Do you want to read an amazing coaching / mindset book? Check out Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court:
In this post I wanted to share some of our favorite lessons:
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“Too often we neglect our journey in our eagerness or anxiety about reaching our goal … The preparation is where success is truly found.”
Sometimes we become too obsessed over results and big and flashy goals: land a develop job, build a profitable side gig, etc.
However if you want to be successful in the long term you have to fall in love with the game, the process, the daily reps.
Only then can you become really great at anything and sustain the challenges you inevitably face.
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“When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur.”
Some people post 3 days on social, code for a month, do 2 coding interviews and don’t see significant results then throw in the towel.
You will only see consistent results gradually though. What you see today is a reflection of the past 2 years of actions – the tip of the iceberg.
Take our platform for example, the people that rise to the top and leave amazing stories have been coding for many days, weeks and even years. They made many mistakes along the way and experimented every day.
Adopt the 1% rule: consistent little improvements always beat a few big improvements (which are mostly an illusion).
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“Your reaction to victory or defeat is an important part of how you play the game.”
The Detroit Pistons were notorious for their game and how they behaved when they lost a championship.
Winning or losing is one thing, how you react to it is way more important. Are you defeated or do you hit the gym again the next day?
When you hit roadblocks (“I don’t grasp OOP”, “my code crashes”, “my app slows down with 10x the load”) – do you complain about it or do you fully embrace these obstacles and see them as fuel or opportunities for growth?
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“Never believe you’re better than anybody else, but remember that you’re just as good as everybody else.”
This one should be obvious. Once you think you’re better than somebody, expect to go downhill quickly.
Stay humble, everybody you encounter can teach you a valuable lesson. Newbies can open expert Pythonista’s eyes, just by reframing a problem with a beginner mindset.
One of my favourite stories in this context is the kid that found a simple (clever) solution to get a truck unstuck.
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“You cannot function physically or mentally unless your emotions are under control.”
Emotions can cloud your judgement. It’s often good to cool down before making any rash decisions.
In this context we like the “hot letter” or “unsent angry letter” hack Abraham Lincoln (and other public figures) used.
These are the kinds of important mindset lessons we include in our PyBites Developer Mindset coaching program.
If you want to be coached on mindset in addition to Python and software development, book a Strategy Session with us.
Don’t ignore the mindset side of things, it’s as important (if not more important) as the technical skills!
— Bob