My Summer Is About Self-Motivation: Summer of code to be a better person

There is something that I feel like I should clarify. I, like most people, have hobbies of my own. To be specific, I like coding and writing. Shocking how those are the two things that I am focusing on. Sarcasm aside, there is a bit of a problem that I have never addressed. I am used to doing work because it is needed of me. I am not used to the idea of doing work that I sanctioned for myself. I did work because I was told to by a superior, because there was a hole that needed filling, or because I was struck by an odd inspiration. None of these were bad reasons to do work, but it is not a complete picture.

When it came to hobbies, I noticed that I was missing something. Others had hobbies that they enjoy, and they were able to do amazing feats with them. People were able to accomplish tasks that were fascinating and inspiring. Yet, I did not think I was getting anywhere near that. It wasn’t until I saw the opposite of the achievers that I had a good understanding of what I was missing. Over the course of the last few years, I met people who would mutter about past dreams they held. They looked back with regret and longing at what they could have accomplished. Hearing this, I wondered why they just didn’t do it. What stopped them? Thinking about it, I realized it was the amount of effort they put into their goals. Those that I saw achieve their goals gave time and effort towards the accomplishments. Those that looked back with regret, did not. It wasn’t until this past year, where I almost spent equal time with each personality that it cemented what I needed.

This summer is more about just getting my coding and writing to snuff. I have dreamed of big things, like most people have. Yet, I have not put forth the effort that was required in making those ideas a reality. This summer is about changing that. This summer is about understanding the work that is needed to make myself better than what I am. This summer, I will begin to break the laziness that I have hid behind for too long. That is why I am doing what I’m doing.

To be fair, this is not a ground-breaking discovery. In fact, I’ve read countless quotes, stories, articles, and personal accounts that focus on this very topic. Well, it’s unfortunate that I tend to learn things only when I experience them. You can tell me over and over that the stove is hot, but I won’t fully understand it until I test it out myself. That is something that I’m also working on. As of now, I am working on my self-motivation. Here’s to becoming a real go-getter.

First Commit of the Summer

So, the first commit of the summer has been made. It is not the start of some grand project, or even updating one in the making. Rather, I’ve spent the day sorting out and updating some configurations. These have now been added to my GitHub. In fact, this will probably be the pattern for the first few weeks or so. I’ve got no great projects in mind(though, there are some minor ones), so I’m going to be doing some spring cleaning of my computer. I will try to find ways to make these updates ‘commit-able’ so that I am not neglecting my work.

However, I thought I might as well expand upon some smaller portions of what I hope to accomplish this summer. To begin with, I must make the sorry admission that I am not all that familiar with Vim. I’ve heard much about it, and have always told myself to really sit down with it for some real practice. Given that I might be coding for a good portion of my free time, I’ve decided to jump straight on in with it. Almost everything I code or edit over the summer will be with Vim. Day one with it, and everything is going well. I am not a Vim expert(that would be something), but I didn’t have as much trouble as I expected. Internet horror stories make Vim out to be some difficult achievement for expert coders. Either these stories were largely over exaggerated, or I’m a fast learner. I’d like to say the latter, but it’s more likely to be the former. If any readers are on the fence about whether or not Vim is worth it, I give it a hearty recommendation. It hasn’t been some life changing experience, but it wasn’t crippling to productivity either.

Now, I might hit one of my biggest(reoccurring) hurdles tomorrow. I am out of town to support one of my siblings for a sporting event. This might just mean that I am not connected to the internet for the entire day. With no internet there is no way to have public proof of my work, which is supposed to check me in case I slip. I believe that there will be public internet, but I have no way of confirming that at this point. I am not worried about a day seeming to disappear, as long as I know that I did work. However, there is the possibility that I might just use that as a cover up for a day that I did not do work. It sounds silly, but I have known some to use that method for similar situations.

Otherwise, I look forward to continuing this summer practice that I have set forth, and I do not want to disappoint myself in any way.

Summer Plans and Projects: Or, How I will try to avoid wasting my time

So, school is over for me. I have a whole summer to work through, and a good amount of free time on my hands. Sure, I will have actual work. Yet, I will have a good amount more free time than I have had in a while. So, I would like to not let the time I have be wasted. To that end, I have a shell of a plan that I will put into action(by shell, I mean that the plan is there but not fleshed out). To start, I need to find the areas that I would like to work on over the summer. I have already narrowed down these to three focus points.

First, I must work on my people skills. If you do not know me in person, let me explain. I am an asshole. I often come across as abrasive, callous, and unyielding. These are traits that have helped me be firm in my ideals and my reasoning(or so I keep telling myself). Yet, they are horrible attributes to get people to like and trust you. While I am not disregarded in full, I am not most people’s first choice for a companion. This is really more of a personal goal than anything else, but I hope to also learn to extend this to professional use. There is no direct plan to craft these skills. Rather, I will have to monitor all of my communications and interactions to make continual progress.

Second, I must work on my programming skills. I am not a horrible programmer, but I have neglected to keep in practice. I have become a bit lazy, allowing other(lesser) priorities to get in the way. Spending time watching videos and playing games has been fun. However, I have let the important skills slip in enjoying my time. To sharpen this skill, I must have continual practice. For this, I will go with the current popular option. I will code something everyday, with a way to track that progress. Specifically, I must put time aside every day to code. I can not make an exception with this one. To track my progress, I will use Git. Each day, I must make at least one commit to my Github page. This is not my original idea, as it’s been done by others before. Yet, I liked the idea enough that I will use it for myself. This will allow a public record of my progress(which means shaming rights to anybody who keeps track).

Third, I must practice my writing skills. This one is also more personal than anything else. While I like to code for personal reasons, it is an applicable professional skill. Writing is something I do for a hobby. I do not make a habit of putting what I write out there, but it is something I enjoy none the less. So, I wish to practice the skill for my own benefit. This one will work much the same way as the programming one. I will set time apart each day to write, and will find a way to have a public record of that progress. My idea so far is to make one post each day(which might just annoy some subscribers). I have alternative ideas which involve other services, such as Scribd or Wattpad, or maybe even all three. This is the one that needs the most fleshing out, but I believe it will be worth it.

All of that in mind, I will have to finalize some ideas and dates. I plan to start this process at the beginning of next week, but I will leave that open for any changes. I hope to make this the most productive summer I’ve had in a long time, and that I will have something to show for it by the end.

EDIT:

I should be more specific by what I mean by a day. I do most of my work towards the late hours of the day, which might just stretch into the AM hours. By day, I mean the time I wake up to when I go to sleep. This might not reflect one-to-one on the public records, but it is how I do my days.