elprogramadormediocre/chapter06.md

El mapaa no es el territorio

El panorama cambiante de la programación

La única constante en el campo de la programación es que siempre está en constante cambio. Los lenguajes de programación llegan a tener mucho renombre y después desaparecen con el paso del tiempo. Lo que una vez fue tomado como un hecho ahora está considerado obsoleto (o incluso "considerado dañino" como señalan algunos ensayos).

Cuando me gradué en la universidad aprendí Pascal, Modula2 y Ada. Desafortunadamente esos lenguajes empezaron a decaer en popularidad en favor de C. Cuando comencé en mi primer trabajo de programación como "profesional" Perl era el lenguaje de elección (en parte porque Perl podía ser transformado de manera sencilla en scripts CGI de la época y era considerado superior a herramientas para realizar scripts como awk y los tradicionales scripts para la shell). En el momento de escribir esto estoy utilizando Python como mi lenguaje de desarrollo principal y preveo que tendré que buscar otros lenguajes de programación para expandir mi carrera como programador.

Programar requiere flexibilidad. Es difícil aprender solo una manera de hacer las cosas y mantener eso de manera relevante durante 20 años. Recuerda cual era la tecnología actual hace 20 años y no tendrás ninguna duda en observar que las cosas eran bastante diferentes entonces. Si quieres poner en práctica un ejercicio divertido, busca artículos describiendo la tecnología puntera de hace 20 años y ver cuanto de aquello reconoces.

Aprender a aprender

Aprender metodologías y tecnologías específicas no es una buena estrategia a largo plazo para los programadores. Es más recomendable si aprendemos a aprender y, lo que es más importante, cómo aprendemos nosotros mismos. Eso suena simple: una vez que hayamos descifrado cómo aprender de manera efectiva, seremos programadores efectivos. Desafortunadamente, no existe una manera infalible de aprender que funcione para todas las personas. Personas diferentes aprenden de diferentes maneras. Todos tenemos estilos de aprendizaje que funcionan mejor cuando se enfatizan ciertas cosas. Algunos aprenden mejor en el aula de una clase, mientras que otros aprenden mejor con el estudio auto dirigido (libros, grabaciones de vídeo, etc.). Algunos pueden leer un libro y entender perfectamente la materia, mientras que otros pueden necesitar enfoques más visuales. Si tienes el lujo de poder probar varias metodologías diferentes para aprender, te animo a que uses todas las que puedas para descubrir cuál funciona mejor en tu caso. Comprender lo que funciona para ti será clave para ayudarte a progresar y crecer.

He encontrado que algunos principios sencillos funcionan mejor en mi caso. El primero es la repetición. Aprendo mejor cuando hago algo de manera diaria, una y otra vez, en pequeñas dosis. La segunda manera es teniendo una pequeña meta que pueda conseguir. Así que para mí tener una práctica diaria en un proyecto donde pueda trabajar y conseguir un objetivo es lo que mejor me funciona. Cuando estaba aprendiendo Python me uní a la PyWeek, una competición de programación de un juego de una semana de duración donde el tema a tratar se anuncia al comienzo y toda la programación transcurre en una semana. Durante esa semana completa encontré tiempo para completar mi juego y al final de la semana había aprendido más sobre Pygame (la biblioteca que utilicé para mi juego) y Python que lo que había conseguido en semanas anteriores al PyWeek. Realizar una semana de duración de esta game jam (como lo llaman) es un poco extremista, pero me dio un objetivo claro (un juego funcional completo) y un tiempo dedicado para conseguirlo (una semana). Con el paso del tiempo he aprendido más sobre Python con varios proyectos (tanto profesionales como personales) que tenían una práctica diaria y objetivos claramente definidos.

