"People with the greenest thumbs have killed the most plants"
Thought about that last night after playing Ultimate Frisbee - a newfound obsession over the last couple of years.
At first, I avoided the disc: scared of dropping it and being a disappointment to my team. But each drop helps you learn how to catch better next time, so actually one should seek out the disc.
I've seen massive progression since I changed my mindset.
Curiously, my programming career has gone the other way around.
At first, I was willing to try just about anything, and my progress and development was electric. I didn't think about myself as a programmer, so I didn't matter if what I did was "bad".
Conversely, once I regarded myself as a "good" programmer, it paralysed me because writing "bad" code would shatter that illusion. But good code lives on the other side of bad code.
I've heard successful novelists have similar struggles
Of course the antidote is to return to the beginner's mindset. To give yourself the room to create those small little experiments and dropped catches.
But it's always a work in progress!
@francoisvn I did advent of code for the first time this year - and I really enjoyed it for the reason you mention.
I had to stop though as soon as the problems got meatier. Similarly, I find it hard to do game jams these days - choice between working in your spare time and making room for crucial life things that aren't work.
Peter Cardwell Gardner
Francois van Niekerk