I’ve never felt very good at forming habits. The only thing I’ve managed to do every morning throughout my life is putting on clothes in the morning and brushing my teeth - both habits (thankfully) took form at a very young age.
This tendency have continued even throughout my years at university. I’ve always engaged in sprints of work or interest, sometimes out of “necessity” (such as a looming school deadline or no clean clothes left) but often out of curiosity or interest in something I’ve learned about.
When I’ve started to feel uninterested - I’ve usually simply stopped. In the school case, that interest has for the most part stayed around long enough that I’ve been doing completely fine. In the personal project case it leaves me with a trail of unfinished ideas. In the employment case it becomes more complicated, and I’m not sure how to handle that one yet.
I struggle a lot with the question if this is simply a bad personality trait. If I need to become better at and learn to find enjoyment in work that feels monotonous. Does accepting that I can’t always enjoy most of what I’m doing, in the long run put me in a place were I’ll have more autonomy? I might be missing a lot of enjoyment that comes from sticking with something?
One realization I’ve had a while ago is that I compare myself to a robotic being and the people that are the best at it. Most people have a distaste for doing work that feels monotonous or less engaging - for me and I’m sure many others there just seems to be more things that feel this way, and quicker.
Another is that it all depends on importance. I’ve so far in my life not been in very many situations were me finishing a personal project is very important, and school has worked out fine even in the cases were I maybe haven’t thought the subject is the most interesting.
Another is that it very much depends on both time and categorization scale. I’m not good at consistency if the measure is how many nights a week I’m working on building a long domino track, placing one brick after the other. But I think I AM quite consistent over a larger time scale when it comes to becoming a better programmer, and that I’m very happy about!
Got advice? Reach out!