Necesitarás experimentar para ver qué es lo que mejor funciona en tu caso. El principio que subyace es que el proceso de aprender debería ser algo que tu puedas utilizar para cualquier lenguaje o concepto en programación. Debería también ofrecer al menos menos resistencia a tu aprendizaje. Tu capacidad para aprender y adaptarte será vital para tu experiencia como programador, así que entender tu propio proceso de aprendizaje y qué funciona mejor en tu caso te ayudará en este proceso.

Como mínimo, reserva 10 minutos al día para un contenedor (consulta el capítulo anterior) para una lectura y el aprendizaje enfocados. Hay mucho que aprender en programación y crear un hábito de aprendizaje te ayudará a mantenerte al día. Recuerda, sin embargo, mantener tu aprendizaje contenido en pequeños fragmentos. Mucha información puede abrumarte y hacerte pensar que no puedes aprenderlo todo. Tienes razón, no puedes aprenderlo todo de una sola vez. Si alguien te dijera que bebieras uno de los Grandes Lagos de una sola vez, sería difícil completar la tarea (nota: ¡no intentes esto!). Sin embargo, si llenaras un vaso de agua varias veces al día de uno de los Grandes Lagos y lo bebieras (10 minutos cada vez), comenzarías a hacer una mella apreciable en la reducción de ese lago a lo largo de tu vida. (Claro, puede que no parezca mucho desde el exterior, pero ese es el cruce donde la realidad y las metáforas se rompen).

Cada día tienes una oportunidad de aprender sobre más sobre ordenadores y la programación de estas. Realizar una pequeña parte cada día para aprender un poco más te ayudará en tu viaje.

Cómo escoger qué aprender

Hay muchas oportunidades para aprender, ya sea mediante libros, tutoriales, vídeos o cursos a distancia con tu ordenador. También hay infinitud de temas que aprender. ¿Cómo decides qué es lo más importante para aprender? ¿Cómo gestionas lo que estás aprendiendo? ¿Cómo conseguir evitar sentirse abrumado con las oopciones disponibles?

Esto nos vuelve al tema de centrarse en una cosa cada vez y entender cómo aprendes de una manera eficiente. Esta retroalimentación te ayudará a decidir qué será lo próximo a aprender. Una manera puede ser pensando en las cosas que más te apasionan ahora mismo, ¿qué te motiva en este momento? Si hay algo por lo que estás ansioso por aprender empieza por eso. Si tienes múltiples cosas que te apasionan o interesan entonces colócalos en una lista y observa si estás más interesado en unos temas que en otros. Si aún tienes problemas para decidir de la lista entonces escoge uno al azar (lanza un dado o crea un generador de números aleatorios para seleccionar uno, eso podría ser un poyecto).

Si tienes problemas para pensar en algo para aprender y estás luchando para encontrar un elemento que te resulte interesante, entonces date permiso para navegar por la red y encontrar qué hay disponible. Observa las conversaciones de otros programadores y descubre de qué están hablando. Acude a una reunión de programadores para seguir las discusiones de lo que están hablando. O, si realmente estás atascado, explora algunas listas de trabajos para averiguar qué es lo que buscan las personas que ofrecen trabajo y observa si eso te despierta algún interés.

Esto no trata de escoger lo más útil o la cosa más importante, aunque tu situación actual puede hacer que algunos temas tengan más relevancia sobre otros, se trata de averiguar qué tiene tu atención y dónde enfocarte. No te preocupes con realizar la elección perfecta que te dará tu siguiente trabajo o impulsará tu carrera. Este ejercicio es sobre hacer una elección para aprender algo interesante y que te enganche el tiempo suficiente para aprender más sobre ello.

Una vez que hayas escogido qué quieres aprender es el momento de centrarte en aprenderlo.Si tienes una metodología preferida (libros, vídeos, tutoriales, clases, etc) entonces dedica un tiempo (no más de una hora) a buscar qué recursos hay disponibles. Algunos temas tienen recursos disponibles para los principiantes que enumeran las cosas que la comunidad cree que son útiles para los programadores que están empezando, mientras que para otros puede ser necesario preguntar a la comunidad dónde comenzar. A menudo algo tan simple como un tutorial puede ser una buena manera de comenzar con este ejercicio.

