Natural/in built motivation?

@Bassmansam There's a chart somewhere that plots programming competence with perceived competence/satisfaction/euphoria (etc).

It's initially linear. You learn and you feel great and you think you'll keep learning and it'll keep being awesome.

Then you reach a point where you realise how much you don't know. And although you're getting more competent, you feel bad. You hate everything you write.

Then you come out of that and yadda, yadda, yadda.

The point the graph is making is that early on, learning and doing feels great. Once you've done a bit, you lose that initial unshakable confidence and an inescapable imposter syndrome really sets in, at the point where you're actually expected to do useful things and get paid for it :p

The experiences I've read suggest it takes decades to get over that imposter syndrome phase :p
 
In general, I don't think it's necessarily healthy to view success or happiness as an all or nothing scenario.

Success and happiness are sliding scales, and those sliding scales will be different for different people.
And if you've got a sliding scale of 10 down to 0 for example, being 1 is still better than 0 even if not by much.

By all means aim for the moon, because if you miss then there's still a damn good chance you will land among the stars.
 
Ayahuasca said:
Was this straight outta Facebook? I cringed a little.
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Nah it's an old quote from a preacher I think, it's cheesy but he's got a point.
If you never try to achieve anything you likely never will.
If you do try to aim for something, even if you don't manage it you'll likely end up somewhere better than where you originally were.
 
Lopéz said:
It's objectively not horse **** because there are thousands, if not millions, of people in the world who have succeeded at what they want to do through little more than hard work and determination.
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No, the statement is horse ****. It should be: "Try hard and MIGHT succeed at what you want to do. No guarantees "

That probably wouldnt fly so well in a Disney movie/on a motivational poster though..
 
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steve45 said:
What the ******* ******* **** is this thread??? What have I just read?:eek::confused::confused::confused:

Hopefully the OP has got his Mojo/motivation back and is off doing productive stuff rather than procrastinating on the forums. This thread is enough to make anyone think "thats enough internet for me today".
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I did it in 2018, only came back (briefly in 21 to buy something I think) then what you might call "full time ***********" this month... That's a long old gap of no socials AT ALL.
What did I do... Change job, read a lot, use Youtube in the evenings to watch psychology related stuff, relationship stuff, philosophy stuff. really tried to open my mind and learn more about us in this world and what it means to be here.
Really feels like a breath of fresh air now, whilst I still feel as thick as pig **** like I've always done (never did very well in school despite actually trying), being able to step back from it and understand what it is and how I'm where I am is helpful.
50% of what we are is hardwired in genetics, the rest is up to us, so I guess to answer the OP if he is out there somewhere, it's just discipline at the end of the day, either you want the change enough that you get up and start something or you don't.
Some of the reason we don't is because we were born without enough "GET AT IT" gene, the rest is moulded from the way we are brought up, educated, cared for and encouraged.
Some of us get the red carpet, some of us get the path to hell, its sad in a way that people can't find their full potential in life..
Motivation for things will always come and go like the wind, you can't rely on that to be your guiding force in life.

Where do you want to be
What are the things that are going to get you there

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO WANT I've heard it said...

Peter Attia MD did a "short" on YT the other day which puts life goals into a stark perspective...
(Can't find it Arrgh)
It's a calendar of your weeks of life and when you plot it out, it's scarily ******* short!!!

A way I've come to look at it..
Lets say the avg age of a poster here is 30.. so you got forty years left of decently healthy life left in you if you're lucky not to get struck by a bus or an illness / disease. Forty years sounds reasonable..
How does forty summers sound... forty summers left to enjoy, 40 Christmas's left to enjoy your family with.
Does that poke you anywhere sharply..

He also has some great content on thinking about the bigger picture for health in what's called your marginal decade, one we are all sadly going to have but never think about.
What do you want your health to look like then.. and that's just ONE aspect of life...

That's enough rambling, I'll end here
SLEEP
SUNSHINE
EXERCISE
NUTRITION
NATURE
That's all you need to worry about, the rest will take care of itself.
 
Jono, I think you misunderstand what luck is..

You might see it as luck you met a guy in the coffee shop that set you up in some deal to make bank, where in actual fact it was because you got up early that morning instead of laying in bed and rushing to work without stopping for coffee.
All the steps that led you up to that point weren't luck,
you got your stuff ready the night before.... Discipline
You got to bed on time and slept well and felt rested and happy... discipline
You had to time to stop for coffee and chat to the regulars you see. The fact that you happened to speak to that guy, that morning and the thousand other things you didn't even blink an eye about doing that didn't even enter your conscience... wasn't luck..

