I have been trying to learn programming for the last 3yrs, I have managed to cover alot but when ever I hit a mental block I completely loose focus and give up ending up having to relearn every thing from scratch when the focus and motivation returns.
How can I over come this and learn consistently?
Yeah I hear you. That is what happens when we really on motivation and feeling to get us through. Lots of learning includes periods that are just tedious and boring. And to learn anything at some point, you have to go through those boring periods ... Or periods after the initial excitement and thrill have worn off.
So what you need to develop is consistency. You do a little work consistently on the project, on the learning ... You learn start strategies ("I'l just do this for five minutes") ... You remind yourself that often doing the task isn't as bad as you anticipate it is going to be.
I had to listen to a bunch of voice messages and check a lot of emails over the last week. I HATE voice messages. My stomach clenches just anticipating the details I have to listen to, the calls I have to make back ... same with email ... and I know how distracted I am ... and how lost I get in email if I'm not careful ... But I got myself to do al that this weekend partly because I realize that ignoring voicemails and emails ... stresses me out as well ... just a bit more quietly ....
You gotta embrace routines ... and acceptance that learning ain't always fun ... even playing the most enjoyable sport or activity you can think of, there will be many boring moments. That's just life ...
This is a great topic for therapy or life coaching because you ideally ned some accountability ... btw; that's another method people use. Accountability ... or just steady encouragement ... Also you gotta learn that doing 10 minutes is 1 million times better than THINKING about doing 2 hours worth of work ...
10 minutes of studying ... = 1 million times more ... than imagining (0) x two hours of studying ...
That's part of a mindset you can develop ...
Great advice.
Specificly with computer programming, I quickly learned concepts, but I struggled with the actual coding.
Here are some things that I learned that helped (though I didn't finish my computer degree, probably because it took me too long to learn these lessons).
Take the time to write good comments in your code. This will help you, and also help anyone you go to for assistance.
If you just can't get something after the first few attempts (learning a new concept, or writing a piece of code), go ask the instructor during their office hours. (Write out your questions before you go, so you don't forget to ask something.)
Study & code with a partner or in a group, if you can... One person in the group may be able to understand a particular issue better than the others, and can help to explain it. In the working world, there's a lot that is done in teams, so this will help you hone needed interpersonal skills.
Find examples of working code, examine it to understand how and why it works, and write your own code that's similar.
Once you have written code that works, reuse that code for future coding projects. (Code re-use is a regular practice in the computer programming industry.)
These are all excellent suggestions. Yes, we have to outfox our ADHD, outfox our boredom ... having multiple people explain the same concept is extremely helpful ... some people's voices just don't grab us ... and different instructors explain in different ways ... we don't want to assume because we struggled with one instructor, we can't get the material ....
in the same way reading a concept from different textbooks can be helpful ... or yep ... youtube videos ... every time I look up I find a helpful youtube video ... and frankly, even if you checked last week, that's probably obsolete ... check again this week and you find strike gold ... I'm a teacher myself, and I just found an absolutely amazing set of youtube videos explaining concepts in my field way better than I can ... and much briefer ... with better graphics and examples ... I'm absolutely use these videos for my classes this term ...
I have also found that I have to slow slow down ... when I'm not getting something, I have a tendency to panic ... and give up ... I've been really working to retrain my brain ... to say, "OK, let me read this once more ... more slowly" ... can't tell you the number of directions of you know, assembling lamps, that I couldn't follow, but I took my time and then bing! ... I get it ....
I mean slow really down ... re-read slowly ... in a different tone ... pause at different places ... and this is sneaky ... assume that you can get it ... that's really hard if you have, like I have had, a quick panic I can't get this, OMG button.
Have you use self talk like "just because I'm struggling now doesn't mean I won't eventually get the concept ..." .... may sound mechanical at first but after figuring these out a few times ... the words become a little more convincing ...
Thank you this is really helpful, YouTube has been my go-to for a while now though I find some videos too long and boring because I'm looking for just one concept I can't grasp. Slowing down really works until I look at how much I have to learn and that gets me frustrated.I will try self talk since it seems to have worked in other aspects of my life
Thanks this is what I needed to hear, I always skip the comments, I tell myself that my code isn't that good so no one will read it anyway. I guess I need to work on that and get more help from others, I have a hard time asking people for help, that's something else I need to work on
I had a hard time asking for help, too. Especially after so many people praised me for how smart I was in K-12 school.
It's funny, because I never had a problem with anyone asking me for help.