¡Si puedes encontrar algunos recursos en un corto periodo de tiempo será genial! Comienza tu proceso de aprendizaje con esos recursos. No re preocupes si son los recursos adecuados o quizás te lleven por un camino equivocado, simplemente comienza con ellos y ya los evaluarás más tarde. Por ahora es más interesante simplemente comenzar.

Una de las trampas de la que soy culpable de caer es en tratar de encontrar los mejores recursos para aprender un tema. Paso horas buscando el libro perfecto, los vídeos adecuados, los cursos idóneos, lo que sea, trato de encontrar los mejores materiales disponibles. Quiero reducir la cantidad de comienzos en falso cuando aprendo de un tema. Esto parece una una búsqueda correcta (después de todo, ¿por qué no ibas a querer los mejores materiales que haya disponibles?) Es una trampa que puede llevarte a pasar más tiempo sobre cómo estás aprendiendo en vez de estar ya aprendiendo. Incluso peor, si el material comienza a confundirte (lo que es altamente probable cuando estás aprendiendo algo nuevo) pasarás tu tiempo de aprendizaje si escogiste la decisión adecuada escogiendo este material. Te preguntarás si escogiste el material idóneo y continuarás buscando el mejor material (quizás esa buenas y excelentes críticas realmente no sabían después de todo de lo que estaban hablando). Esto disminuye tu habilidad para aprende sobre el tema porque estás más enfocado a tratar de discernir la calidad de lo enseñado y no dedicar tiempo en la enseñanza actual.

Después de unos días de sesiones prácticas date la oportunidad de comprobar y ver ver cómo estás aprendiendo. ¿Te sientes atraído o no estás disfrutando de esto? Si no te sientes atraído (el material no está organizado, el instructor es confuso, los ejemplos no funcionan, el material asume que ya estás familiarizado con otro tema, etc) entonces date permiso para buscar un material mejor o un tema diferente que te interese más. Incluso si la experiencia de aprendizaje no fue óptima, tendrás una mejor idea de lo que buscar cuando escojas algo nuevo. Tendrás un conocimiento de cuales son tus lagunas con este tema y tendrás un mejor conocimiento de lo que estás buscando en los materiales de aprendizaje.

Si encuentras que el tema que estás tratando de aprender ya no te interesa, date un momento para reflexionar del motivo de esto. ¿Es un tema complicado? ¿Te sientes preparado para ese tema? ¿Estás actualmente sobrecargado con otros proyectos y te sientes cansado para abordar este tema? A veces creemos que estamos preparados para aprender sobre un tema, solo para darnos cuenta que hay algo más que necesitamos saber antes de poder entender por completo ese tema. Está bien buscar recursos adicionales y enfocarte en ellos antes de abordar este tema. Simplemente se consciente de tus luchas y tu diálogo interno. Se honesto contigo mismo sobre el motivo por el que quieres cambiar a algo diferente. Obsérvate en la dificultad y se consciente si estás queriendo huir porque es difícil o si realmente no estás preparado para ello o no estás interesado en este tema. Observa si te puedes ahondar más con la dificultad y siente cuando comienzas a sentirte sobrepasado por ella. Date permiso para apegarte a la dificultad tanto como puedas y presta atención a tus sentimientos e impulsos mientras practicas con ella.

