If thereās one thing Iāve realized in the last year, itās thatĀ making an app is scary. Despite the wealth of resources out there, learning to code still feels a lot like a trip aboard the USS Enterprise:Ā boldlyĀ going where no-one has gone before.
Of course, peopleĀ haveĀ been there,Ā Stack OverflowĀ is a testament to that, but the universe of brackets and dot notationĀ is so foreign at first thatĀ communicating in it feels like rowing without a paddle. Thankfully, with a little time and persistence it gets better! You learn to ask the right questions, and when you do get stuck it generally takes you less time to move forward again. The little things are also a lot more exciting at first, as shown in the graphs below. You go from being like āMy Hello World works! I am a powerful wizard!ā to āI named my listener method weightWatcher()! I am a powerful (and hilarious) wizard!ā. The takeaway is that code isĀ magic.Ā āØ
Unfortunately, itās not always a steady exponential climb. What Iām realizing now is thatĀ sharing an app is a lot scarier than making it. Weāre three blog posts in and I havenāt even told you what my app does or payed for yourĀ dinner yet! I know that my blogās tagline is āI have no idea what Iām doingā, but itās not a crutch for inaction. A couple years ago, I hiredĀ Michelle AkinĀ as a life coach, and one of the things that I took away from the experience was a better understanding of my fears and how they would hold me back.
If I let them.
Right now, sharing my app with the world is terrifying to me. Yes it works, but the designās not doneā¦Ā itās missing featuresā¦ it has bugsā¦ I could go on forever. Part of me wants to just keep working on it until itās perfect, but that will never happen. Iāve put a ton of time into it and Iām scared of what people will think, butĀ Iām at the point where I need feedback.Ā Letās break out of the comfort zone.
In next weekās blog post, Iām showing you my app.
There will be screenshots. There will be sketches. There will even be a comment box below the post if you want to give feedback. Or if youāve pressedĀ a mysteriousĀ buttonĀ to receive it in your inbox, youāll be able to hit reply and pour your heartĀ out!
A MYSTERIOUS BUTTONĀ ā¤ļø
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The commitment above comes from a powerful trick that I also learned from Michelle. If youāre scared of something, or if itās outside of your comfort zone, you probably have a tendencyĀ notĀ to attach a concrete time to it.
āIāll get fit sometime next year.ā
āIāll start a blog when I have less on my plate.ā
āIāll learn to code once I feel ready.ā
Stop doing this; it will help. If you need a reminder every now and then just bring out your inner Beyonce.
Cause if you liked it then you should have put a date on it. š¶
