Sometimes the Problem Isn’t Progress, It’s the Mental Block

Sometimes it isn’t about progress. It’s about destroying the mental block that prevents it.

First, the irony

I switched to Information Systems for my Honours because I didn’t want to be a developer for the rest of my life. Guess what I do most of the time? Not consulting, not analysis. I code One Click POS: features, improvements and bug fixes.

Even in coding, I’ve always been the back-end person. I never really liked front end and found it a lot harder. I understand it, but it takes me a long time to turn ideas into it.

A task that wasn’t hard on paper

A while back, during a holiday break, I’d slipped into holiday mode: doing only what was needed, with no real progress. That went against my usual rhythm. I normally try to make the most of holidays, because everything that keeps you busy during the year is on holiday too. Less noise and less random work means more time to think, plan, design and build.

We’d recently brought our ERP to the web, which meant bringing the key features of the desktop version across too. Not very difficult: same language, a similar framework, and AI tools make translating between them much easier.

But I had a mental block. I don’t do front-end development continuously, and working out how to bring across one feature, a core one that the next important features depended on, kept me from doing anything at all.

The loop

I’d think about it, then ignore it. The question of how kept putting the brakes on, then some small task would come up and I’d use it as an excuse. Think about it, ignore it, find an excuse, repeat. Most of us know that loop.

Then one evening I had an hour left and decided to just go for it. It took much longer than it would take a seasoned front-end developer, but with AI tools and my own existing code, I got the core feature working.

In the big picture, it wasn’t the end of the world. I’d simply added a concept that already existed on the desktop side. But once that mental block breaks, you start to believe you can accomplish more and take the next step. My next goal was the Supplier Module on the web, because I’d grown tired of waiting to be near my laptop to add an invoice or record a payment. And yes, that’s probably more useful to me than to any client.

Win small, then take on the gladiator

So whenever you hit a mental block, look for the easiest way to break it. Find the smallest way into the problem, take one small win, and let that confidence carry you to the next step.

Don’t fight the gladiator when you aren’t confident. Build confidence with small wins, break the mental block, then go and finish the gladiator.