Trata tu aprendizaje como un proceso iterativo, con periodos regulares en los que comprobar tu progreso. Piensa en cómo te sientes cuando estás aprendiendo. ¿Te sientes emocionado y comprometido o te sientes cansado y retraído? ¿Procrastinas cuando piensas en este tema? ¿Cuando te centras en tu aprendizaje tu mente divaga? Se consciente de estos sentimientos a medida que ocurren durante la sesión centrada y reflexiona sobre ellos cuando piense en su proceso de aprendizaje. Más tarde puede reflexionar sobre estos sentimientos y ver los patrones en tu proceso de aprendizaje. Si te sientes cansado mientras estás aprendiendo podrías intentar ajustar cuando realizas tus sesiones de aprendizaje. Quizás necesites dormir más o necesites encontrar otros materiales que sean más estimulantes. Si te sientes abrumado quizás necesites empezar con algo más básico antes de afrontar este proyecto más difícil. Si estás confundido quizás necesitas haya alguien a quien puedas plantearle preguntas para obtener más claridad. Estas respuestas pueden no ser evidentes mientras estás en el momento (quizás estás muy ocupado sintiéndote frustrado para entender de dónde viene esa frustración), pero con la práctica tendrás más recursos para observar tus sentimientos. Cuando eres consciente de estos sentimientos podrás usarlos par aprender cómo funciona tu mente y entender qué necesita para mantenerte comprometido con tu aprendizaje.

Resistance and The Container

Any time we learn new things we put ourselves into a vulnerable and uncomfortable place. We take the things we are familiar with and try to apply them as we push into new territory. We become uncertain of the outcome; will it be successful or will it be a failure? Will this topic be too difficult for us to grasp? Will it help us or hurt us? Will we choose the wrong thing to learn and will that cost us opportunities in the long run?

Discomfort and uncertainty are certainly a part of learning, but instead of thinking of them as something to be avoided we should instead think of them as beacons. A beacon gives us direction and illumination when we're in uncertain territory. When we feel uncertain about what we're doing that feeling means we're pushing into new territory. Instead of trying to avoid it or wishing for comfort, we can instead relish that we're in uncertain territory and feel those brief twinges of fear and doubt. We can say "I'm about to learn something new. I'm frightened, and don't know where this will lead, but that's OK. I'm willing to see where this goes and enjoy the journey."

We've been conditioned to think of the unknown as something to be feared. These emotions have served us well. They've kept us from venturing too far out of our comfort zone and exploring the unknown. When you're living in forests and caves the unknown can house all sorts of dangers. It makes sense not to provoke those dangers by showing up on their doorstep. But programming is not the same as venturing into a dark forest or peeking into a damp cave; programming hardly warrants the amount of fear we give it. Instead we need to realize that we're not in any mortal danger. Our fears are merely letting us know that we're venturing into the uncharted territories of ignorance. It's up to us to let our fears know that this is OK and that by exploring these realms we will only find understanding.

Steven Pressfield in The War of Art nicknamed these feelings "Resistance". He considers Resistance as a sort of mythological being who lives in each of us to thwart creative acts. As the work progresses Resistance ratchets up the pressure to stop by introducing the feelings of fear and anxiety that we mentioned above. I think of Resistance as something that also happens whenever we are learning, especially if we're learning tools that help us in our creative pursuits. Pressfield limited his definition to creative folks who were working to complete creative work (books, paintings, games, etc.), but I'm expanding his definition to the learning process itself. In our case Resistance shows up when we're learning the tools to help us be more creative. Resistance is what tells us we're not good enough to learn these things, or we're unworthy of the benefits they'll bring us. It tries to keep us safe in what we already know.

This is why the "focus container" is so important: it gives us small doses of discomfort and difficulty in manageable chunks. We can guide ourselves through small amounts of daily discomfort and keep learning through our discomfort. It helps us work through our tendency to avoid and hide from difficult situations. If we focus on one thing at a time we can keep ourselves from the distracting thoughts about whether or not this is the thing we should be working on. Whatever we're working on in this moment is exactly what we should be working on. Whatever learning material is in front of us is what we should be learning. We can be secure in knowing that everything we are doing for the duration of this container is exactly as it should be. When we finish the container we can reassess how it went and what challenges lay ahead.

