I stepped out to clear my head. Life has been hectic lately, and I thought about this amazing piece.
You see life is an ever-evolving journey of learning. Each time we set out to master something new, the process becomes an adventure of self-discovery, growth, and most times, frustration. I have seen a lot happen in the little time I have spent here and I would like to share the phases you will find yourself in when learning anything new, the challenges you will encounter and what you can do in these situations.
The Clueless Phase
It all begins here. The moment you’re introduced to something entirely unfamiliar—be it a tool, a concept, or a skill—you feel overwhelmed by how much you don’t know. You may have heard about it in passing from a friend, a radio commercial, or a TV commercial if you still watch TV or maybe you came across it from the bazillion ads that YouTube shows you when you are not on the premium plan. There is no world where you will not find yourself in this phase when learning a new concept, skill or tool unless you are some mysterious being that fell from the sky and have the powers to know these things before they even exist.
Here everything seems abstract, and you questioned if there is even a need to learn it at all. But every great journey starts with ignorance—it’s the prelude to curiosity. You can either choose to give up here and nobody will judge you, I mean there are a lot more fun and instantly rewarding activities to engage in, so why would you want to learn something so difficult that could potentially transform your life?
The Curious Phase
Curiosity is the spark. You start asking questions: What is this? Why does it matter? How does it work? This phase is fueled by the excitement of numerous possibilities and the potential of transforming lives via the new knowledge you are about to acquire. For me, the potential of building something that could change people’s lives forever and for good, something that could change how things are done, and how people live their lives is exhilarating and that keeps me going. Of course, there would be challenges, you may realise at this phase that it is not worth pursuing, this shiny new tool, skill or concept may not be all that. Who knows you were just sold hype and now you have come to this realisation and you are stuck in an elevator where you have to decide whether to continue or just quit and look for something a lot more exciting to explore, but you have also abandoned many other concept, skills, and tools you thought were revolutionary and had the potential to change the universe for good. Is it you or these things are not just exciting enough?
I honestly can’t tell you how to decide if you want to proceed to explore other new and exciting things but If you have asked all the questions that need to be asked and you no longer feel excited, why spend more time on it, there is an endless world of opportunities to explore. You should ensure that you do not lose the allure of solving complex problems and mastering something that could be both impactful and financially liberating.
The Confused Phase
If you make it past the Curiosity phase, Curiosity quickly leads to confusion. When you begin researching, the influx of information can be paralyzing. You will encounter new information, new terminologies and other orishi rishi, things you have no idea about and have never heard about in your life and you are trying to make sense of it. What the heck is “Data Wrangling” I don’t even know if I spelt it right, may the Data Community gods not come for me and to be honest it will all feel like being thrown puzzle pieces from different boxes and you have to put them together in a way that makes sense. This phase is riddled with frustration because nothing feels intuitive. But confusion is proof that you’re engaging with something challenging and if you are like me and you love this kind of challenge, you will be the most excited person in the world.
The Scattered Knowledge of Concept Phase
At this point, you’ve gathered bits and pieces of knowledge but lack the framework to connect them. You’ve skimmed through articles, watched videos, or read documentation, but it’s all fragmented. At this phase, you will struggle to see how the components of the new tool, skill or concept you are learning worked together. It will feel like trying to build a puzzle without the picture on the box and trust me when I say this, it will be incredibly frustrating you could also feel like crying and that is fine, just do not cry where I will see you else I will look at you and call you “SOFT” with the look of disgust.
Hey, but I can assure you that you are doing way better than you thought you would do, you have these individual concepts and with time you will put it all together and it will all start to make sense.
Learning takes time, maybe you need to go take that cold shower and relax your brain.
