Growth Mindset for Programming

I often hear people say that they wouldn’t even consider learning to program because they think they’re not smart enough, they believe it’s too hard, or they convince themselves that programming is some dark art reserved for a chosen few with high IQs. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but I truly believe that if I can do it, you can too.

There is a lot to learn when it comes to programming, and some of it is undoubtedly challenging for beginners. However, like anything in life, if you put in the effort and have the desire to learn, I have no doubt that you will succeed. The main thing holding most people back from learning to program isn’t their intelligence—it’s their own limiting beliefs. One of my many interests outside of programming is learning how to learn effectively.

Since I’m someone who dislikes articles that present a problem but never offer actionable steps, I want to share some tips that have worked for me—not just in programming, but in learning anything I find interesting.

Start Small

We live in a world where we want everything instantly, and we often feel pressured to go big or go home. If you’re like me, you might fall into the trap of avoiding something simply because you can’t do it on a large scale right away. My advice? Start with something very small and easy, no matter how trivial it seems. This will help build momentum and prove to yourself that you can do it. Small wins accumulate over time, and they reinforce the belief that you are capable. Time will pass regardless—why not use it to collect small victories instead of doing nothing?

Accept That You Will Fail—and Be Okay With It

Fear of failure paralyzes many people, preventing them from pursuing their goals. Some would rather let their dreams slip away than risk failing. But in my view, it’s far worse to live a life of regret. Think back to moments when you had a chance to take a risk that could have paid off but didn’t because you were afraid. Don’t let that happen with programming—or anything else you care about. Failure isn’t the enemy; it’s a stepping stone to success. Give yourself permission to fail, esepcially in the beginning and learn as much as you can from those failures. Like the saying goes “you learn more from failure than you do from success”.

Learn Memory Techniques

Did you know there are international memory competitions where participants memorize decks of cards, long sequences of numbers, and random words? These people aren’t all geniuses. They simply use techniques that anyone can learn. If you want to retain programming concepts better, I recommend looking into methods like the Method of Loci (Memory Palace), the Person-Action-Object (PAO) system, the Peg method, and general mnemonic techniques. With a little practice, these strategies can help more than you realize.

Use Analogies

When explaining concepts to someone unfamiliar with a subject, we often say, “It’s kind of like…” That’s the start of an analogy. Analogies help connect new concepts to something we already understand, even if they’re from entirely different domains. I enjoy challenging myself to create analogies between programming and unrelated subjects, like music or playing guitar. Making these connections not only helps with understanding but also strengthens creative problem-solving skills.

Constantly Test Yourself

Testing your knowledge is one of the most effective ways to learn and retain information. I don’t mean signing up for formal exams—I mean actively challenging yourself as you learn. For example, if you’re following a coding tutorial, don’t just copy the code. Instead, make sure you understand each part conceptually, then sending the copied code to the shadow realm and testing myself by trying to write it, not from memory, but from the actual concepts that I learned by doing the code-along. This reinforces understanding rather than rote memorization. Additionally, intentionally breaking things to see what happens can be a great way to gain hands-on debugging experience.

---

This post is already getting long, but I felt compelled to write about this topic because, even though I know mindset is crucial, I often find myself impatiently thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I just want to get to the good stuff!” But in reality, the way we approach learning has a profound impact on our success.

I hope this post reaches at least one person who might reconsider the power of mindset and actionable learning strategies. Until next time—stay curious!