Mapping out longer-term goals

As you progress through the learning process you'll start to see that a lot of what we call programming is interconnected. Languages borrow heavily from each other and ideas that seem new and innovative have their roots in concepts dating back to the genesis of computing. Rather than dissuading us it should encourage us to open the doors of programming by learning simple, transferable concepts. The question is, which ones?

The simplest answer is "all of them", but that's hardly satisfactory or possible. A less cheeky answer would be "enough of them to start seeing the patterns emerge" but that sounds more like a truism than something we can use to start making our longer term goals for learning.

Rather than give specific advice on which concepts will serve you best in your pursuit of becoming a better programmer I'm going to suggest a technique that might help you map out what could help you.

Programming languages will mention the concepts they borrow from. Whenever you're learning and you see mention of one of these other concepts make a note of it and keep focusing on what you're learning now. When you've completed your learning for the day review the list of other concepts and do some searching to see what else shows up. If there are other things that show up then write them down on your list. These concepts might not make sense at the moment but having that list available and referring to it might help you make connections about programming that you might not otherwise notice.

When I was learning JavaScript I noticed that someone mentioned that JavaScript borrowed from languages like Scheme. Scheme is a functional language based on Lisp and was created as a teaching language for functional programming and recursion. So I took a brief detour into learning Scheme, partly because it was more interesting to me than JavaScript. Call it "creative procrastination", if you're being charitable. What I learned while learning Scheme piqued my interest into other functional languages and functional programming. This in turn helped me understand some of the functional programming paradigms that were becoming popular in Python (list comprehensions, lambdas, etc.). By taking a brief detour in my learning of JavaScript I learned more about a whole family of languages and now I feel like I understand JavaScript and Python with more clarity than when I started.

I'm not suggesting that everyone take the "creative procrastination" steps like I have (I'm still in the process of learning JavaScript as of this writing), but it does help to make notes of the concepts you encounter and dig further.

This is one way to map out learning goals (notice the other connections that show up as you are learning and be curious about how they fit together), but you may need a different approach. Perhaps you're under pressure to learn something to remain marketable or acquire some skill for your job that needs to be learned quickly. How do you map out those goals?

The pressure to learn quickly can make any task seem insurmountable, especially if you don't know how best to proceed. You may be tempted to rush through this process and hope you retain the knowledge you've learned. This approach doesn't lead to understanding, it leads to stress and burnout. The approach I'm outlining is designed to help you learn how to learn. The best way to learn something quickly is to understand how other concepts fit together with what you're learning. This is great when you have experience with a lot of different languages and concepts, but for those who don't have much experience yet it will feel like you're trying to shove an elephant through a small funnel. This is where practicing learning every day will help you. It will help you break apart larger learning goals into smaller chunks and will help you recognize the fear and discomfort for what they truly are: acknowledgment that you're expanding your skills into new territory.

Longer-term goals are just goals that have been broken down into shorter-term goals. Focus on the short-term goals and allow yourself to course-correct and follow a few connections as needed.

Failure and learning

One thing that we are afraid of while learning is failure. We worry that we won't learn the topic quickly or completely. We pick up material that starts off simply but later on becomes very complex, and we struggle to keep up. We try typing example code into our editors and find ourselves needing help to get them to work. We fail to grasp the material and wonder if we'll ever learn what we're trying to learn.

Failure is a part of learning. If you knew the material you wouldn't be learning.

One of the reasons for practicing learning using containers is because we give ourselves those brief moments of failure and repetition. Repetition is how we get better at whatever we are learning. Failure allows us to course-correct our learning so we can determine how best to approach this the next time we make an attempt.

We often feel that failure is something to be avoided, but while we're learning it is unavoidable. Our learning process requires us to fail in order to get better at what we're learning. That's the whole point of learning: reworking our brains so that they can finally understand the concepts we are trying to learn.

