If you can find some resources in a short amount of time that's great! Start your learning process with those resources. Don't worry if they're the right resources or worry that they might lead you down the wrong path, just get started with them; you'll come back and evaluate if those resources are going to work for you. For now we're more interested in just getting started.
-One trap that I'm guilty of is trying to find the best resources for learning a topic. I'll spend hours looking for the right book, the right videos, the right courses; whatever it is I want to find the best version available so I can learn with the best material. I want to reduce the amount of false-starts while learning a topic. This seems like a noble pursuit (after all, why wouldn't you want the best materials available?). It's also a trap and can lead you into spending more time thinking about how you're learning rather than actually learning. Worse, if the material starts to confuse you (which is highly likely when you are learning something new) you'll spend your learning-time wondering if you made the right decision picking this material. This diminishes your ability to learn the topic because you're more focused on the quality of instruction and not the actual instruction.
+One trap that I'm guilty of is trying to find the best resources for learning a topic. I'll spend hours looking for the right book, the right videos, the right courses; whatever it is I want to find the best stuff available. Part of this is that I want to reduce the amount of false-starts while learning a topic. This seems like a noble pursuit (after all, why wouldn't you want the best materials available?). It's also a trap and can lead you into spending more time thinking about how you're learning rather than actually learning. Worse, if the material starts to confuse you (which is highly likely when you are learning something new) you'll spend your learning-time wondering if you made the right decision picking this material. You'll wonder if you chose the right material and continue searching for the best material (perhaps those good and great reviews really didn't know what they were talking about after all?) This diminishes your ability to learn the topic because you're more focused on discerning the quality of instruction and not spending time on the actual instruction.
-After a few days give yourself the opportunity to check in and see how you're learning. Are you feeling engaged or are you not enjoying this? If you're not feeling engaged (the material is loosely organized, the instructor is confusing, the examples don't work, etc.) then give yourself permission to see if there's better material or a different topic that interests you more. Even if your experience wasn't great you'll have a better idea of what to look for when choosing something new. You'll have a sense of where your gaps are in the topic and will have a better feel for what you're looking for in learning materials.
+After a few days give yourself the opportunity to check in and see how you're learning. Are you feeling engaged or are you not enjoying this? If you're not feeling engaged (the material is loosely organized, the instructor is confusing, the examples don't work, this material assumes you're already familiar with another topic, etc.) then give yourself permission to see if there's better material or a different topic that interests you more. Even if your learning-experience wasn't great you'll have a better idea of what to look for when choosing something new. You'll have a sense of where your gaps are in the topic and will have a better feel for what you're looking for in learning materials.
-If you're finding that the topic you're looking to learn is no longer interesting to you then give yourself some moments to reflect on why that is. Is it a difficult topic? Do you feel ready for the topic? Are you currently overwhelmed with other projects and are feeling tired when you approach this topic? Sometimes when we arrive to learn we realize that we need to learn something else before we can fully understand the topic. It's OK to find additional resources and focus on those before we tackle this topic. Just be aware of your internal dialog and struggles and be honest with yourself about why you want to move to something different. See yourself in the difficulty and notice if you're wanting to run because it is difficult or if you are truly unprepared for this topic. See if you can engage more with the difficulty and notice when you start to feel overwhelmed by it. Give yourself permission to stick with the difficulty as long as you can and notice your feelings and urges as you practice with it.
+If you're finding that the topic you're looking to learn is no longer interesting to you then give yourself some moments to reflect on why that is. Is it a difficult topic? Do you feel ready for the topic? Are you currently overwhelmed with other projects and are feeling tired when you approach this topic? Sometimes when we think we're ready to learn a topic we realize that there's something else we need to know before we can fully understand the topic. It's OK to find additional resources and focus on those before we tackle this topic. Just be aware of your struggles and your internal dialog. Be honest with yourself about why you want to move to something different. See yourself in the difficulty and notice if you're wanting to run because it is difficult or if you are truly unprepared for or uninterested in this topic. See if you can engage more with the difficulty and notice when you start to feel overwhelmed by it. Give yourself permission to stick with the difficulty as long as you can and notice your feelings and urges as you practice with it.
-Treat your learning as an iterative process, with regular check-in periods to see how you're doing. Think about how you feel when you're learning. Are you excited and engaged or do you feel tired and withdrawn? Do you try to procrastinate when you think about this topic? When you are focusing on your learning does your mind wander? Note these feelings as they occur to you during your focusing sessions and come back to them when you think about your learning process. Later you can reflect on those feelings and start to see patterns in your learning process. If you feel tired you may need more sleep, or may need learning material that is more stimulating. If you feel overwhelmed perhaps you need to start with something more basic before tackling this difficult project. If you're confused perhaps there is someone you can ask questions to gain clarity. These answers may not be apparent in the moment (you may be too busy feeling frustrated to understand where that frustration is coming from) but with some practice in noticing these feelings you can learn how your mind works and what it needs in order to keep engaged with your learning.
+### FIXME
+
+Treat your learning as an iterative process, with regular check-in periods to see how you're doing. Think about how you feel when you're learning. Are you excited and engaged or do you feel tired and withdrawn? Do you procrastinate when you think about this topic? When you focus on your learning does your mind wander? Note these feelings as they occur during your focus sessions and reflect on them when you think about your overall learning process. Later you can reflect on those feelings and start to see patterns in your learning process. If you feel tired you may need more sleep, or may need learning material that is more stimulating. If you feel overwhelmed perhaps you need to start with something more basic before tackling this difficult project. If you're confused perhaps there is someone you can ask questions to gain clarity. These answers may not be apparent in the moment (you may be too busy feeling frustrated to understand where that frustration is coming from) but with some practice in noticing these feelings you can learn how your mind works and what it needs in order to keep engaged with your learning.
## Resistance and The Container
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff