Longer-term goals are just goals that have been broken down into shorter-term goals. Focus on the short-term goals and allow yourself to course-correct as needed (and follow a few connections as you desire.)
+## Failure and learning
+
+One thing that we are afraid of while learning is failure. We worry that we won't learn the topic quickly or completely. We pick up material that starts off simply but later on becomes very complex, and we struggle to keep up. We try examples and find ourselves needing help in order to complete them. We fail to grasp the material and wonder if we'll ever learn what we're trying to learn.
+
+Failure is a part of learning. If you knew the material you wouldn't be learning.
+
+One of the reasons for practicing learning using containers is because we give ourselves those brief moments of failure and repetition. Repetition is how you get better at whatever you're learning. Failure allows you to course-correct your learning so you can determine how best to approach this the next time you make an attempt.
+
+We often feel that failure is something to be avoided, but while we're learning it is unavoidable. Our learning process requires us to fail in order to get better at what we're learning. That's the whole point of learning: reworking your brain so that it can finally understand the concepts you're trying to learn.
+
+Part of learning is having the right mindset for learning. Instead of feeling like you're constantly failing and struggling to keep up you may want to approach it with a different perspective. Instead of "I can't do this. It's too hard." approach it with a more curious "This is all new to me. This is why I'm practicing learning this." Giving yourself a more positive mindset will help keep you from giving up when you struggle with the material.
+
## Dead ends and changing topography
Sometimes we'll find ourselves learning something that's a dead end. We look at our progress and see no real improvement. We don't find the topic as engaging or as exciting as we'd imagined. We realize that what we're learning is an evolutionary dead-end in the realm of programming. What then?
I also am grateful for the work of Leo Babauta of [Zen Habits][5] which provided me the ideas of mindfulness and focus containers. They have been transformative in my own work, as this book demonstrates. I committed to spending at least 10 minutes each morning to write each section, and the results are the work you see before you.
-Thank you to those who helped me directly with this project. Thank you to my mom, Sharon Maloney, for her edits to this book. Any misteaks that remain are the responsibilities of the author. Thank you to Beau Sheldon for reviewing the chapter on mental health and for helping me to better understand and highlight areas where folks struggle. Thank you to my friend David Revoy for his amazing cover art and for his inspiration throughout the project. Thank you to the beta readers for your valuable comments and feedback (their names are currently listed on the Framagit repo but will be listed here in a future revision).
+Thank you to those who helped me directly with this project. Thank you to my mom, Sharon Maloney, for her edits to this book. Any mist steaks that remain are an responsibilities of the author. Thank you to Beau Sheldon for reviewing the chapter on mental health and for helping me to better understand and highlight areas where folks struggle. Thank you to my friend David Revoy for his amazing cover art and for his inspiration throughout the project. Thank you to the beta readers for your valuable comments and feedback (their names are currently listed on the Framagit repo but will be listed here in a future revision).
My deepest gratitude goes to my wife JoDee and my parents for their support and belief in me. Words cannot express the love and thanks I have for you.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff