I see a lot of my friend and maybe you have buy some books, Udemy courses, or even just subscribe to a lot of Programming youtube channel but you never really learn anything from it, you never finish it, Why ?
This technique is to learn anything not just programming.
Well for me, here is what i do :
Step 1 - Love what you do
So first let me ask you, what is your favourite games ? now if i give you money to buy the game and play it, what do you do ?
i think you will play the game and having fun playing it right ? you may need help at some point to solve some hard level in the game, you browse some youtube videos to learn how to beat the level and etc, sometime it even take time to finish each level but you are having fun so you do it anyway.
Now lets try a different example,
What if i ask you to master React ( for example ) ?
Let say what i mean by master is just that you can build a project using it, you should not think twice, you are comfortable using it.
Do you think its not the same example ? its not, but the process is the same, you can just try it yourself maybe read the documentation and learn from there, when you get stuck you can go to youtube and watch some tutorial, if you get an error you can go to stackoverflow and etc.
You may even buy a Udemy course and follow the entire course and at the end you will have some projects. but can you really finish the class and learn a lot from it ?
Some people may be able to finish the course, learn a lot from it and even master it but a lot of others don't, they might think its hard, it's not for them or anything.
So why is that ?
the difference is INTEREST
you love playing game so you will do everything and even enjoy all the process to play and master it ( some game doesn't even have a finish line right ? )
what about taking a course? learning something new ? its hard and not enjoyable.
but if you can develop an interest on what you learn you maybe better at learning it because you enjoy it.
So how do you develop interest?
Lets say its night already and your brother ask you to buy some snack and soft drink or etc, you may be say its too late already, you want to go to sleep because you work tomorrow or etc.
Now lets try another example.
So there is a new release game and your friend call you and say that he have it and want to come over and play together but he ask if you have some snack and soft drink , of course you will buy it right away so you both have great time playing the game right ?.
The first example you make excuse, the second example you do it without hesitation. why ?
the answer is REWARD, if you have a reward you have interest.
Well you already know it right ? learning a new technology can get you a better job, more money , promotion etc , you already know the reward but still you failed at it, why ?
because :
- most people are not motivated by money
- the reward is too far
you know you will get it someday but its far away it take months or years so that it demotivated you.
in a world of instant satisfaction we want instant reward!
Small frequent reward
Make small goal that are achievable , something like "in a 2 weeks i want to learn and be able to create a login page in Laravel" that is very achievable.
Don't tell me you don't have time to do it when you frequently open social media apps throughout the day. just spend 1-2 hours per day to learn and achieve your goal.
Once you do that, you will get a reward because you see that you do something, you learn something new , YOU GET YOUR REWARD!
Now that you have done it for 2 weeks, its become your daily routine so continue doing it.
Finally, Share it !
a lot of people afraid to share , but you have to! because you can be motivated by sharing what you achieve. you can tell your friend or even share to youtube, twitter etc, so people know what you build and maybe leave a critique to make it better and you will learn more and more .
Again, money is not a motivation here but the small improvement in your self is the reward.
I hope this is useful and you can learn better and now please start learning :)