Other perspectives on programmers block

As I suspected, programmers block is a common problem and many other people have written about it. Buzz Andersen posted a link to his very similar experiences. From there I found some thoughts by Russell Beattie and Joel Spolsky. Russell looks at it as procrastination and points to another post that talks a little about that.

I think calling it procrastination is a common thing, but that's definitely not what it is. It feels that way, and I've certainly spent a lot of time kicking myself for procrastinating. The problem is deeper though and writing it off as procrastination makes the situation worse. Procrastination is something that you feel you should be able to control, "if you'd just stop being lazy". However programmers block is not about laziness, for me it's a fear. A fear of failing to live up to the expectations that you impose on your self.

Andrzej Telezynski said it pretty well in the comments to my previous post, " "Perfectionism" is the evil. It is one of the dreams that never can be true, just a poison for the mind". I think perfectionism is what drives the creative process, but it's definitely both friend and foe.

Posted by Kimbro Staken