Story

Hi HN, I have constant fear whenever I start a project. Recently, I started to try to code a game from scratch. This was because I believed I wasn't improving at work, since the projects are very similar every release.

Every time I make progress on any side project, self-doubt and fear creep in. It demotivates me from working. Usually it starts when I hit a snag in development, either a bug I can't figure out, not being able to decide how to design something, a major refactor is needed, or the realization I have to learn a lot before proceeding. I know logically everyone has to go through this and I need to push through, but my mind focuses on failure so much that it cripples my ability to try and complete anything. This is compounded when I see someone else's success on a similar project, I get even more demotivated and start to believe in my own inferiority.

This same fear makes me not want to practice leetcode, and thus stops me from trying to pursue another job. Does anyone have any coping tips? I just want to improve my skills and enjoy coding again.