Its been 10 months since I started learning Python, and since then its been one project after another. I am a full time undergrad student with a commerce major and the President of a student club. Giving time to coding was not easy. It took hard work, long hours and dedication to finish what I started.
When I started learning Python, I was in-charge of organizing 2 college fests, I had exams coming up and being a non-tech major definitely did not help. I am a fitness enthusiast and a guitarist. So its very important to me to complete my daily workout and a jam session with my guitar. In spite of all my commitments I gave my all to learn coding as well. Here are some strategies I followed:
1. Figure out what I want:
An important part of managing your time is to figure out what you want to do. Prioritize your aspirations and plan accordingly. For me, organizing my college fest was more important than learning Python at the time. So understandably I spent more time on planning out the event, and at the end of the day, I would dedicate 30 mins to a Python tutorial just before going to bed.
2. Timetable
Making a timetable is something everyone suggests, and rightly so. Chalking out your day in the morning can save you more than 2 hours on deciding what to do with your day. It only takes 10 minutes! Make a timetable, and stick to it. At night, reflect on what you have to do the next day. My daily timetable was as follows:
Wake up at 8 AM and workout
By 10 AM, start cold calling/emailing prospective sponsors for the fest. This would go on till 5 PM.
Have a meeting with my team to discuss further steps. This went on till 7 PM.
Study till 10 PM for exams
Guitar jam session till 10.30 PM
Python tutorial till 11 PM
3. Seeing Results
Seeing tangible results is a powerful motivation. Keep a To Do List or a Planner handy, something you can check off boxes on. Every time you complete a task, check the box. At the end of the day, you can measure your progress and figure out what you can change the next day to achieve more on your list. This really helped me as ticking of those boxes motivated me to do more with my time.
4. Energy Boost
Having a tight schedule with long hours can be very tiresome and often leads to burnout and fall in productivity. A good remedy is taking a few hours off to relax every 4 days; do anything - read books, watch a movie, sleep - whatever calms you. Worked wonders for me. It allowed my brain enough time to rest and rejuvenate. However, after some time you get used to the routine. I am a boarding school kid. I had 18 hour days including 4 hours of basketball training, 1 hour of swimming practice and 6 hours of school. Over time, the routine got easier. So stick to your schedule and you won't feel the need for frequent breaks.
And of course, if you want the classic energy boost, there's coffee :P
5. Types of Tutorials
With very little time on my hands, I did not want to just go through vanilla Python Tutorials. It's just not efficient. So I started learning Python through games. I learned Pong, Tetris, Connect 4, etc. This made the experience more fun and I could see actual results. I have always considered learning through practical application a better and faster approach than learning theory.
10 months, and I have a come a long way in my coding journey. As an aspiring web developer, I now try to give more time to coding than I did earlier. If you want to get something done, you will find a way to do it. I did not let my commitments prevent me from trying something new. And now, coding is all I want to do. My life would have taken a very different turn had I not decided to up my game 10 months ago.
So learn, experiment, try new things. Don't make time an excuse to not do something. There is always enough time. You'll see. Hopefully my time management strategies will help you achieve all you want. I know it helped me.
Thank you for reading! See you in my next blog.