Often

Have you heard about this challenge #100DaysOfCode?

It’s more of an initiative, the core of which is repetition and social commitment. The idea that if you keep coding for 100 days, you’ll be able to learn a lot everyday. Atomically, one thing at a time!

Interestingly I learned this while listening to James Clear’s book TheAtomicHabits. He mentioned a story about this Professor at University of Florida, Jerry Uelsmann.

The professor divided his photography class into two groups. He told the class that their grades depend on two different factors quantity and quality!

And if that’s not interesting enough, he asked both the groups to focus on just one! For the first group, he asked them to click pictures and focus on quantity, take as many pictures as they can, cause their grades depend on it!

For the second group, he asked them to focus on quality. To get an A, they have to click pictures of A grade quality!

Guess what happened at the end of term?

The quantity group produced not just more but also rather good pictures! It was surprising and also interesting to understand for the professor!

The quantity group focused on taking a lot of photos. It gave them the luxury of experimenting with all sorts of factors! Lighting, scene and what not! They learned from their own mistakes. The process was fun for them and they learned the skill!

Meanwhile the quality group focused on speculation! e.g. what could make a picture the best! They had to sit and discuss about perfection!

Since they had little to show and it had to be perfect! They (thought) couldn’t work on anything weak or average!

The learning is - its easy to loosen up if you focus on the perfect, and may be you’ll quit! It’s always an iterative process. You learn while performing! The best is just another iteration in all of the other iterations you perform. It is just an event, which will happen, if you’re active!

Focus on practicing more often!

Credits: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/embracing-imperfection-achieving-goals/

Links: https://www.100daysofcode.com/

Atomic Habits Book: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits