Throughout every developer’s life there comes a time where coders block simply kills productivity. Coders block can have a few causes and over the years I have found ways to avoid it almost completely.
There are several causes and ways to overcome coders block.
Cause 1: Emotional conflict
If you have emotional conflict in your life you will struggle with your code. Trouble with your friends, parents, children, wife, girlfriend or the lack thereof. You will struggle to work. So it is important to keep these relationships as healthy as possible. If your conflict is financial, you need to learn to cope with it. Since web development is a mental task, worrying will impact your work. I do not worry when i am coding. If I do have emotional troubles. I will make sure they are handled and do what I need to do before I code. If you are depressed you will not be able to code in the web.
Cause 2: Just too much work
I have underestimated projects and took on a bit too much which forced me to work midnight hours. the problem with this is it turns you into a zombie. Sometimes mentally and physically. When you are in this season. There are 4 things I do. Choose and do one thing at a time, get enough rest, keep your apatite satisfied and remember to breathe. Web development is a mental task. You need to keep the brain awake and energized.
Cause 3: Difficult tasks
Sometimes you are unable to write the code because you just do not know how. What helps here are to break the problem down into smaller problems and just play with the code. It helps if you can ask another developer for their perspective.
Cause 4: Boredom
This is something that kills my productivity. The moment I get bored its over. So what I actually do is I bribe myself. I would say things like, if you can finish this functionality and sort these bugs. I will give you 30 minutes of gaming or an episode of a specific series. It does sound weird, but its done wonders for my deadlines. I reward myself for good work.
I also find working with music helps improve how long I can sit and write code.
Cause 5: Unmotivated
Sometimes you are just unmotivated. What I would suggest is working through some motivational videos (From Eric Tomas). This helps you set goals and gives some different perspectives.
Web development will not always be awesome. There are days that you will fight. But with time you can get better at overcoming coders block.
