I’ve already been exposed to how coding works at a very young age and have started a few lessons a few years ago since high school. But why am I still not an expert in web development? The answer to that is because I haven’t really finished any courses or lessons yet.
Inconsistency and a complete lack of discipline, there’s planning, and then, there is not following the said plan.
After months of consistently not following the plans I made, I finally had the guts to suck it up and started to learn discipline and consistency through web development. And it’s about time I do it as well.
STEP ONE: SET UP A SCHEDULE
So, the first task is how to fit studying web development into my daily schedule. I have to take into account that I also have online classes and a study session with my siblings alongside these writing blogs.
At first, it seems like it’s a lot, but in reality, my schedule is so chaotic that it just seems that way. After clearing a few unwanted leisure time, I finally have a somewhat concrete schedule with no fixed time frames. I’ll explain why. My schedule per day changes every time. For example, I would want to start my web development at 8:00 am, but sometimes my classes would appear out of nowhere, and I would’ve missed it.
I’m the type of person who hates schedules and never seems to stick to one. It seems too restricting and boring, and repetitive. And that is just not for me. So you can see how setting up a schedule is a challenging task. But I need to get out of the rut, so I need to overcome this massive part of my goal somehow.
I’ve discovered that my free time is usually around 6-7 pm. So I added my web development studying at around that time, thinking that it would be enough.
STEP TWO: CHOOSE YOUR MEDIUM
Of course, there are many resources you can choose to start your web development journey, ranging from free courses such as freecodecamp and paid courses such as Udemy; additionally, there are many YouTube tutorials. You can choose whatever fits you and your budget. The results are the same if you put tons and tons of effort into your studies.
I was lucky enough that my father bought a Udemy course months ago when he wanted to refresh his mind on web development, and I got to borrow that course. (thanks, dad!)
STEP THREE: GET STARTED ON LEARNING
Day One started, and I am a very excited bee. I set up VS code, used my phone as a secondary screen to watch the lecture, and I’m ready to go. The first few lessons are very familiar to me as I’ve already read and tried them a few years back with the help of W3 schools.
I learned about basic HTML tags, the structure of an HTML document, and a little bit of styling. Nothing too difficult. However, the biggest change that I discovered was the use of semantics.
A few years back, I recalled using this tag to make the text bold; now, I learned that the said tag is now ancient! And what they use now is the tag. Those are just a few examples. So I guess the HTML that I learned back then was now some sort of legacy. Good thing I decided to start again.
STEP FOUR: WHEN LAZINESS STRIKES, AVOID AT ALL COST
I have this terrible habit of not finishing anything, and it’s eating me up to the core. No matter how pretty my to-do list is, no matter how specific my schedule is, one way or another, my laziness is bound to come knocking at my door and destroy everything I’ve set up. It’s a terrible and bad habit, and I knew I needed to defeat it.
It was about the third day into the journey when laziness came to visit me, and boy, I was crying internally. Of course, my immediate action would be to stop what I’m doing and convince myself that I’d do it tomorrow or the day after that. The moment I realized this, I knew I was in deep crap.
The first step in overcoming laziness? Know its triggers. Mine has a lot of triggers, ranging from the weather to the type of music I listen to. It’s ridiculous, I know. But at that time, it was because I found the lesson so basic I got bored.
So, how did I overcome this tiny blip? I just kept working on it. As simple as that, I listened to the lectures and typed out everything the teacher said. In truth, it was just flowing in my brain, but the central point is that I didn’t stop working at it; no matter how slow it seemed to be, I just kept at it.
Sure it was half-baked, but because I was doing something, it tricked my brain into thinking it was something productive. At least I didn’t give up! Cause if I did then, it would be a downward spiral from now on.
That’s how I escaped it this time; who knows what may come up next. I’m aware that many people have many different ways of how they overcome laziness. This is mine for now. What’s yours?
STEP FIVE: SURVIVING THE REST OF THE WEEK
After that “almost giving up” moment, I discovered that my resolve in learning web development is not that strong. I need a stronger resolve and stronger willpower if I’m to finish this. However, it’s far from game over, and I have more levels I need to complete.
