I realized I was falling into the same spiral again, create one post, get motivated, and stop. Imagine a vehicle that drives for only five (5) minutes and stops? It wouldn't get very far, would it.
So I went to find the root of this dreaded curse that has plagued me for these five (5) years. A curse that, if I don't lift it, could alter the next ten (10) years of my life. Where potential never becomes kinetic. Forced to say the dreaded words "I always wanted to start a blog but I let laziness eat it up."
So I searched and toiled and found some principles that I would love to share and implement on my journey
“Knowledge isn't power until it is applied.” ~ Dale Carnegie
THE 5 SECONDS RULE
From the book "The 5 Seconds Rule" by Mel Robbins. It advocates that people should start completing a possibly unpleasant task within 5 seconds; otherwise, they may try to postpone the completion of the task. Basically, if you are about to procrastinate on a task, just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and do it. It sounded silly to me at first, but so far it has drastically cut down how much I procrastinate.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
When you feel the urge to procrastinate, count “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” and begin immediately.
Start small
Now if you are a little like me, I tend to over glamorize the 'destination' so much that I forget to enjoy the process. It makes me discouraged when I haven't coded for 4–8 hrs. Until I read "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, which explains how starting small makes habits more sustainable—even if it is one percent (1%) change every month, it is better than nothing at all. Always start your goals with something small. Make it so disgustingly small that it is impossible to procrastinate. For example, I want to watch a tutorial video "How to build an LLM from scratch". The video is about 1 hour long. You can make a goal to watch 5 mins of the video and implement it every day. See how it relieves the pressure and, with time, you will have the capacity to go hours on end.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
- Break tasks into tiny, manageable steps. For instance, if you’re watching a tutorial video, commit to just 5 minutes a day.
- Focus on incremental progress (even a 1% change every 2 weeks) e.g. every two weeks add 5 extra minutes to your video watching commitment.
A Little Drop of Water Makes a mighty Ocean ~ Anonymous
Supportive ecosystem: Get an accountability partner or a community you can be accountable to. Or you can join a challenge if you are a competitive person. Find an accountability partner or join a community where you can share your progress, Consider joining a challenge if you thrive in competitive settings.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
- Find an accountability partner or join a community where you can share your progress.
- Consider joining a challenge if you thrive in competitive settings.
Systems work: Now, without systems, an organization can't work; how can we apply that to you. A system can be as simple as by 9am every weekdays, I will code 5 mins a day. And you set an alarm. I might sound simple but it has help me a lot in working efficiently.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
- Set a specific time each day (e.g., 9 AM) to start working on your goal.
Change your mindset: A man notices that elephants in an elephant camp are tied to a small rope around one ankle. He asks a trainer why the elephants don't break free. The trainer explains that the elephants were tied with the same size rope when they were babies, so they grew up believing the rope was stronger than they were. The elephants never tried to break free, even though they were strong enough to do so. This story shows how mindset can limit your progress. Do you tell yourself every day "I can never understand that programming concept" or "I can never break into tech"? That could be what is limiting your progress in your tech journey. Make up your mind and say to yourself, "I can do anything I put my mind to."
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
Use daily affirmations to reinforce a positive mindset (e.g., “I can do anything I put my mind to”).
Treat yourself: Yes, you heard me, Treat yourself. It can be as simple as after I get to the 30mins markup in the video, I will watch a movie or I will buy a treat. Something that can keep you going.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
Reward yourself after small milestones—whether it’s a movie or a small treat—to stay motivated.
Redefine failure: Failure is success older brother. What do you do to yourself when you fail. do you beat yourself up or do you learn from your mistake. A baby doesn't fall down after walking a couple of steps and say he isn't walking again because he failed.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
- At the end of each week, review your progress and note what worked or didn’t.
CONSISTENCY not Perfectionism: It took a while to relearn this part. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT. In fact, I have come to believe perfect doesn't exist, instead if you show up every day counts better than showing up perfect. Come on you are just human cut yourself some slack.
IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
- Learn from any setbacks without being too hard on yourself, and adjust your plan as needed.
Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson
Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read through my journey and the principles that have helped me break free from that unproductive cycle. I wrote this post because I was stuck in a spiral of creating one post, getting motivated, and then stopping—like a vehicle that drives for just five minutes and then halts. That realization pushed me to dig deep, overcome a five-year curse, and set a course for the next ten years of my life where my potential can truly turn into kinetic action.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, or experiences related to this journey. Please leave any questions you have in the comments below. Your feedback not only sparks additional discussion but also helps create a community where we all learn from each other. So, what do you think? Let’s keep the conversation going!
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