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086 How Do I Finish What I Started? · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: 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_01: 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_01: Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do I finish what I started?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a question that a lot of developers may not ask, but they need to ask.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start first by talking through a few scenarios.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if they resonate with you because they're fairly common among developers.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Number one scenario: you've got a bunch of projects you started but never finished.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or you get enthusiastic about a new project, you dive right into it, but after a while, you get distracted and stop.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Or you are working on one project and you get an idea for a new project and start on that.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or you start to learn one topic, but then you move on to a different topic without really finishing the first.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Does any of that sound familiar?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: If so, you're in good company.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is a pretty common set of traits among developers.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you change this pattern?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because unfinished projects, unlearned um topics, they don't really help you a lot.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they can often discourage you from continuing because you say, Why should I do one more thing that I'm gonna fail at?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about how you can change this pattern and start completing what you start.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, the most important thing, you have to have a plan.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just saying, I'm gonna do this, and you start right off into work, that's a sure way to not know where you're going.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so you don't know where you go, where you're going, you don't know how to get there, and you wander around, waste a whole bunch of time, and finally get discouraged about ever reaching your end goal because you're not really even seemingly headed in the right direction.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So have a plan.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, what that means is if you're learning, it's a learning path, meaning I know I'm gonna study this and then this and then this and then this, because my end goal is that.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And here are the 200 steps to get from where I'm at to where I need to be.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're learning, if it's an application, it would be knowing what the minimum viable product is.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important because often when you're building an application, you think through all the cool features you want to add to something.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, your application is so big and so complex that you just don't have time to finish it and it gets overwhelming.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you know the minimum viable product, the minimum number of features you need to have the application be considered a version one success.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have that, you know these are the five things that I need to implement.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I have these five things, then my application can be successful in its initial version.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you have that, then you know what you should be working on.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number two is you need to stick to the plan.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, number one, you have a plan, but number two, you have to stick to that plan.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that come up is a distraction.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's very easy.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: My brain does it all the time, where I am doing something and a cool idea, a cool thought will pop in my head, and I'll want to explore it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you just go explore it, that means you're gonna stop what you're doing on your current application or your current study path, and you're gonna go off on this new thing.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, keep a notepad around.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, don't have a complicated system.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't have this really cool software application that tracks stuff for you because all that does is it takes more time to enter in your idea.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, have a notepad, write down your idea.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you really need to type it, use notepad on the computer and just type in a basic text file and just type out your idea, save it, close it, and go back to what you're doing.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you don't want to pursue that idea, you don't want to have that in your brain thinking about it, even in the background.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: You want to commit that to either paper or to the computer in some simple electronic form, and then you want to forget about that idea.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wait until later, stick to your plan, and then come back to that when it's appropriate.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're on a learning path and let's say you are 20 steps into a 200-step process, and you say, Oh, I want to learn this.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, save it for later.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, put it down in your notepad, and then when you're done learning for the day, maybe you go through and look at your learning plan and say, Oh, you know what?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: That would probably fit in at number 50 really conveniently.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you put that in your learning path, adjust the plan a little bit, but now you know where it's gonna go.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: If it's an idea for your app, write it down, wait until you're done developing for the day.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you're done, go to your notepad, go to your text document, open it up, look at it, and say, hmm, is this important for the MVP for the minimum viable product?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or is this something that I should add on later?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got a I always have a list that's that I call the version 2.0 things.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I am not assigned them an actual version number, but I consider these the the next iteration.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I might even do a little bit of sorting and say, well, actually, that's probably version 3.0, but I don't get super caught up in the well, it's 1.2 versus the 2.1, or don't worry about that kind of stuff.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I just kind of put it into a rough category and say, hey, you know what, that's not for now.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's at least the second version, or at least the you know, the next iteration of this uh application.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I say, you know what?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's really important to actually having the application work at all.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of the MVP.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now be very careful with that because often you say it's a cool feature, I really should have it for launch.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's different than saying it's part of the MVP.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Get the MVP working first, okay?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then consider do I need to launch now or do I need to wait for a bit?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: But make sure that if you decide, hey, it's part of the MVP, that after you're done programming for the day, figure out where you're going to put that in your task list for working on the current project.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So have a plan, then stick to the plan.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Number three is commit to a schedule.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency is key.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency is really important when it comes to pretty much anything in life.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So when it comes to learning or building an app, you need to put on the calendar when you're going to work on this, and then keep making consistent progress.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you try and do things in spurts, what's going to happen is you're going to get tired of it and you're going to walk away from it for a period of time.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, I just put out you know two weeks worth of work in this application.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to step away for a couple days, just kind of recharge.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get distracted and you never come back to it.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of doing that, instead of doing this this big spurt up front and then relaxing later, take time to relax as you go, but have a consistent plan for I'm going to work on this application from this hour to this hour on this day every week.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then have a couple of those.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so be consistent.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Making slow and steady progress will get you further than sprinting and then resting.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number four is keep the goal small.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is a a mistake people often make when they are enthusiastic at the beginning.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: At the beginning, you're really enthusiastic and say, hey, I could do this.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you have this grand idea, and you may not even think it's grand, you may think it's a small goal, but really look at it and say, is that a small goal though?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that a fairly large goal that I'm pretending is small?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because even the simplest, let's say, application that you're building, you need to cut that way down to the minimum viable product.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because otherwise, what happens is you got a complex application that you may say, well, it's not that hard.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It just needs to be a mobile app and a desktop app and a web app, you know, that that talks to an API has authentication, and you know, just a simple stuff.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's not simple, that's gonna take you a long time.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on one thing, focus on just the web app with the API and authentication, or you know, whatever it's gonna be, but focus simply as small as possible.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to learning, don't look at your your um your overall goal and say, hey, you know what?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I want to learn everything about C sharp in the next three months.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's too big.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Keep that goal small.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Start off with small steps.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm gonna learn about the basics of C sharp.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna learn how to debug C sharp.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna learn about object-oriented programming with C sharp.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna learn now about the different project types or how to talk at databases, different database options, and you know, and go through step by step by step and in there break down your goal into a learning path that has steps in it so that you can go, okay, I'm gonna go from this step to this step, and so on, in small increments.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So keep the goal small.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: By doing that, you are going to find that you will have more wins.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you try to make a big project or you try to learn everything about C sharp, what's gonna happen is you never seem to achieve your goal.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of saying, Hey, I'm going to walk one mile today, if you say, I want to walk a hundred miles, well, you it's gonna be a long time to accomplish that.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: But if you say, I want to walk one mile, and you get to that mile and say, okay, now I walk two miles and you go to that next goal and then three miles and you go that way, then you've had a hundred successes along the way in and until you get to that hundred mile mark.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas if you just said I want to go a hundred miles, you only have one success, it's the end, and along the way is a whole bunch of discouragement.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So keep those goals small.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And number five, forgive yourself for mistakes.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: With New Year's and the New Year's resolutions, we often see that people don't make it out of January with their resolutions, or maybe even February, and they kind of drop off over time.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, gyms tend to have tons of new members show up for January 1st, January 2nd, because people are starting off strong, and then the gym is empty again by the middle of January.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And why is that?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because you got tired, you slept in one day, you you know decided to skip one day, and then you feel bad about it, and you decide I'm not really cut out for this, I can't do this, I you know, I missed this day, I I I blew my goal, and you start to make excuses why you can't keep going.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Don't use your mistakes as an excuse to quit.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, use it, forgive yourself, use it as a motivation to, yep, I didn't do it then, but I'm gonna continue because I'm going to finish.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: So forgive yourself the mistake, don't use it as an excuse to quit.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, use it as a recognition that you're not perfect, but you can make a different choice today.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So make a plan, stick to the plan, commit to a schedule, keep the goal small, forgive yourself for mistakes.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: These are the five steps that will help you along the way.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that was helpful.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you work on finishing what you start.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you're able to complete some things this year.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see you grow as a developer.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see you continually make improvements in your life because that's how you will achieve your overall goals is by making slow and steady progress along the way.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Dev Questions.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a question about being a developer, check out the previous episodes here on either YouTube or on the podcast app of your choice.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And also, if you don't find the question being answered, then go to I amtimcore.com, go to the podcast page, and fill out that form there.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully you'll see your question answered in a future episode of DevQuestions.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us for this episode of DevQuestions.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Dev Questions.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: You can also send your questions to questions at IamTimcorey.com.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcore.com and enroll in the course.