A few days ago I have finished reading “Practicing Rails” by Justin Weiss. I liked it so much that I wanted to write about it.
I have first read the free sample chapter. I was surprised because it didn’t start with anything technical. Nothing about Rails philosophy or principles. And the entire book it was about how to learn. It’s about how to approach problems without pain. It has productivity and motivation hacks.
I will quote a few paragraphs to give a sense of what it is.
By separating the decision about where to start from the decision about what to do, you end up with two smaller, clearer tasks. Each of these tasks is easier to start than your bigger, fuzzier task.
After reading this, it seems like I already knew it. :)
The most frustrating struggles come from running into problems you don’t know how to solve. You can skip these problems by avoiding new things until you understand the old things.
Not cool, but profound and useful.
If it takes consistent practice to get good at Rails, not being motivated to practice is going to be your biggest problem. You can’t rely on motivation every day. Instead, set up systems, habits, and processes, so you don’t have to motivate yourself to work.
I recommend this book to anyone who plans on starting learning any new thing, not just a technology or programming language.