Learning to prevent and overcome demotivation is essential to becoming a successful programmer. Quite obviously, you won’t be very productive if you’re unmotivated.

Here are a few tips to help you minimize the amount of time you spend unmotivated.

However, keep in mind that no matter what you do, there will likely always be times during which you’ll lack the desire to keep going. If you find yourself in such a time, just know that you haven’t failed and it is possible to get back on track.

Pick realistic projects

Choosing project goals that are actually realistic is very important. There are few things that can obliterate your motivation the way the realization that you won’t be able to finish your project can.

Read more about setting realistic project goals in my post Tips for Your First Project.

Look at how far you’ve come

This may be more difficult when first starting out since you might feel as though you haven’t accomplished much, but taking a good look at how far you’ve come can be very motivating.

Progress is slow in the beginning, so keep that in mind. Think about the progress you have made rather than how little you still know.

Keep your eyes on the prize

Staying focused on your goal and what your project will become is also a great motivator—as long as it’s feasible. If you look at your goal and it demotivates you, that’s a major problem.

If reminding yourself of your goal does not motivate you, that’s probably a sign that it’s too unrealistic. Go back and strip off as much as you can so you’re left with just the bare bones.

Staying motivated can be a continuous struggle

You won’t always be able to prevent demotivation, but you can overcome it.

I’m currently going through a phase of feeling very unmotivated, mainly due to the fact that development on Ventus has stagnated. I’m experiencing issues when trying to play multiple games in the same session and I’m getting exactly zero errors.

This makes identifying the problem quite laborious and gives me no starting point for debugging, which is extremely frustrating. The situation feels really hopeless right now, and it’s taking a lot of willpower to keep at it.
My goal of finally releasing Ventus and the understanding of the importance of finishing projects are the main sources from which I’m drawing that willpower.

So if you’re trying to prevent and overcome demotivation, remember to pick realistic projects, remind yourself of how far you’ve come, and envision the feeling of finishing.

There will likely still be times like I’m currently going through—during which it feels like you’ve come to a screeching halt and you won’t ever start moving again. However, I encourage you to push through those times, because completing a project is totally worth it!