Capiche!
 
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Fuzz said:
Jono, I think you misunderstand what luck is..

You might see it as luck you met a guy in the coffee shop that set you up in some deal to make bank, where in actual fact it was because you got up early that morning instead of laying in bed and rushing to work without stopping for coffee.
All the steps that led you up to that point weren't luck,
you got your stuff ready the night before.... Discipline
You got to bed on time and slept well and felt rested and happy... discipline
You had to time to stop for coffee and chat to the regulars you see. The fact that you happened to speak to that guy, that morning and the thousand other things you didn't even blink an eye about doing that didn't even enter your conscience... wasn't luck..

Capiche!
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And this is a large part of that I mean by "you make your own luck" :)
 
Fuzz said:
Jono, I think you misunderstand what luck is..

You might see it as luck you met a guy in the coffee shop that set you up in some deal to make bank, where in actual fact it was because you got up early that morning instead of laying in bed and rushing to work without stopping for coffee.
All the steps that led you up to that point weren't luck,
you got your stuff ready the night before.... Discipline
You got to bed on time and slept well and felt rested and happy... discipline
You had to time to stop for coffee and chat to the regulars you see. The fact that you happened to speak to that guy, that morning and the thousand other things you didn't even blink an eye about doing that didn't even enter your conscience... wasn't luck..

Capiche!
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No
 
Fuzz said:
Jono, I think you misunderstand what luck is..

You might see it as luck you met a guy in the coffee shop that set you up in some deal to make bank, where in actual fact it was because you got up early that morning instead of laying in bed and rushing to work without stopping for coffee.
All the steps that led you up to that point weren't luck,
you got your stuff ready the night before.... Discipline
You got to bed on time and slept well and felt rested and happy... discipline
You had to time to stop for coffee and chat to the regulars you see. The fact that you happened to speak to that guy, that morning and the thousand other things you didn't even blink an eye about doing that didn't even enter your conscience... wasn't luck..

Capiche!
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That has got nothing to do with being disciplined. You could quite easily flip it on its head and say the guy who got up late and was lazy walked past the same coffee shop and then picked up a euromillions winning ticket.

I do agree with the never give up attitude though. You throw it at the wall so many times it will eventually stick and is all a building block for the future. I found that out myself after 15 years in corporate groveling for the next promotion hoping my good work would get noticed. Truth is you got to hustle and take what you can when you can. Loyalty doesn't mean anything anymore.
 
Jono8 said:
No, exactly. Because they can't.

My point is (and this is obviously a simplified example), that there might only be 10 software development posts available in the world, but 200 people have their life long dream of being a software developer.

Out of those 200 people, my argument is that it almost certainly isn't the most hard working and talented 10 people that get those posts. Those 200 people could all put just as much effort and work into getting that post, but only 10 will (and likely not the best ones either due to a myriad of other factors).
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You sound like someone that doesn't have much experience of the hiring process and definitely not in software development.

Anyone with a cheap computer, an internet connection, and a bit of hard work can make it. Demand for good developers is huge, at all levels.

The ones that do make it through interviews are the ones that are the most talented and work the hardest. I've just done a round of interviews for graduates and the ones that got through were really impressive, they haven't slipped cash under the table, no-ones had a word in my ear, they have simply put the work in and got their reward.

If someone is getting repeatedly bounced for jobs, they need to exercise a bit of introspection and identify ways to improve, not blame it on bad luck or 'other factors'.
 
mid_gen said:
You sound like someone that doesn't have much experience of the hiring process and definitely not in software development.

Anyone with a cheap computer, an internet connection, and a bit of hard work can make it. Demand for good developers is huge, at all levels.

The ones that do make it through interviews are the ones that are the most talented and work the hardest. I've just done a round of interviews for graduates and the ones that got through were really impressive, they haven't slipped cash under the table, no-ones had a word in my ear, they have simply put the work in and got their reward.

If someone is getting repeatedly bounced for jobs, they need to exercise a bit of introspection and identify ways to improve, not blame it on bad luck or 'other factors'.
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I'm not really talking about software development...
 
randomshenans said:
This comes back to my point: What's your measure of success and happiness?
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This, my dad told me a version of this story when I was younger and it's always stuck with me on how to view life and not get too carried away with the rat race
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”

“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
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