Pep Talk Central

• Ira Glass

There’s also a dramatic animation version: https://vimeo.com/298890883

I can do ______________________ .

What job do you want? What industry do you want to be in? Picture the outcome. What skills are you going to need developed to have that become your reality?

What are you going to do TODAY to get one (or two) steps closer?

• Did you do your stand-up?
• Did you read/watch the lesson?
• Did you do the exercises?
• Did you reach out to Derek or Ivy?
• Did you talk to some of your teammates?
• Did you go over Study Hall?
• Did you have anyone review your code?
• Did you put some of your new concepts to use in your portfolio?

You CAN have those things that you want.

This is how you get them. Prioritize yourself.

My education started – at the moment that I decided I wanted to learn

The moment that you actually want to learn… is the moment at which your life and your developement and your growth – starts.

Shia stopped by the office with some thoughts.

Go over sticky-note game…

Design and development do have a bunch of technical manuals – but there’s no “what to do” to-do list. You have to figure out what to do. That IS the job. Sometimes, you don’t even have to do it. You just have to figure out what to do – and tell someone else. So, knowing how to figure out WHAT to do / is really the most important thing we can teach you in this course.

Take time to prepare first. Break it down into smaller pieces.

Cut out the feelings part – and get down to the facts. How do you measure that? Based on the outcome – what are the steps that you can take to remedy it? You are in charge.

Is that helping you? Do you enjoy it? Could you choose to do something else – instead of thinking about your own self-judgment? (Yes)

That’s ok. We can just tell you what to focus on. The chances are – that you are currently focusing on your anxiety (feeling fear and dread for a possible future – that hasn’t happened) (Yikes!).

You are already focusing on something, so – let us help you choose. Then you just need a timeline – so you don’t start questioning what to focus on until the thing you are focusing on comes to its conclusion.

Our idea, feelings, sense of self, sense of purpose are all going to change as we move through life.

That’s a big-picture idea. It’s fine, but it can muddy the waters. What is the goal for THIS part of your life? What is the timeline? Complete that – and then you can see how it fits into your bigger story. Don’t cross the streams.

You don’t have to like it. You have to work at it long enough to understand it. Then, if it’s not something that you like – and is also not necessary for you to do your job – then you don’t have to! But – things like HTML – and understanding how it works (and also just following through on anything) – is important for ALL of the roles. Even sales. So – focus on what you DO like. This is a step to get there / not the final destination.

In this case, your feelings are correct. So, – stop doing things. Just stop doing all the things – until the bats leave your chest. Derek calls those “The wrong kind of butterflies.” It might feel like you need to do things – but you can just let them go. Get a new baseline – and when it’s time, pick 1 thing. You aren’t going to get overwhelmed by just one thing. You can add more as you feel comfortable. You WILL be overwhelmed again. It’s normal. It’s your body’s “stack overflow.” – so, try and recognize it early – so you don’t crash the computer.