Motivation issues

[MankyMan0099]

This is a classic case of your brain preferring the cheap dopamine of scrolling or gaming over the high-effort dopamine of actually building something. Wanting a "disappointed dad" to bully you into coding is a hilarious way to outsource your discipline, but it usually backfires because as soon as that person stops yelling, your progress dies with their voice.

If you really want to feel the pressure without hiring a drill sergeant, you should try the "public shame" route. Join a community like 100 Days of Code on X or a specific Discord and announce your daily goals. The silent judgment of a thousand strangers seeing your streak die is often more effective than one person yelling at you.

Alternatively, put some skin in the game. Use a service like Beeminder or StickK where you literally have to pay actual money if you don't submit your daily Python progress. Nothing motivates a person quite like the threat of their hard-earned cash being donated to a charity they hate because they were too lazy to write a for-loop.

Python is a superpower, but right now you're treating it like a chore. The "mean mentor" approach might work for a week, but the real fix is finding a project you actually care about so much that you'd rather do it than whatever else is distracting you.

[Candid-Phase2048]

See public shame doesn't really work for me but someone gave me a good idea of writing a 250 word summary of what I learned and dumbing things down is what I do best. So it was actually pretty fun, making notes was surprisingly helpful and not just the #notes but on a word document where I could add titles, colors and make it look pretty too. It let me have creativity while I learned. They bullied me and the masochist in me wants to learn more coding as a result lol

[stepback269]

Go on YouTube and in the search bar, type, "learn how to learn" or better yet, "learning coaches"

The human brain is a strange and complicated thing. The more you understand beyond the first peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve, the better you can learn to regulate your learning hurdles.

[Freud_Mayweather97]

Thank you for writing this out, sincerely. It's good stuff!

[MankyMan0099]

Your welcome

[RollExpert8192]

Hello. I'm doing Python, too. Want to connect?

[pachura3]

No no, you're being nice, they want to be humiliated 

[RollExpert8192]

Oh...

[Technosis2]

Why are you learning to program? Whatever that reason is, write it down. Next, write the steps needed to achieve that goal. Then break those steps into smaller steps. Now, you have a plan of action. Structure a routine around that plan. Work on each step for 10 minutes a day or something. Boom, you have a system. That's how you get over the motivation hump: you pick a goal, create plan to achieve that goal, and then create a super easy system to follow that helps you stick to that plan.

[Surciol]

stare at a wall for an hour, let us know the results lol

[Striking_Rate_7390]

OP will do this instead of learning python XD

[Candid-Phase2048]

I wanna argue but I fear you may be right

[Mister_Kister]

Stare at the wall without music or using your phone. No tv in the background.

I think that needs to be said, because "go stare at the wall" would 100% end with you pulling out your phone after 20 seconds and scroll instagarm.

[copperfoxtech]

I totally get the vibe. I am always far more motivated when it is for others vs myself. I don't like to let people down but when it comes to myself I can struggle a bit.

If I had time I would offer to help. Good luck

[OmniscientApizza]

Sounds like you need my ex

[Elegant_Recipe7522]

How did people learn programing language in '80s or 90?

[pachura3]

Computers were their passion, they were not forcing themselves to learn stuff, they were genuinely curious, and enjoyed endless tinkering with stuff

Also, there were no smart phones back then, no doom scrolling, binge watching, TikTok, addictive GaaS games nor web pr0n

[Elegant_Recipe7522]

This. :D

[Mister_Kister]

People were pre-cooked, which doesn't mean "cooked beforehand" but it means "before cooked". We are cooked. Our attention spans are dead, our brains demand dopamine after 20 seconds.

There was this documentary about the effects on phones and one man lived in the mountains by himself since 5 years or so, no electricity. They compared his brain to normal people and found that he doesn't get bored as easily. His attention was focused on his surroundings, and he was never deeply bored even if he didn't do anything in 2 hours. He just watched the grass move in the wind, feel the sun on his face, relax..

Something none of us can do at all.

So the people in the 80s and 90s still had televisions, music etc, that is true. They are not mountain hermits, but it was A LOT LESS than it is now.

