Mindset

Before we embark on our journey, we have to think about the mindset we will adopt going forward. This will help us avoid burnout and make sure we are on track to completing this course.

Growth Mindset

We encourage course members to check out this 10-minute TED talk that talks about the importance of maintaining a growth mindset, which will help you be more efficient in your learning.

Dunning Kruger Effect

On your journey to becoming proficient in python, you will likely encounter the Dunning-Kruger Effect acting on you. There are two main parts to understand about this phenomenon to maximize your learning capacity.

1. When learning any skill(e.g. python programming) you will learn a lot at once, which gives you confidence in the subject matter. This confidence can be detrimental to your learning as you will think attained that skill and hence stop your journey when in fact you have only learned the basics of that skill.
2. When you understand part one, it will quickly dawn on you that there is a lot that you don't know about your skill(because you don't know what you don't know). It can destroy a lot of the confidence you had earlier as you realize the actual length of the journey ahead of you. From this point, you will be making slow but steady progress toward mastery.

Take a look at this graph of the Dunning-Kruger Effect:

Flow State

You may have heard of the flow state, also called being "in the zone", which is a mental state where you feel energy, focus, and joy. Being able to get yourself into this mental state will help you both have fun and learn more.

Taking a look at the flow state graph below, we define two axes, the horizontal being our perceived skill level and the vertical axis being our challenge level. It is important to realize that by changing your perception of the task, you can help manipulate the emotional state you can find yourself in.

Getting stuck

You will likely find yourself stuck at some point in this course, whether that is on a project or learning a new concept. When you feel stuck, it is critical for you to not get discouraged.

• If you're just having a small problem understanding something, feel free to search on google or ask for help on our discord or our telegram chats.
• At other times, you may have been overworking yourself and need to take a break. If catch yourself doing this quite often, you should try using the Pomodoro Technique, where you perform focused work for about 25 minutes (which you are welcome to tweak) and then take short breaks after each session.