Part of learning is having the right mindset for learning. Instead of feeling like you're constantly failing and struggling to keep up you may want to approach it with a different perspective. Instead of thinking "I can't do this. It's too hard.", approach it with a more curious "This is all new to me. This is why I'm practicing learning this." Giving yourself a more positive mindset will help keep you from giving up when you struggle with the material.

Dead ends and changing topography

Sometimes we'll find ourselves learning something that's a dead end. We look at our progress and see no real improvement. We don't find the topic as engaging or as exciting as we'd imagined. We realize that what we're learning is an evolutionary dead-end in the realm of programming. What then?

Part of our learning process is understanding that our expectations of how something will turn out can be completely different from how things actually do turn out. We envision all sorts of rewards and platitudes that never come. Does that mean we're at a dead end? I don't think so. It might be that what we expected we'd be doing with our newfound knowledge isn't panning out. We might find our expectations for how quickly we'd learn the topic aren't being met. We may also expect that our career will be bolstered by learning this topic, yet the job market hasn't recognized our new-found skills with job offers or more money.

Our engagement is related to our expectations. Programming demands a certain amount of fun and reward, and if we're not finding the experience fun or rewarding then we're unlikely to want to continue learning that topic. Our minds begin wanting something else to engage us, and we start craving anything other than to continue with this learning process. After all, shouldn't we be enjoying this? If there's no engagement and enjoyment then the learning becomes drudgery. We become distracted more easily while trying to learn and our minds drift away rather than focusing on our learning experience.

There is also the problem of learning things that are evolutionary dead ends. The world of computing is littered with the remains of technologies and methodologies that are either no longer relevant or are considered "out-of-fashion." What once was cutting edge is now considered moribund, and the community around that technology or methodology scoots on to new technologies and methodologies and leaves their previous work as a technological ghost town. When we mention that we're learning these things we get curious looks from developers: "Why would you learn that? We've moved on to this other thing." It's as if we've heard about a party and arrived in time to see the clean-up crew picking up the litter and breaking down the tables and chairs. We feel like we've missed out on the good parts and wonder if it's even worth trying to keep up and find the next thing.

All of these can pose their own problems for learning, but it's up to us to take a more critical look at why we started this whole process of learning. What did we bring into this?

In each of these cases we brought our expectations of how the learning would progress. We brought the expectation that it would always be fun, engaging, and relevant. Sometimes our learning expectations do pan out, but when they don't we get discouraged and disappointed.

Rather than being upset at how our expectations of learning this technology or methodology aren't being met we can take a more mindful approach. We can see ourselves in our moments of learning and notice if we're trying to bring more than our focused attention into the learning container. We can realize that learning is about changing ourselves and change is not always fun, engaging, or pleasant. We can put aside our expectations and concentrate on the learning itself.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't acknowledge our feelings. We should certainly acknowledge the feelings of boredom, anxiety, disillusionment, and so on, but we should also be mindful of where those feelings originate. Are we truly bored or is this our mind trying to tell us to stop so we can do something more fun? Are we not engaged with this material because we don't find it relevant or are we giving in to our distractions? Is this really a dead-end in our learning or are we just feeling stuck? Notice when the feeling comes up and be curious about what prompted the feeling. Note when you get the feeling and where you feel it most in your body. Stay with the feeling for a few seconds and keep noticing it. Then, continue your work. While you work keep noticing all of the feelings you're having and repeat the process of staying and noticing your feelings. When you're finished you can reflect more on those feelings and make an honest determination of what those feelings are indicating. Through this process you can clarify what is causing those feelings and notice if they are just resistance to learning new material or a desire to run to distractions or something more familiar.

If, however, you realize that you're really not enjoying learning this topic, if you feel you're spending more time convincing yourself to learn rather than actually learning, then you'll need to have an honest discussion with yourself about why you're learning this topic at all. Is this topic still relevant to you or has the topic become irrelevant? Are you learning this out of an obligation to yourself or others, and is that obligation still present? Are you trying to learn whatever it is because you're worried you'll be left behind, personally or professionally? Think about what brought you to start learning this topic and determine if the situation has changed. If someone came up to you and asked you if you would like to use this topic in the next few days would you consider it?

