Hello there, welcome back to this amazing blog, hope you enjoy a great read here. Today we would be talking about consistency as a Software developer who just began his/her career and you are feeling like you aren't growing or seeing the result of what you are learning after hours and hours of practice. Grab some popcorn, let enjoy this article.
What is consistency?
Consistency is the act of always behaving or performing in a similar way. In other words, it is an act of doing something over time or learning something over-time until it becomes part of you. A research was carried on elementary students, this was done by teaching them Mathematics higher than their level. The process of the research was to see if these kids would understand the high mathematics concept by "learning it every day", and just like some of us, we hate mathematics and the sound of it scares the shit out of us, in the midst of this same kids had some who were terrified by mathematics, the teacher job was to continue to teach them and made sure they solved sums, whether they get the answer or not. After a span of 7 months of learning these mathematics meant for High-school students, these elementary pupils were able to get an A in mathematics, including those that love it and those that don't love it. Now from the research above we could see that doing something over time makes us good at it just like these elementary students were able to understand High-school maths in 7 months of learning not 7 days or 7 hours. Doctors and lawyers spent years also learning what they know today, seeing a doctor perform surgery, you would think he/she is God who knows the human system but that my dear is the result of consistency over the years in med school. Now note that some students "didn't like maths", and are not naturally talented at it, but they still got an A. The lesson here is that even those without the will power or natural gifts to do some certain profession can be a pro at it with consistency. Nobody is born a software engineer, nobody was born with the knowledge on how to make React, and nobody was born with a Corei5 processor in his/her head. Are you born with such? Signify, please. With time you would get better before you proceed down this article. I want you to take a look at this website here made in the month of September 2020 and this one here and this here done in the month of December 2020. That a span of 2 months. Take a look at them and tell me what you think in a comment below. That was when I was learning CSS and it was dealing with me, I didn't understand it, I was bad at it, if you check the one done in September, it is disgusting, I can't even look at it. I looked at the source some days ago and I was like ' Aspire what are you writing?'. I didn't even have the willpower to continue but I kept on at it, and the projects from December shows prove of consistency.
3 Tips to be consistent
- Know your WHY: This may sound funny, but it is true, in any path of life or career you take in your life, you must have a reason for venturing in that path. Your reason for being a developer maybe because you want to make money, work at a fortune500 company, building a product, and being the next Jeff Bezos, or maybe as a hobby you like or whatever the reason may be. You need to have a very strong WHY, and whenever you feel down or demotivated, just reflect on the reason you entered this path in the first place.
- Strength beyond motivation and willpower: I know most of us need some kind of pushing and some talks to be able to get back at work, we need some kind of 'perspire to aspire' talks to push us to do something we love and it is okay. It is not bad to need motivation or will power, you may be a person who can only write code or build a project only when you 'feel' the need to, this is called will power or you need someone to tell you 'I believe in you', this is motivation right?. But permit me to break your heart, a time will come you would have none of this coming to you, you just have to push yourself by your WHY. Just like me with CSS, I lost the willpower and motivation, but my WHY was stronger than any motivation. When you are working as a freelancer I wonder you would tell you 'I believe in you', me? or your clients?, or working as a developer in Google, I don't think your product manager has time for that. So you have to build that structure of not waiting for willpower or motivation in other to work.
- Show up every day: If you are going to get better, you have to show up every day, you have to write code every day, even when nobody applause you, you still need to show up if you want to get better at writing, write everyday, design? then design every day, just like me and CSS and the elementary kids and maths, you need to show up daily with or without motivation or willpower. Accept correction and work with them.
Key take away:
- Your WHY needs to be stronger than your willpower or any motivational talks or quote.
- Show up every day, do it daily.
- Willpower and motivation won't always be there.
- Accept correction and work with them.
- It will take time but you would surely learn it, only if you show up daily. Watch this video here. Bill Gates, “If you want to be successful, get in front of what’s coming and let it hit you.”
Looking forward to seeing what you would become only if you are consistent. You can say Hi on Twitter here.