Why consistency will always beat motivation

One of the beautiful things about being a developer is that many of us actually have the opportunity to take an activity we enjoy, and make it our job. Many developers are happy to do some extra work or learn something when they're at home or in the weekend just because they are so eager to learn and play. While this is pretty awesome, it won't last forever. You won't be motivated to learn every single day. Especially once you start doing development as a full-time job.

I experience this as well, sometimes I have a couple of days or even weeks where my motivation is through the roof. I'll get tons of work done and the days just fly by. On other days I just can't seem to get started, everything is distracting and the motivation just doesn't seem to be there. When I look at some of the more senior developers I know, it seems that they have moved past this phase. They always seem to be motivated and sometimes they just seem extra motivated. They just seem to have no shortage of the good stuff! How do they do this?

Is it worth chasing motivation?

If you think about it, motivation isn't worth much. It's just not there all the time and you can't rely on it being there when you need it most. When I was looking for ways to improve motivation I came across posts like this, telling me that I should get disciplined. Some went even further and said that motivation just isn't worth your time.

Usually, being demotivated is caused by something. For example, you might be tired, eaten poorly, have something else on your mind, or you might struggle with figuring out what it is you should be doing right now. Without clear priorities, our brains absolutely love to zone out, slack off, and leave us procrastinating and wasting time. You can't motivate youself out of a situation like this.

You need a system that you can apply consistently to help you move forward.

And usually, once you get yourself going again, motivation will come back and you're all set up for another productive day.

Turning motivation into discipline

If you want to be more disciplined you'll sometimes have to be pretty tough on yourself. There's rarely a valid excuse to not do what you're supposed to do. So instead of postponing things until you feel motivated, just get started. Of course, this means that you need to have a to do list. Or some other system in place that helps you determine what it is that you need to be doing right now.

You can do this by taking 15-20 minutes at the start of your day or week to figure out what it is that you're going to build, what code are you going to write. Figure out what sub tasks there are and split them up in blocks that will take about 30-60 minutes to complete. If you do this, you will have a great structured overview of what you're going to do. You'll know how busy you are for the day or week and you'll be able to plan accordingly.

You can then use a pomodoro timer or something similar to help you focus for 25 minutes at a time.

After a timer completes, it's time to take a quick break. And try to make it an actual break, get up and grab a drink. If there's email or anything similar that requires your attention, take a peek. Reply if needed or add replying to your to-do list. Make it a part of a new 25 minute timer if the email requires you to figure something out in-depth.

Otherwise, use the break or extend the break a little (but not too much, 10 minutes should be the maximum). In the beginning you might feel like you're restricting yourself because just as you're in the zone you have to get up. And when you're not feeling ready yet, it's time to start back up.

That's fine. In fact, that's the point. You are training yourself to have a consistent and disciplined workflow.

Once you've established a pace and rythm for yourself it's suddenly not distracting at all. Following your system means that you don't spend mental capacity on figuring our what's next. You don't burn through all your energy in a few hours because you never took breaks. You're never spending "just 5 more minutes" on social media. You have a system in place, and that system guides you. It helps you get things done.

The benefits are real

When I look at more senior developers I notice that many of them have a workflow similar to this. They take multiple short breaks throughout the day and between those breaks they tend to be very focused on the tasks they have to complete. They don't have Slack or Teams open all the time and they work on a single thing at a time. And they are consistent about that. Everyday they seem to be able to flick the switch and go into work mode. Of course they still have more and less motivated days, but they know how to get themselves back into work mode.

So let's get out there and become consistently more disciplined!