How Can I Learn to Code at Home Without Losing Motivation?

Make a special productivity-only space in your home. Then barricade yourself in there.

When I first started coding, I could only gather the motivation to code if I was in a public place, like a cafe or a library. There were too many distractions at home.

I spent a lot of money on overpriced coffee, and hours each day commuting to these public places and fighting for a table close to a power outlet.

Everyone I knew who was learning to code did the same thing. I would see them in cafes after work and over the weekend. Many of them even paid hundreds of dollars each month for a desk at a co-working space.

Well, all that changed one day when I bumped into a guy at an event who I swear looked just like Richard Stallman.

I introduced myself, and he exclaimed, “Man, it feels so good to be here! I haven’t gotten out of my house in over a month.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t left your house in a month?”

“Not even to get the paper off my front lawn,” he said, laughing proudly.

I probed deeper, and found out that this guy was a highly productive (and highly-paid) software developer. I asked him how he had built up the discipline to get so much work done from home.

He told me: “I have a separate room that I go to whenever it’s time to work. When I’m in that room, I’m in work mode. All I allow myself to do is work. No exceptions.”

Now, I definitely wouldn’t ask this guy for fitness or grooming advice. But when it came to coding, I somehow got the feeling that he knew what he was talking about.

So on my way home, I stopped by Ikea and picked up a $10 table. While I was waiting in line, I found a $100 used monitor on Craigslist and picked that up, too.

Within a few hours, I had converted a small walk-in closet filled with coats and shoes into what my wife now calls the “Fortress of Solitude.”

Now whenever I need to get some coding done, I barricade myself in this closet and get to work.

I’ve done this for the past three years. Every time I step into my closet, it gets a little easier for me to focus and work productively from home.

In fact, I’m sitting in here right now typing this Quora answer during a quick break from coding.

I don’t know who that guy was, but if I ever run into him again, I’ll thank him for saving me from all those long commutes and overpriced coffee.

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