I'm really lacking focus. Too many things happening at the same time

Question

need motivation

Answer 1

It's not motivation that you need, it's discipline. For example, you realize that you're not focusing on what you're trying to do, and here you are talking to me. :) Motivation is great in a moment for that burst of energy, but what about when you're tired, frustrated, etc.. and not feeling motivated? Just quit until you feel it again? The trick to success is that even if you're not feeling motivated, you get up and you push forward toward your goal. Otherwise you're going to quit at the first obstacle on your path, which may be something as simple as "I'm tired right now, I'll do it tomorrow" or "I'm going to go hang with friends and do this later" or "Just 5 mins on facebook" or etc.. etc... etc..

The reality is that there are ALWAYS going to be distractions and excuses for you to not do something right now. Motivation is a very fleeting thing, so if you hang onto it as your source of doing stuff, you're going to get yourself pulled away when it flees from the moment.

"Okay okay okay Jakob, I hear what you're saying, so how about you answer my question and just tell me what I should do then, smarty pants!?"

I'm glad you asked! :)

First thing you need to consider is this; WHY are you wanting to become a programmer? This is by far the most important question you can ask yourself when pondering upon why you do what you do and why you don't do what you say you want to do. The reality is that we base the things we do off a pain/pleasure ratio; it's our simple nature. If you don't associate more pleasure with programming, you'll tilt the ratio in favor of the pain of the process and find an excuse to do something else so you can gain pleasure (your distractions are things you associate as pleasure). As such, you need to figure out your reasoning for why you want to become a programmer, and consistently remind yourself of your purpose.

Find your purpose. Decide if it's worth the pain to get there. If you can't find enough pleasure inside of yourself for programming, then find what you love in life.

Answer 2

Sorry, I ran out of characters in my last post. I'll quickly sum up my own purpose.

For me, I've been passionate about programming since I was 13 (I'm 32 now) because of my natural love for puzzles, challenges, and logic. Programming was the perfect fit for who I naturally am, so I never had an issue associating more pleasure than pain to the process of learning it. At this point in my life, my new additional purpose is that I want to be able to provide a good life and future for my wife & kids. To remind myself of that purpose, next to my computer I have pictures of our dream house and things we want to gain/accomplish while we're still alive. Whenever I'm lacking motivation or just "not feeling it today," I look at those things and remind myself of why I do what I do, then I push forward regardless of my current state of being. No excuses.

Best of luck to you dude!