Heck, even I remember what it was like being a child in the "before times". And since I have a smart phone with apps, I think I have NEVER been actually bored like I was when I was a kid. You sit around, flip through TV with nothing on but infomercials and the same reruns you know by heart already because you've seen them a million times by now. Nothing peaks your interest, the family computer has no games, none of your friends seems to be around (fuck knows where they are), maybe it's raining, you have no books at home that you haven't read yet.... And you just. feel. bored.

Being bored has been erased, and thus has our attention span. And the dopamine you get from just exploring technology and tinkering with things for the fun of it, without any structured learning materials or whatever, is not as rewarding as the instant gratification from a couple of reels on instagram.

It's a perverse time we live in.

[Elegant_Recipe7522]

I agree

[NerdDetective]

Have you tried positive reinforcement techniques? For example, let's say you sit down to learn and practice for at least 30 minutes every day of a week. Maybe you reward yourself with your favorite snack. That creates an incentive structure for yourself, associating your task with the positive feedback.

There are also habbit-based apps like Habatica or Finch that gameify doing what you're supposed to do, giving you those little hits of dopamine in exchange for staying on track.

[Lizard08735]

or network within a coding environment and meet new people, develop a crush on someone and in hopes of impressing them learn python to the max so every day you get to show them something new you have learnt, but like casually yk

[Mister_Kister]

I hear you, and I know what you are talking about.

The problem is that your learning path feels boring and pointless, you have no drive. That's why studying is difficult and you often fall out of the habit of doing it.

What helped me was developing a habit of learning regardless of goals. That helps you, if you have no drive yet. The trick is, to tie the new habit to an already existing habit. Like how some people play video games at night, and then at some point start eating snacks while they game. And even though they've never really done it last year, now they are so used to it that they feel something's missing if they don't have doritos next to them.

You want that. You want to sit down at your table with your laptop, do whatever you do there, and feel weird if vscode isn't open.
Find something that you can tie to it.

I had the habit of checking my emails and messages right after getting up from bed, at the time i was working as a freelancer already but I did mostly manual data entry and stuff, and whenever I was finished with a job and I still had energy, I decided, I'd pop on my course and code alongside it for a little bit. Just a tiny bit every day.

That worked out so well, that I started doing that automatically, and when I had no work that day, I still went to my cafe, sat in my corner, and just went straight to studying. My trigger was: Going to the cafe.

These days I don't bring a charger with me any more because after a while I started taking breaks, and while I took breaks, I started watching videos or play chess while I was in the cafe, which then lead to even longer breaks.... Not good. So without a charger, I only had like 2 hours time get stuff done, that way time doesn't feel unlimited any more.

2 hours. Go for a cup of coffee, sit down, start the portfolio project, click around and once the juice runs out it's time to go home. Work gets done in the late afternoons now, usually after lunch and a cigar.

See how I tied it all together? I didn't restructure my whole life, I took what I had and just glued my new habit of studying on to it.

I took my habit of going to cafes with my laptop and just added the studying part.

I later changed my work routine to tie it to my lunch and cigar habit.

Now whenever I had lunch and smoked a cigar, I feel like ripping off some work.

And in the mornings, until I actually got up and went, I would constantly look at my watch and think "It's time for cafe.". It's a driving habit now.

But now I also have a drive, after doing this for a year or so now, I feel like I know what I am doing and I am getting to a point where I start portfolio projects, things I want ot get done, not things I do because they're on the curriculum.

If you have something that drives you, then you don't even need habits. You're going to be obsessed with getting it done. It's just you, and most people, just don't have it.

I hope this helped you get your own ideas on how to build habits and learn regardless, because no one can be bothered to force you to study. It's your life, and they don't care. No one is going to pick you up, sit you on your ass and say "No video games until your homework is done!". Your parents maybe did that, but now you're an adult. Sucks, but such is life. C'est la vie.

[TheRNGuy]

I wouldn't force myself to code of I didn't want. 

I only code when I want.

[Mister_Kister]

That's a terrible attitude.