Even though I'm humble about a lot of things, it seems I'm still prideful about asking for help when I need it.
I'm different in the working world, where I expect to be able to ask colleagues for help when I need it.
-------
When it comes to commenting code, I came up with a two-in-one strategy. I would plan my coding project by sketching out a flowchart and writing the program out as pseudocode. Then, in would use the pseudocode as the comments.
(I still never mastered coding. I can read through code and figure out what it's supposed to do, but I would rarely turn in a completed, bug-free assignment. I finally started to figure out what I could do to get the help that I needed, and I ran out of financial aid money.
However, the computer classes I did complete helped me get into my career field: information technology. I mentioned helping other people above... That's where I excel and get the satisfaction in what I do. I just go around helping people with ordinary computer problems (Windows apps, network connections, printing, etc.)
I'm in Information Technology as well, I find it easy to help people infact I Love helping people fix their computer related issues, I can take a part a laptop and put it back together perfectly. Currently I am unemployed (Covid) but now a specialist in a customizable health system called DHIS2 (close to a no code development app) this what got me interested in programming. I want to do better and it seems like all the available jobs are programming jobs which pay really well.
Sorry for over sharing 😂 but yeah I can relate to how IT comes easy
DHIS2 gives you some direction. It's coded in Java, a very widely used programming language (3rd place behind JavaScript and Python).
The university I attended used C for almost all the programming classes, and I always got memory errors or segmentation errors with C. Higher level languages like Java automatically handle memory management and "garbage collection", but in C it's the programmer's responsibility to account for those things. That makes it especially hard for someone with ADHD to code in C (in my opinion).
Writers and artists have the same common problem, often called 'writer's block'. Have you ever heard the quote from the Rocky films? 'It's not about hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward... That's how winning is done'... And another 'Going one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life.'...
I write, paint and draw, and often get frustrated because it seems to plateaux at certain points of progression. It's almost as if I dont know how to do it anymore. The work seems to plummet instead of rise and get better.
It's all about realising how far you've come, and all learning is a building. You lay the foundation, then the bricks, and in the end close it off with a roof. Sometimes you'll see that you've made a mistake in the brickwork, you have to take some bricks off to fix it, and then re-build. But you have to keep laying the bricks, even if it's one a day.
When it slows to one a day, you may get disheartened and so that's the perfect time to go and check your work, and not only that, check the plans, check the supplies and get inspired by other people's work.
When you have a mental block, the trick is to find inspiration. You can do that by reading books on the subject, reading inspirational work created by others, reading success stories, etc etc.
In your case, studying programming books, watch videos on the programme you're learning, go back and PRACTISE what you've learnt, and PLAN your future as the programmer you dream to be.
I'm learning piano, I learnt a classical tune from start to finish. Right hand first, very very slow, left hand second even slower, then both combined, and eventually after 3 months, half an hour a day, I got it. I could play it, no mistakes, slow but sure. Then though, out of nowhere, I started forgetting it. I started making stupid mistakes. I played it perfect 20 times, but for some reason, it started falling out out my brain. I havent played it perfect since. Each time I play it, I make mistakes and can't remember how it goes. I even mess up the beginning, the part i've played 1000 times more than the other parts.
It's all I focused on, one tune, over and over and over. I didnt realise it at the time but each and every time I was practising, making mistakes and forgetting, I was building the muscles in my hands. One day I got so tired of making mistakes, I decided to do something else. It was then I found that I can play the piano better than i've ever done. Whilst learning the classical tune, I was learning how to play those chords better, I was subliminally looking and seeing different patterns, and how to use those chords. When I'd had enough, thought I was losing, played something else, found I could play my other stuff better, I then put everything i'd learnt from the tune into my own work, and I have created a beautiful tune of my own. I didnt realise I was winning whilst making mistakes, thought I was getting worse, but I was laying the foundation, building the bricks, and now I can progress in my own work, because I studied and inspiring piece from someone else.
You could say I had a mental block in my own piano playing, so went off and did something else, thought I was failing, so went back to my own work, and the experience has developed better knowledge, better playing, and I now realise i've been laying bricks and i'm 3/4 up the side of the house.
Keep going, go to other places for inspiration, read and study your subject, practise other work related to your learning, and then go back to your own learning. It works.
Time For My Brain To Grow Up All Over Again
Help with talking to dr about meds
A Visual over Non Visual learner
Struggling with coming to terms
1st week on vyvanse unsure 
