If you've ever wanted to engage in an activity that enforces the idea of persistence, two come to mind. Rock climbing and programming. You only reach the top of a rock if you persist. Likewise, the computer will only succumb to the will of the programmer if he persists long enough to get it working.
On the rock, you face some very strong opponents, the most objective of which is gravity. Second, and you'd hope this force would work in your favor but it often doesn't, is fitness. The endurance your muscles have and the amount of friction your skin can handle is proportionate to the amount of work you've done prior to the climb. Show up unprepared to meet gravity on any given day and it will win. To be fair, gravity has been around a lot longer and knows what she's doing.
If you want to be a better programmer one rule of thumb is to start simply and gradually increase complexity. When working with code you're not completely familiar with, get a small piece of code working first. If possible, allow your code to run continuously as you update it. Unfortunately, not all code is easy to do that with, but the tools are getting better every day. Start small, iterate as you keep it working.
Persistence is as much about attitude as it is about grit and tenacity. If you have a calm, unassuming mind, grit will be less necessary. If you're patient and diligent in your approach, you'll be rewarded appropriately when the time is right but not before.
Feel free to take a break, be calm, and enjoy the struggle. Persistence doesn't come with a default attitude, that choice is up to you. The more you let go of how things should be and simply enjoy how they are - the better friends you'll make with reality. And, if you want to be on a winning team, choose reality, because reality wins, but only every time.
On the rock, you face some very strong opponents, the most objective of which is gravity. Second, and you'd hope this force would work in your favor but it often doesn't, is fitness. The endurance your muscles have and the amount of friction your skin can handle is proportionate to the amount of work you've done prior to the climb. Show up unprepared to meet gravity on any given day and it will win. To be fair, gravity has been around a lot longer and knows what she's doing.
If you want to be a better programmer one rule of thumb is to start simply and gradually increase complexity. When working with code you're not completely familiar with, get a small piece of code working first. If possible, allow your code to run continuously as you update it. Unfortunately, not all code is easy to do that with, but the tools are getting better every day. Start small, iterate as you keep it working.
Persistence is as much about attitude as it is about grit and tenacity. If you have a calm, unassuming mind, grit will be less necessary. If you're patient and diligent in your approach, you'll be rewarded appropriately when the time is right but not before.
Feel free to take a break, be calm, and enjoy the struggle. Persistence doesn't come with a default attitude, that choice is up to you. The more you let go of how things should be and simply enjoy how they are - the better friends you'll make with reality. And, if you want to be on a winning team, choose reality, because reality wins, but only every time.
Unstoppable forces such as gravity fascinate me. Also cut-throat objective systems like programming.
However, I am even more fascinated by the other polar opposite of such objectivity. The extreme subjectivity. Interpretation of meaning in a place where meaning actually doesn't exist until you create it or adopt another's interpretation.
Persistence is as much about attitude as it is about grit and tenacity. If you have a calm, unassuming mind, grit will be less necessary.
I find that this is the key. To be outcomes driven and living where you're constantly thinking well it should be this way is a recipe for anxiety and low progress.
Caveat on that latter point. If you are thinking well it should be this way and you add I will make it that way then that's different. I was more thinking of people wishing things were different with no actual means of moving the needle that direction.
Your response alone would make a great intro to philosophical thinking conversation.
I am 70-80% sure that