Working as a software developer is quite challenging; there are times when you lose motivation for building code because, at the moment, you can’t overcome a particular situation. Motivation is a crucial factor in delivering high-quality products and career development. Without motivation, you’re not creative enough and it’s a challenge to focus on work. As a software developer, you must stay motivated throughout your career. Here are seven ways to help you avoid losing yourself at work and keep motivated.
Understand how to self-motivate yourself
How you face challenges is based on your characteristics, coping techniques and preparation. Consider these qualities as skills you must master, just like a programming language. If you want to learn and master Python, allocate your awareness to it and study the basics from a more experienced developer. Self-motivation is just like any other habit. If you do not practice, you won’t get better. Therefore, devote yourself to learning its basics. The beginning of an exercise is the hardest, but it gets easier with time because you gain momentum. Stick to self-motivation, and you’ll make consistent progress; this will make you feel more motivated and vigorous about yourself, making your challenges seem less terrifying. You can reward yourself after making some initial progress.
Action tip: To motivate yourself, you can list the goals you want to achieve. This will help you build self-management skills like problem-solving, clear communication or time management as you work towards various achievements.
Break down large tasks into small measurable steps
Software projects are usually extensive and time-consuming, something that makes you feel exhausted and overwhelmed right from the beginning. This mostly happens when you know how the bigger picture should look but have trouble imagining how you’ll get through it. Vincent Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” When having a substantial terrifying project, take a look at it and consider approaching it through small steps. Break down the project’s main components into small, measurable and digestible chunks that will bring small wins to keep you motivated. Object-oriented programming languages like Java, C++ or Ruby are accompanied by tools that will help you break down huge problems and issues into small, manageable components. To keep yourself motivated, try to approach your challenge from a micro point of view by splitting tasks into smaller steps.
Action tip: Write the project and the goals you need to achieve on a paper/notes with Evernote, then formulate steps to help you achieve these goals. Finally, focus and work on the single steps that, with time, will bring incredible results.
Don’t be afraid to seek help
Many developers would fix programming issues independently rather than ask for help; they overestimate their abilities. Aside from that, seeking help can be the difference between success and giving up. It’s good to admit when you need help to solve a problem, it brings different and varying insights. Asking for help does not make you weak but rather generates new ideas and views on how to approach problems that you wouldn’t have thought of when working alone. Besides giving birth to new ideas and approaches, asking for help also builds the people around you as it shows how you trust and appreciate their views, ideas and solutions. Seeking help makes the people around you feel knowledgeable in their skills. The essence here is quite simple, asking for help makes you better, stronger, and successful, and most importantly, it keeps you motivated to continue pursuing your goals.
Action tip: Once you have figured out the problem, summarize precisely what you need to be helped with. The person you’re seeking help from probably doesn’t want to go through code pages to identify the issue. Formulate a smaller version of the problem with a limited amount of code, just enough to manifest the issue you’re encountering. Reach out on Slack or Teams, have a quick call, and you may even make a super friendship out if it too!
Exercise gratitude
When trying to accomplish big software development projects or goals, you quickly focus on your limitations OR shortcomings and miss acknowledging your achievements. This pessimism kills the self-motivation spirit in you, therefore, take time to appreciate the successes that have come your way, no matter how small they may be. When you focus on gratitude, you show optimism in many areas of your life including your work projects and when you’re optimistic, you tend to act in ways that support your work. Practising gratitude helps you feel proud of how far you have come while lecturing you the right ways of moving forward when stuck. Showing gratitude has proven benefits such as inspiring self-motivation, opening doors to new opportunities and improving your mental health.
Action tip: Practise gratitude by observing what has happened, improvements made or achievements reached and notice the positive changes no matter how small they are. This can be done via a journal, diary or apps such as Evernote.
Take the first step
Software developers encounter a lot of programming challenges but the only way to overcome them is to get started. Beginning to solve a problem is probably the most difficult stage when trying to fix programming issues. No matter how huge the situation is, take the first step. Consider defining the problem or breaking down the project into milestones as your first step to figuring out the challenge and start executing them one at a time. You can either begin with the easy tasks to get into the workflow or start with the hard tasks depending on the goals you want to achieve. Making the first step marks a decision and a new direction, it communicates that you’re willing to move forward regardless of your challenges or self-doubt. When trying to solve problems, your first step must be simple, easily recognizable and achievable in the shortest time possible. The first step helps you gain momentum and belief that you’ll overcome the challenges your project is facing, keeping your motivation spirit high.
Action tip: Think pragmatically about the problem and try to think of several solutions to solve the problem. As you know, one problem can have many different solutions with something in common. Pick your chosen solution, don’t hesitate and get started right away!
Be around supportive people
When facing challenges, you must surround yourself with people who help you stay in touch with your desired goals. If you have a significant support system, you’re far better than those who chase their goals alone. Supportive people will care about you, and your goals and offer help and advice when you face challenges. Supportive people can be those people who push you out of your friend zone, when you encounter a coding situation, be around developers who are better than you and are supportive or make time and attend seminars and workshops about software development, you’ll get in touch with very many supporting and encouraging people. These people could be senior developers or senior consultants who are willing to support fellow developers through these gatherings. Ask people you trust to help you keep track of your goals and check on your progress from time to time, this will help you feel overwhelmed. Supportive people will step in to guide and motivate you just like a coach during a football match, they help you reframe, redirect and replan when things get tough. On the other hand, unsupportive people tend to activate physical and psychological distress that derail progress.
Action tip: Surround yourself not only with people you look up to but also with people who chase similar goals. Join local interest groups, attend exhibitions, seminars or workshops on software development. Supportive people do not have to be only developers, they can be your friends or family.
Take regular breaks
Staying awake late in the night while you’re facing a situation you can’t find a solution for won’t solve the issue. Shut down your computer, take a break or sleep it off. Your brain has good problem-solving skills provided that you give it a well-deserved rest. Taking breaks recharges and refreshes the mind and body, making your thoughts flow freely without any interference. After the break, you become more creative and your mind will easily come up with ideas and solutions that it would not imagine during extended working hours. Taking breaks is crucial and keeps your motivation spirit high along the way, a ten-minute break or walk can have a great impact on your thinking and innovative skills.
Action tip: Sometimes you just need a break from the stress brought by your work. You can have a five-minute meditation session, go for a walk or a bike ride, spend some time outdoors or do physical exercise.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned steps such as taking breaks, having supportive people around you among others provide a solid foundation on how to stay motivated and prevent burning yourself out when facing programming challenges. As software developers, we are often affected by our work and work environment. You will occasionally slide off your planned course but if you know what’s good for you and what measures to take to attract positive energy, you’ll never lack motivation.
