learning to code and it's not even close.

sometimes i'm still amazed i did this. not in a "let me pat myself on the back" way, but because i spent most of my life giving up on good ideas. giving up on things that made sense. whether it was relationships or a high potential role, waking up early to hop on that sales call... i was not the type to finish things. no wonder i've had 55 jobs.

yet somehow, while learning to code i learned how to follow through.

i've reflected on these ideas somewhat in On Attention to Detail and various keynote presentations. i try to live out a "whatever it takes" mentality for everyone else to see. which by the way is a great hack: tell everyone publicly you'll do X, and you will probably do X if you value your reputation.

beyond direct benefits of coding -- building my own ideas for free vs paying "engineers" thousands of dollars for crappy prototypes -- learning to program also taught me how to learn. when one of my devices breaks, i assume i can fix it. if i need a hay barn, i assume i can build it. when strangers want to ask me a question, i provide a solution.

at any rate, i don't want to be that guy who tells people they should learn to code. except to journalists. their jobs are useless.