Читать книгу The Self-Taught Computer Scientist - Cory Althoff - Страница 17

There is one last thing I want to cover before you dive into learning computer science. If you are reading this book, you've already taught yourself to program. As you know, the most challenging part about picking up a new skill like programming isn't the difficulty of the material: it is sticking with it. Sticking with learning new things is something I struggled with for years until I finally learned a trick that I would like to share with you, called Don't Break the Chain.

Jerry Seinfeld invented Don't Break the Chain. He came up with it when he was crafting his first stand-up comedy routine. First, he hung a calendar up in his room. Then, if he wrote a joke at the end of each day, he gave himself a red X (I like the idea of green check marks better) on the calendar for that day. That's it. That is the entire trick, and it is incredibly powerful.

Once you start a chain (two or more green check marks in a row), you will not want to break it. Two green check marks in a row become five green check marks in a row. Then 10. Then 20. The longer your streak gets, the harder it will be for you to break it. Imagine it is the end of the month, and you are looking at your calendar. You have 29 green check marks. You need only one more for a perfect month. There is no way you won't accomplish your task that day. Or as Jerry Seinfeld describes it:

After a few days, you'll have a chain. Just keep at it, and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.

My dedication to preserving one of my chains has led me to do crazy things, like going to the gym in the middle of the night, to keep it intact. There is no better feeling than looking back at the calendar page containing your first perfect month and seeing it filled with green check marks. If you are ever in a rut, you can always look back at that page and think about the month where you did everything right.

Technical books are hard to get through. I've lost count of how many I've abandoned partway through. I tried to make this book as fun and easy to read as possible, but to give yourself extra insurance, try using Don't Break the Chain to ensure you finish this book. I also partnered with monday.com to create a free Self-Taught Programmer template and app that keeps track of your coding streaks for you. You can try it at https://hey.monday.com/CoryAlthoff .

With that said, are you ready to study computer science?

Let's get started!