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Nandini S Hinduja
Nandini S Hinduja

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How to get motivated to code?

As a software developer, we all face times of procrastination which are mainly caused by various road-blockers which I discussed over here. So what to do to overcome these road-blockers? Don't worry, I covered that in this post. But to implement the ideas suggested in the second post, you need to not procrastinate and you need to be motivated. So in this article, I will discuss some motivation strategies. Some motivation techniques which help me are:
The daily standup: I have to say something in the standup, right? And to say something, I have to do something. So the standup is one of my biggest motivators.
Product managers: These people are great because they keep asking developers for the project status. So to update them, we need to update the project, right? So product managers are also motivators for me.
Deadlines: When you have a set deadline, you have to deliver by then. So deadlines are also something which motivate me. But the deadline has to be strict, I mean, it should be imposed by someone else and not finishing it should have some punishment (such as for example, in Fiverr, when you deliver late, your on-time delivery percentage goes down).
Self-assigned tasks: When I assign a task to myself, that is when I choose my own task, something that I myself proposed to do, I feel more motivated to do it because I feel like I want to prove that my idea is doable and practical.
Music: Sometimes, playing music motivates me to work faster just like how the song moves swiftly with fast beats.
People: Being surrounded by people who are all working and coding motivates me more than anything. I feel like if they can, I can. So working in office is really motivating for me.

What motivates you to code?

Top comments (15)

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ingosteinke profile image
Ingo Steinke, web developer

The daily standup

... has often been counter-productive for me and my coworkers, interrupting everyone from doing their work, taking extra time and mental load to prepare what to say, and afterwards everyone walks to the kitchen before focusing on their work again half an hour later. But in an ideal world, daily standups should be a positive and productive ritual. Product managers are quite similar: helpful when they are good, counter-productive when they aren't. Deadlines can motivate people or cause panic and code block. It all depends.

People [...] working and coding

It depends as well. Often I felt less distracted and annoyed when working from home, but the situation turns around when I have sat at my desk alone for too long, then I enjoy going into an office, café, library, coworking space etc.

Self-assigned tasks: When I assign a task to myself, that is when I choose my own task, something that I myself proposed to do, I feel more motivated to do it

100% agree!

What else motivates me to code?

  • flow: when things work without counterintuitive errors or unexpected problems
  • results: when there is progress, step by step, especially visually, which is why I love frontend
  • appreciation: getting positive feedback for my work from happy customers
  • ideas: unexpected inspiration for improvements or fixes. I often got that at meetups and conference hall talks
  • scarcity: when I rarely had the opportunity to sit down and focus on my work, like when there are too many meetings at work, or when I fell ill or had to spend a lot of time caring for others
  • community: discussions and articles like your post,

so thanks for sharing!

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fasilu profile image
fasilu

Nice bro

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

hi, thanks for your comment, it was really insightful and helpful!

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learnwithparam profile image
Paramanantham Harrison

Instead of motivating to code, motivate yourself to solve a user’s problem.

  • Ask the objective of what you do from the product managers always. Don’t take a task, rather take up the goal. Then coding becomes secondary, the problem statement will motivate you towards solving it
  • Learn the concepts rather than syntax of programming languages. Now with AI, it’s even more important. Often demotivation comes due to fatigue in too many things to learn. But do we need to learn all the frameworks? No, for example, an API request and response model is same regardless of the code, language or framework.
  • Stay healthy physically and mentally to take care of long marathon in this career 😉
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crazycga profile image
James

1,000% this. Solve the problem. And always remember: if you can solve a problem a user faces, if you can make their working life easier (for example) not only did you actually provide value... you are the only one there who can.

To that user you're a hero whether they acknowledge it or not.

And celebrate the small win(s).

It's easy for you. It's NOT for the user.

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

true!

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

true, thanks for your insights!

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fyodorio profile image
Fyodor

Honestly speaking, almost all of that is just provocatively wrong 🤦‍♂️ (which might be not intentional so I’ll avoid judging here), these [external] kinds of motivation don’t last long and lead to burnout and depression. You need to either find some kind of internal motivation, or change what you’re doing.

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

okay, thanks for your insights!

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kurealnum profile image
Oscar

I enjoy feeling like I accomplished something at the end of the day, and it gives my life a little bit more of a meaning outside of traditional academic accomplishments.

If I find myself procrastinating, I just remind myself of that!

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

great strategy! thanks for sharing!

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

Great, thanks, I will check those websites out!

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fasilu profile image
fasilu

I agree the project managers and deadlines 😂

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nandinishinduja profile image
Nandini S Hinduja

ikr