The first 10 hours

about 4 years ago

It has always annoyed me when people proclaimed that they always wanted to learn to play the piano or any other skill as if it was ever too late.

I wish I could code. Well, how do you think anyone ever learnt anything? They put in some time. And, if you’re really serious about that wish, this is the only way to do it. But I don’t have the time! you say and you are wrong.

What you don’t have is either the motivation or a clear enough idea of how to start.

This is not to get all #hustle on you but you have time. Exchange one of the TV shows you watch with learning to code a little bit. One season of Game of Thrones is, what, at least 10 hours? I promise you that you can make your own, your very own, home grown website in 10 hours or less. Especially if you call those 10 hours a deadline.

Unsurmountable tasks like “☑️ learn to code” or “☑️ learn to play the piano” are daunting because they’re impossible to ever finish. When is anyone done learning to code? I’m certainly not and I’ve been going for over 15 years. People die having had successful programming careers yet still learning to code.

This is just to say that, you do absolutely have time to learn to code something. Perhaps, start out with the task of creating as much of a personal website as possible in 10 hours. This works if you don’t know anything about coding and it works if you’re a pro.

The deadline makes sure you don’t waste too much time on details or the fact that there are things you don’t know yet. You’re a smart, capable person. You can look things up if you need to.

I promise you, if you do this, you will feel like you can do anything and you’re now at least 10 hours into the life-long task of learning to code.

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