Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about momentum. Many of us understand its advantages; life feels effortless when we have it and once you get it, you’re good, right?
But how many of us can genuinely say we’ve experienced long periods of it? How exactly does one stay in momentum?
Reflecting on my own experiences in school, work, and everything in between, I used to think that momentum favored those who ‘worked hard’. I later replaced that with those who ‘work smart’. This, I believed this was the key to unlocking it all — focus and enhanced attention spans as the ultimate rewards.
Turns out I was gravely mistaken — and that’s a relief!
Momentum isn’t earned. It’s engineered. One intentional moment at a time.
I recently completed the #100DaysOfCode challenge on X[^1].Throughout the challenge, it felt like I was constantly falling in and out of momentum. Some weeks, progress was seamless; other weeks, I found myself doing anything but coding.
An overwhelming pattern emerged as I studied the periods that were bliss.
Syllabuses Exist For A Reason
As you may have inferred, I’m a grown adult trying to figure out how to best learn outside of a structured environment[^2]. On my own here – playing dean (not entirely sure what they do but I’ll chalk it up to resource allocator…), professor, and student. Compressing this all into one comes with obvious challenges. Pretty early into the journey, my school days took on a halcyon, inaccurate glow. The rose-tinting did help me borrow the highlights aspects to apply to my solo journey ahead.
The periods without momentum felt like I was scrambling between projects, skills, and languages. I lacked clarity, and every day felt like I was starting from scratch. It was miserable. In contrast, when I adopted a more project-based approach, things started to flow. Even with just a rough idea of a feature or mini-app I wanted to build, the days that followed were easier because they broke into smaller and more specific tasks. I spent less time thinking and more time coding.
Also, keeping a list of things you want to learn is like a superpower. Jotting down what interests me keeps me prepared with a well to draw from at any time. When things inevitably get boring, you’ll have a fresh area to explore that satisfies curiosity without disrupting momentum. Basically, I now aim to sketch out a rough vision for a given challenge -> break into a focus area by week -> set a very specific (no further than the tip of my nose) challenge for the current day.
Setting aside time every day is key as well (I know this is common sense, but it’s actually quite challenging because no two days are ever the same). Aside from time, mental acuity and energy levels vary day to day, even for the most type A folks. Waking up with a specific coding challenge in mind helped me estimate how much time I’d need and then all I had to do was carve and conquer. Tackling tasks earlier in the day usually worked better, but there were plenty of late nights when momentum still carried me through to the next challenge. I’ve found this strategy works well for most things.
A lot of floating internet advice tells us to find enjoyment in the thing and/or your ‘why’. Typically, it’s the reward at the end of the project – telling others about it, putting it on your wall, etc. This is a good idea. But sometimes it doesn’t work in the long haul. There WILL be days you hate the thing you’re trying to do. When I got stuck, I was disheartened at how quickly I’d want to give up and abandoning all my progress. Unfortunately, one must prepare for these times.
The only solution I’ve found (warning: sounds incredibly corny but it’s true!) was to treasure my curiosity. Often, we suppress our curiosity in favor of practicality. If you’re undertaking a solo journey, it might help to flip the two.
I made plenty of silly projects that had little use. But they helped keep my curiosity alive, and that’s the only fuel I needed. The challenge only ends when ya quit!
This has also shifted the way I see the world (cheesy again, but also very true). Now, whenever I come across beautiful web design, I pause and guess how it was created. Maybe I’ll give it a try or save it as inspiration for a future project. Being in awe of the things around you and what you’re able to create is a constant source of enjoyment. Making something you never thought you could, and appreciating the craft of a stranger on the internet, is truly special. May we do all of this, in momentum!
[^1]. I learned web design in this challenge. In previous years, I set out to learn R and Python. AI has made ‘self-teaching’ so much better; I am very grateful for it!
[^2]. This has been a multi-year undertaking, and I’m realizing it will never end! You never perfect this sort of thing but it is a lot of fun.