He was a cab driver who learned JavaScript between fares.
There are lessons for you in the way he did it.
When I asked my readers why they had abandoned self-learning projects in the past, most of them said it was not because they’d lost interest. They mentioned several reasons for quitting, but these are two that stuck out:
A quarter of them said they just couldn’t find the time.
Another 18 percent said they were too tired.
One of my favorite readers, a Chicago cab driver, faced the same problems. Ten-hour workdays left him little time to study, and at the end of exhausting days, all he wanted to do was put his feet up.
So he learned in fits and starts. When he was waiting for a fare, he studied. When a fare showed up, he drove. As it happens, the guy had found the best way to learn.
And as a bonus, on-the-job learning allowed him to study in the morning, when he was fresh.
I’ll bet you, too, can work around the interruptions in your life to master a computer language.
Like the cab driver, learn in short sprints.
When you’re doing hard mental work, Harvard Medical School says, brain fog begins to set in after 10 minutes. Cramming is self-defeating.
This means you learn best in bursts, as the cab driver did. Study for 10 to 30 minutes, then switch to another task, preferably a mindless one.
Resting is the other half of learning.
Between bursts of studying, I run the vacuum, walk around the block, or shovel snow.
But the activity has to be a vacation from thinking. Ten minutes on Twitter isn’t the right kind of rest for a busy mind.
If you work in an office, find a few minutes to study between meetings and phone calls, preferably in the morning. Just 10 minutes is all you need.
If you commute by train or bus, use the morning commute as a study hall (with frequent breaks to look out the window!)
If you have a job involving a time clock, get up 15 minutes early or dive into the book on your lunch break.
Take Seinfeld’s advice. Don’t break the chain.
When Seinfeld was establishing himself as a comedian, he developed a strong writing habit by crafting at least one good joke every single day.
Each time he got it done, Seinfeld marked an X on a big calendar. His aim was to cover the calendar with Xs.
You can do the same thing by writing at least one little piece of new code every day. This means reading how to do it, then coding it till you know it cold. If you’re pressed for time, you can usually accomplish this within 15 minutes.