I’ve shared my story of transitioning from a designer to a developer many times. People enjoy this success story. However, what I haven’t shared is that I actually failed three times.

The reality is, I’ve never excelled in subjects outside of the art and humanities. In school, I struggled with math, physics, and computer science.

Coding was as challenging for me as those subjects.

When I first decided to learn coding, HTML and CSS didn’t make any sense to me. I couldn’t understand how these characters could become visual elements in the browser.

It felt like magic, and coding just didn’t “click”.

I felt frustrated and dumb, and I gave up. But somehow, I also kept coming back to learn coding after some time. And I repeated this learn-and-break cycle for 3 times.

I adopted the “take-a-break” approach my mom taught me.

Whenever I felt stuck at school, she encouraged me to take a break — play basketball or games, just leave the books for a while.

Surprisingly, when I returned to my studies, the difficult concepts started to make sense.

I didn’t understand how this change happened. But now I realize this aligns with:

1. the "System 2" thinking from "Thinking Fast and Slow" and,

2. the "Self 2" from "The Inner Game of Tennis".

Exploring unknown domains requires time for my brain and body to connect the dots.

When I intentionally set aside HTML and CSS, the unconscious parts of my mind continued to process the new coding knowledge.

Eventually, on my fourth attempt to learn coding, everything clicked.

I could understand the rendering mechanism, and it no longer felt like magic.

And most importantly, I truly learned that:

• Learning takes time, and it’s essential to be patient with this process. 

• Taking breaks isn’t a sign of failure but a crucial part of growth.

I now consciously apply this “take-a-break” strategy and schedule rest time in my calendar when I’m learning new challenging technical concepts at work, or even to play tennis in my leisure time.

When you feel stuck, give your brain the space to breathe and process.

You’ll find that the dots will connect, and what once felt like magic will become clear and understandable.

Embrace the journey, be patient with yourself, and trust that the pieces will fall into place.