people aren't in the gym anymore, usually.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because they were motivated, they had a good intention, they had a good idea and a good plan, and they probably even came two, three, four, five, six times, and then it started to get tired and hard.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: And they decided, you know what, I've been gonna sleep in today instead of going to the gym.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think I'm going to, you know, skip today.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'll go, I'll go tomorrow.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't go tomorrow, I'll go the next day, and it it turns into a never kind of thing.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that's motivation.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: You're motivated, but at some point that motivation goes away.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: And often people say, well, and even this question was, how do I maintain that motivation?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the reality is you don't.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: You don't always maintain this happy to do it, can't wait to do it, push through anyways, things feel easy.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: That doesn't last forever.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: But discipline is saying, you know what, I want to sleep in today, but I get up every other day and go to the gym.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I do.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's discipline.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not easy, it's not something you just do overnight.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: It takes time, but you can build those patterns in your life of discipline that will help sustain you through the times when your motivation may dip.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell you what, if you can conquer this principle, if you can figure out how to really grasp and hold on to discipline, you will change your life.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of people who focus in on motivation.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And they get motivated for a little bit and they move on.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: And they get motivated somewhere else, and they do it for a little bit and they move on.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: And this may even feel like it's what you've been doing, where you get really enthusiastic about, let's say, C sharp, and you start to get into it, and then it kind of becomes a slog, and you kind of go, man, this is boring, or it's tough, or I'm I'm struggling.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: And oh wait, I need to learn React.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so you learn React and you start there, and it you get all enthusiastic again.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: You start building websites, and you're like, man, this is great.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then at some point, you're like, yeah, this is hard though.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I ran into a problem, or I can't figure this out, and it's it's tough.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: And you're like, oh, you know what?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: APIs.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: I need to learn APIs, and you skip over there, or you oh no, Blazor.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: I started learning C sharp.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: I should probably learn Blazer.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you bounce over there, and you kind of keep bouncing around, and you never really get very far anywhere because you've been relying on motivation to fuel you.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do we transfer from motivationally fueled to running on discipline?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you build that discipline?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, step one is you need to create small habits and build on them.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I that small is a key word here.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's intentional.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you say, you know what, I'm gonna create the habit of studying for C sharp every single day for two hours a day.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's not gonna last.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's life's gonna get in the way.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna be able to do that, and even if you tried to do that anyway, you're gonna burn out.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: So start small.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: Say, you know what?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna learn C sharp by studying twice a week for 30 minutes each time.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's not much.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Twice a week means you can skip five days out of seven.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: You only have to do two in order to be successful for that week.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't have to do it for a long time.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's half an hour.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's a small amount of time.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, it's probably too small.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Start there and just do half an hour.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And you might find yourself going, well, let's do 45 minutes today.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just do, I need to finish this up.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I get, you know, I might take an hour, but I'm gonna finish it up.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that's okay.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: But you're saying half an hour is my goal, I can overachieve on it very easily.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So create a small habit and then build upon it.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then set achievable goals.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same thing here.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: The idea that you're not saying I'm gonna do seven, you know, 14 hours a week, two hours a day, seven days a week, that's probably not achievable.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, it's we probably shouldn't do that.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: But you you set a goal that you know you can make.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you have that goal, that short goal, that you say, I'm gonna do this for a month.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you make that goal, it's encouraging.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: And if you create this goal where I'm gonna do this for two years straight, well, it's gonna take you over a hundred weeks to even realize that goal, even if you successfully do it every week.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of chances for failure in there and very little chance for success.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: What you want is something that has a chance for success that's very high.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: So set achievable goals.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then track and celebrate your progress.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you're gonna try and study for a whole year for C sharp, that's great.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Break it down into 12 chunks.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna study one month at a time.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do eight study sessions every month.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's about two a week.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: Which, if you say a study session is at least half an hour, then that's an achievable goal.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then you start to track that progress and say, hey, I did the whole month, I've met my goal.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: So you've tracked the eight times you've done it, and you say, I've met my goal, and then you also do the next month and then look back and say, I've met my goal twice now in two months.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And you do it again a third time, and you look back and say, I've done it three times now over the course of three months, and that means I've studied for 24 times in the past three months.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: You see how it starts to stack up and you start to track your progress, you don't look at the failures.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: You don't look at, well, you know, if you study twice a week for 30 minutes each time, you could look at that as I've successfully met my goal, or you could look at that as I failed five times out of seven.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Which one is more motivating?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Which one is more likely to help you keep moving forward?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's the one where you succeeded.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: So make sure you track that progress, celebrate your wins, and then take some time off.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: You need to take time off to recharge.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Do not study every day.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's not good for you.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Instead, take some time to relax, refresh yourself, and don't focus on what you're doing.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Don't focus on whatever the goal is, whether it's studying C sharp or something else.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Take the time off.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: That will refresh your brain and it will help you keep your energy up.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna have some motivation at first.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Harness that motivation to get started and help you establish some good habits that will help serve you well when your motivation starts to struggle.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so that's my advice for how to maintain your motivation, which is really how to establish some good discipline.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for paying attention.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions, if you're on YouTube, go to the comments, leave them down below.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a suggestion you want to see a future episode of DevQuestions, then go to the suggestions.iamtimcorey.com.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Again, suggestions.iamtimcorey.com and leave your suggestion there.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: As always, I am Tim Corey.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us for this episode of DevQuestions.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Dev Questions.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can also send your questions to questions at IamTimcore.com.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcorey.com and enroll in a course.