Piecing It All Together Phase
Suddenly, things start to click. The scattered knowledge begins to form a coherent picture. You start to grasp how these concepts talk to each other to form the full knowledge or skill, who knows it could be that you just turned 25 and like they say your frontal lobe is fully formed now. This is also the phase where you have the spark, the light bulb moment, the “I understand it now” moment and there is no better feeling than this, the fog has been lifted enough to feel some momentum. This phase is like finding a rhythm—it’s motivating and keeps you going, suddenly you realise that you are one step away from taking the world by storm but the problem is, you have never done anything with your skill and that is where the next phase comes in.
Your First Task Phase
The real test comes when you’re assigned a task or decide to do or build something. At first, the task will be daunting, but you will be forced to get your hands dirty. You quickly realize that theory alone won’t cut it—you need practical experience to truly learn. This phase teaches you resilience because things rarely go as planned, and the process is filled with trial and error, frustrations and you could even quit. My advice to you is to drink water, take a cold shower and sleep, you will get your mojo back tomorrow, thank me later.
Looking for Ways to Be Better Phase
After completing your first task, you start craving efficiency. You want to refine your process, find shortcuts, and understand best practices. You begin to explore advanced mechanisms in handling some tasks related to your newly acquired skills, performance optimization techniques and ways you could be better. This phase is where curiosity transforms into a hunger for mastery but this does not happen to everybody, I mean not everybody wants to be world-class, some people want to be average or at the very least, above average. This phase differentiates those who want to be the best and people who have a defeatist mindset, people who say stuff like “The people who are making it big in this field are those who have gone to IVY league schools” or people who say stuff like “You can not succeed in this country with this kind of skill”, all these statements, they are making it as a way to avoid trying to get better, do not be like these people.
You miss 100% of the shots you do not take, do it first and worry about whether you will make it or not, better be ready instead of regretting later when the opportunity presents itself.
Stuck on the Analysis Paralysis Phase
Just when you think you’re making progress, analysis paralysis strikes. You start overthinking every decision, worried about doing things the “right” way. You find yourself agonizing over optimisation strategies, factors affecting performance, and things that look like they matter because they matter. It’s easy to spiral here, but the key is to remind yourself that perfection is the enemy of progress.
Realization Phase
Eventually, you realize that no one has all the answers—not even the experts. This phase is liberating. It dawns on you that learning is iterative, and mistakes are part of the process. Instead of obsessing over doing things perfectly, You begin to focus on what works for the given situation and the little ways to make your newly found concept less boring.
Building With Experience Phase
As you accumulate experience, things become second nature. You start approaching tasks with confidence, leveraging lessons from past mistakes. The once-daunting concepts now feel manageable, look at you, you can even explain this once-difficult concept to others—a true sign of understanding. What better feeling could you ask for?
Trade-offs, Definite Action, and Execution Phase
This is where you embrace the art of decision-making. You understand the trade-offs involved in every choice and take decisive action. You learn to balance execution, scalability, and performance without overthinking. Execution becomes the priority, and you realize that done is better than perfect.
Being Effing Good and Confident Phase
The final phase is when you truly own your skill. You’ve gone from clueless to confident, from struggling to thriving. You reach a point where you can navigate the entire ecosystem of your new field with ease. This phase isn’t about knowing everything—it’s about trusting yourself and your ability to figure things out. You are confident in your ability, and you become like Steph Curry who knows when the basketball rim is off by 1 inch and that is why your shot did not go in. You become people’s Wikipedia and they ask you all sorts of “silly” questions but you are more than happy to answer because it boosts your ego and that is a good thing in this scenario, I mean, do they know the amount of work you have put into this?
Final Thoughts
Learning something new is rarely a linear process. It’s a messy, iterative cycle of curiosity, confusion, clarity, and confidence. Whether you’re tackling world hunger, diving deeper into distributed systems and distributed architecture, learning a new programming language, or a life skill, remember that every phase has its purpose. Embrace the journey, and trust that you’ll come out stronger on the other side.
I promised to to show you how to overcome the problem you will encounter, well I do not know either, I just take it as it comes and keep growing no matter the situation or phase.
Until I write to you again, I am rooting heavily for you. Talk to you soon.
