{"id":10580,"date":"2016-02-03T12:11:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T10:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/?p=10580"},"modified":"2016-01-26T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T09:22:08","slug":"controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you have new toys to play with and you\u2019re looking forward to cracking open that book or course. The first wins come in fast, giving you a rush of confidence and boosting your ego.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, since you don\u2019t have any experience using that technology on a large, demanding project, you don\u2019t see its flaw yet. If you have a more severe case of novelty-seeking behaviour, chances are that as soon as things get tough you\u2019ll have switched to the next technology anyway for your new project, leaving a large pile of technical debt in your wake.<\/p>\n<p>How do you break this cycle and focus on mastering technologies instead of just skimming?<\/p>\n<p>You have to become a <strong>finisher<\/strong>: someone who has realistic goals and a habit of finishing what they start. Finishing projects is a habit like any other and can be trained. But to have a chance to be a good finisher, you need to know where you are going. If you know what is the specialization you want to focus on and what you wish to learn from your current project, you won\u2019t wander aimlessly from technology to technology.<\/p>\n<p>Also, you need to start each project with a deadline and a clear objective or you won\u2019t be able to tell when it\u2019s finished. If you get into the habit of escaping every time things get too hard or stopping projects before you reached your goal, you\u2019ll start thinking that giving up is inevitable.<\/p>\n<p>Becoming a better finisher doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t leave space for experimentation and fun. Curiosity has an important place in learning and helping you discover new things, and playing with new technologies can give you ideas to improve what you\u2019re working on. But if you want to go forward, the majority of what you learn should be hard skills that help you get better at subjects that matters to you.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it\u2019s unwise to finish projects at all cost: if some goals were unrealistic, or you started a course or a book that did not live up to your expectations, it\u2019s a good thing to move on to something that will help you learn better.<\/p>\n<p>Developing your skills also requires getting comfortable with <strong>delayed gratification<\/strong>. You need to accumulate many small wins in the same field to reach mastery, even if those wins are not as immediately visible as adding a whole new skill to your resume.<\/p>\n<p>When you start out with a skill, wins comes in quickly since everything is new. As time goes on, you\u2019ll need to work harder since you\u2019ve understood the basis and you\u2019re often using familiar concepts. If you\u2019re moving frequently to new technologies seeking those quick wins, you\u2019ll start over and erase a good part of your progress each time.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, you have to get used to working hard mentally and <strong>focusing<\/strong> on a subject. You probably won\u2019t understand everything the first time and will have to absorb the concepts of a new technology or pattern over many learning sessions. It\u2019s normal to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/dont-suck-learning\/\">feel dumb and struggle<\/a> many times when you\u2019re really learning, but it\u2019s worth it in the end. You\u2019ll be a better software developer for it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"attribution\">\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span class=\"reference\">Reference: <\/span><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.cindypotvin.com\/controlling-your-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\">Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior<\/a> from our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/join-us\/wcg\/\">WCG partner<\/a> Cindy Potvin at the <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.cindypotvin.com\/\">Web, Mobile and Android Programming<\/a> blog.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you have new toys to play with and you\u2019re looking forward to cracking open that book or course. The first wins come in fast, giving you a rush of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-development"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Web Code Geeks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/webcodegeeks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cindy Potvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CindyPtn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@webcodegeeks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cindy Potvin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cindy Potvin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5c5df30ebfba793235473ab81edbd742\"},\"headline\":\"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Web Dev\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\",\"name\":\"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Web Dev\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/category\/web-development\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/\",\"name\":\"Web Code Geeks\",\"description\":\"Web Developers Resource Center\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Exelixis Media P.C.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/exelixis-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/exelixis-logo.png\",\"width\":864,\"height\":246,\"caption\":\"Exelixis Media P.C.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/webcodegeeks\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/webcodegeeks\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5c5df30ebfba793235473ab81edbd742\",\"name\":\"Cindy Potvin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957776d6732b26df4f63c29c8a3cb127ef09eb38b9f5befec1840ee3a1abed32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957776d6732b26df4f63c29c8a3cb127ef09eb38b9f5befec1840ee3a1abed32?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cindy Potvin\"},\"description\":\"Cindy is a programmer with over 5 years of experience developing web applications. She also works on Android applications and share her knowledge via her blog and on Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/blog.cindypotvin.com\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CindyPtn\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/author\/cindy-potvin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026","description":"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026","og_description":"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you","og_url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/","og_site_name":"Web Code Geeks","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/webcodegeeks","article_published_time":"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cindy Potvin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CindyPtn","twitter_site":"@webcodegeeks","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cindy Potvin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/"},"author":{"name":"Cindy Potvin","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5c5df30ebfba793235473ab81edbd742"},"headline":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior","datePublished":"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/"},"wordCount":604,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg","articleSection":["Web Dev"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/","url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/","name":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior - Web Code Geeks - 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-03T10:11:43+00:00","description":"Getting started with a new technology is always exciting. You see all the things that it does right, unlike your current tools. The tutorial is fun, you","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/web-dev-logo.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/web-development\/controlling-novelty-seeking-behavior\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Web Dev","item":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/category\/web-development\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Controlling your novelty-seeking behavior"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/","name":"Web Code Geeks","description":"Web Developers Resource Center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#organization","name":"Exelixis Media P.C.","url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/exelixis-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/exelixis-logo.png","width":864,"height":246,"caption":"Exelixis Media P.C."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/webcodegeeks","https:\/\/x.com\/webcodegeeks"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5c5df30ebfba793235473ab81edbd742","name":"Cindy Potvin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957776d6732b26df4f63c29c8a3cb127ef09eb38b9f5befec1840ee3a1abed32?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957776d6732b26df4f63c29c8a3cb127ef09eb38b9f5befec1840ee3a1abed32?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cindy Potvin"},"description":"Cindy is a programmer with over 5 years of experience developing web applications. She also works on Android applications and share her knowledge via her blog and on Twitter.","sameAs":["http:\/\/blog.cindypotvin.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CindyPtn"],"url":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/author\/cindy-potvin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webcodegeeks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}