You'll need to reconsider your true motivations for learning this topic and see if they still match what you want to do with your programming profession. You will also need to be honest with yourself about why you're learning this topic and why it is important to you. There are plenty of things to learn that are great career paths, but if you have no interest in the topic, or are just learning it "to get hired" you're going to have a more difficult time learning the topic than if you had a genuine interest in it. You'll also need to determine if this is just resistance to learning. Your challenge will be to sort out your true feelings about this topic and tease out whether you've genuinely lost interest or are just struggling.

There have been many things in my career that I have tried to learn, but there have been many more that I haven't learned. Part of the reason I haven't learned them is because the computing landscape changed as I was learning them. At school I learned the Pascal language. I got reasonably good at it but over time my Pascal skills have faded. Right now there's very little need for proficient Pascal programmers so continuing to develop my Pascal skills would be purely for my own enjoyment. I find other computing topics more enjoyable so my Pascal skills lie dormant. Should Pascal arise from its moribund state I can revisit the decision to reinvigorate my Pascal knowledge, but for now I'm content that I've made the right call. At one point in my career the Java language came to prominence. I spent many sessions learning Java until I realized I didn't enjoy the language. It felt too cumbersome to me and the directions it took weren't ones that I cared to pursue. So after some reflection I stopped learning Java. Was this all wasted time? Hardly. During my sessions I learned more about Object Oriented Programming and how objects fit together. I learned more about recursion while trying to solve a problem for one of my projects. These skills transcend Java, so when I started learning Python I was able to transfer my knowledge on how objects worked from Java to Python. I used that knowledge to understand what Python was doing and how it was different from Java. Should the need arise I can revisit my decision to stop learning Java and see if it interests me again.

It's OK to give up on learning something. It's up to you to determine what you want to learn and for how long. We are complex beings and our interests morph and change. We also exist in a complex industry of changing whims and technologies. What was interesting and necessary at the beginning of the year might become uninteresting or unnecessary at the end of the year. We shouldn't feel beholden to learning something just because others are learning it or because the job market seems to require it. Give yourself permission to listen to your own desires. If they match up with what a fickle industry wants then great! Go learn with abandon. But if they don't match up and you find yourself spending weeks trying to stir up enough motivation to learn the topic then you're doing yourself and your craft a disservice. Let this topic sit dormant for a bit and give yourself something else to learn. There is little point in making yourself miserable to please others.

If you feel the urge to revisit this topic at a later point then let yourself come back to it. You should also allow yourself to come back to this topic without the baggage and expectations of your previous attempts. Saying "I already tried this once, so we'll see if this works this time" sets your mind to expect that you will give up again. Give yourself permission to approach this topic as though you're experiencing this topic fresh, with no expectations of how it will turn out. Be gentle with yourself and experience this topic again from your current perspective.

Approach with curiosity

As beginners we engaged the computer with curiosity and enthusiasm. We didn't know what to expect and had no idea how long it would take. We just learned as much as we could and took everything at face-value. As we continued to learn we traded our curiosity for certainty, and our enthusiasm for expectations. The excitement we got from learning became the drudgery of feeling that we must always be learning. We can re-capture that beginner's spirit by looking at each opportunity to learn as a new experience. We can let go of our expectations of how our learning will progress and instead approach each learning session with curiosity for what we will learn during the session. We can re-kindle the spark that we had when we were beginners with infinite possibilities. That spark will sustain us through the periods of uncertainty.

We can learn to love learning again. With each focus container we can approach our learning fresh, with no preconceived notions of how it will end, and be curious for what we'll find when we dig deeper into what we're learning. Each learning session brings us one step closer on our journey to close up the gaps. There so much to explore in our field. I hope you always find something new and exciting to help you on your journey.