9 Sep 2024
You don't need discipline. You just need to care enough.
Most of the time we tend to dread doing things and procrastinate. But we know we have to do it. Maybe. Actually, do we really need to do it?
When we look at people who keep doing what they do, we tend to think "oh my god they must have been so disciplined in order to get where they are". What I see is that they just cared more than others did. Discipline is a fruit of caring enough.
The way you actually start caring is to get into the roots of why you even started this thing. Why did you choose CS? Why did you choose to be a SWE? Why did you start building that thing? It's easy to forget why we chose to do some things. But it's not hard to remember either.
Has that reason changed? Is it still there? Those are good indicators if you should continue doing what you do. Of course, I'm not saying you should give up if anything changes. Sometimes we need to keep going just to find our reasons lying somewhere else. But finding those reasons back works way better than dreadful discipline.
Think deep and find out why. It might just keep you going. It might make you realize that you have gone off the path. It might even give you a new perspective to what you do.
The seas are often changing but the will to become a pirate king never sways.