The Magic Behind Wanting Less
How come is wanting less actually wanting more?
In my primary days of learning programming languages and other coding-related stuff, I was always striving to learn as much as possible to build whatever idea popped into my mind.
I was always in the learning cycle. When I saw some interesting projects built by others, I was just trying to find out which programming language and technologies he used to build this project, and after discovering that, I was used to just jumping right away into the course of that programming language or technology and was trying to learn it as soon as possible to build something interesting like that. In the path of following that course, when I saw something more interesting than the previous one, I would again leave the current course in the middle and jump into following another course as it seemed more interesting than the previous one.
At the end of the day, I was able to catch none of the skills I was trying to learn, due to the extreme greed I had at that time. I had no one to tell me this and share their experience on this; I wasted about 2 years like this — living in the cycle of wanting more, non-stop.
Until I got to the point where I almost discovered all the interesting technologies and programming languages, I knew nothing about them, as I just left them in the middle.
This situation that I was witnessing was nothing but intense greed.
If you look at the society we live in closely, you’ll find out that the source where greed step from is the society you live in. We are conditioned by society to believe that we’re not enough, it’s a universal belief and everyone has a version of it (not smart enough, not rich enough, and so on…).
As a result, we as human beings go outside ourselves and try to fill that “not-enough”. You then strive to death to get there; which you definitely will get what you’re striving for, but the harsh side of greed is that it never ever stops, even if you achieve what you were greedy for, you’ll start becoming greedy for something else.
Psychology of Greed
If you look at the society we live in closely, you’ll find out that the source where greed step from is the society you live in. We are conditioned by society to believe that we’re not enough, it’s a universal belief and everyone has a version of it (not smart enough, not rich enough, and so on…).
As a result, we as human beings go outside ourselves and try to fill that “not-enough”. You then strive to death to get there; which you definitely will get what you’re striving for, but the harsh side of greed is that it never ever stops, even if you achieve what you were greedy for, you’ll start becoming greedy for something else.
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Greedy are no one but those who want more than enough. Greedy people never say ENOUGH, they always want to have more.
Greed is a little bit more than enough. — Toba Beta
I was greedy; I had a strong desire for my personal growth, which led me to strive for my success and continuously seek improvements, but I did not know that greed is more than enough.
The only obstacle that prevented me from learning all those programming languages and technologies at that time was greed. Why? There was always this sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. If I came across a new interesting programming language or technology, I was used to hop into it right away because it felt better than the current one.
At the end of the day, when I found out that I had learned none of the skills, I felt like I wasted my whole time and caused stress and exhaustion.
Now I’m not encouraging you to “shift delete” greed from your life; greed is sometimes good if you use it wisely. If there wasn’t greed, there wouldn’t be motivation, progress, and resilience. The trick here is to use it mindfully.
Assume consuming sugar in your life. If you consume sugar recklessly, there’s no doubt that it’ll have negative effects on your mental and physical health. But if you use it mindfully, consume it after a big meal, or avoid it the first time in the morning, you have actually turned that toxic substance into a magic pill.
Final thoughts
Greed is much more common in programming/coding than any other field on planet Earth; you won’t see a programmer who hasn’t yet experienced what I’ve mentioned above, which is not good.
If you’re a programmer reading this and you’re experiencing it currently, jumping from one language to another or from one technology to another in the middle of your progress, know that you’re going to get anywhere if you keep this up, and it’s a huge waste of time as well.
Don’t leave a programming language or technology until you’ve utterly mastered it.
When you decide to embark on another language or technology, immerse yourself in it and never ever leave it until you’ve mastered it.
The more things you have, the more things you have to manage. Simplicity isn’t merely cheaper, it’s easier. — James Clear
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