I just noticed I have about 16 followers on here with no article which is quite strange but I've decided to offer some form of value to these 16 followers. If you are one of them, thank you for following me here, I appreciate it. If you are new, welcome!!! 2023 is going to be exciting!!!
The main goal for this episode, the very first is to communicate the underlying motivation for work this year. I found that while motivation isn't everything it is worth quite a lot and it impacts the quality of work you put out. I noticed my motivation towards work crashed last year kind of like how the crypto market crashed 🤭.
Since the start of my programming/tech career back in 2017 I've somehow always been able to motivate myself and push for the goals I needed to achieve which helped me stay disciplined and make a positive impact in the teams I've been privileged to work with. However, in late 2021 was when I noticed a decline in motivation. I had to introspect what was the main difference between when my motivation was the highest and when the decline started to happen. I found that it all came down to one thing:
MONEY!!!
Yes, money! Wait! Before you start thinking it's trivial or shallow keep reading, I'd like to know your thoughts at the end thank you.
I was in my final year at the university when I wrote my first line of code. I entered tech with the mindset that I had a lot of catching up to do. I knew this was what I wanted to do as a career but at that point, I felt I didn't have any relevant experience to help build a career in tech. The goal was simple, to catch up! Learn as much as I can, and get all the experience I need. And as you can already see, money was far from my plans at the time. I always felt money will come after, I mean if I'm one of the top software engineers in the country I can't be broke right? Right?! 😬
It all felt very ethical then and you know the pride that comes when you say "I'm not here for the money" 😂. Don't get me wrong, It wasn't totally off. The main issue was the balance. I found out I developed a habit of turning down opportunities that would have made me earn 6 figures $$$ at different points in my career simply because I wasn't in it for the money. There's a different kind of experience that comes with being open to opportunities that I didn't know about until recently. A simple example will be having an updated resumé/CV which I didn't even have. Another will be having personal projects to polish my skills outside of my 9-5 another thing I struggled with convincing myself that work experience was more than enough. The responsibility of adulting then creeps up on you whilst all this is happening and before you know it you're not a baller in Tech, you're just another person with an average job trying to survive.
Well for me, the most painful part about all of this is the effect it had on how I work and the attitude I have towards work. I went from "exceeding expectations" to "meeting expectations" to "as long as I don't get fired". In all honesty, this wasn't all my fault, I could write a longer article about the situations and circumstances that led to this but as juicy as that article will be it won't change what I have to do. I have come to terms with the fact that right now I'm not the best employee, not even close. I don't push myself to deliver my best and don't try to do more work than necessary, I just try to get by. While this is okay for some people, it doesn't sit right with me.
This article is another step towards breaking the decline! I'm going to put in my best at every task I have to do. I'm going to exceed expectations. I'm going to be the reason a company goes from a startup to a unicorn. I do understand that it is not magic and it's not gonna be easy. There are habits that I have to break in order to be able to achieve this. I'm willing to do what it takes, I'm willing to go the extra mile, and I'm willing to be the best. A great developer once said:
Each day is another opportunity to be world-class!
The primary reason for starting this blog now is accountability. That's one step I'm taking to break through into a world-class state of mind. So expect more articles from yours truly. I'll be doing video versions of this on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@nerocodes . Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, and leave a comment, let's keep the conversation going.