Feeling down on your data science journey? This video may just help. I go through how I have dealt with feelings of overwhelm, inadequacy, hopelessness, confusion, stress, and anxiety during my data science learning.
In order to deal with these discouraging feelings, we need to first get more specific with what we are feeling. More broadly, I find that these feelings come in a couple different varieties. (Confusion, anxiety, stress, and frustration), overwhelm/ Hopelessness, and inadequacy.
The first group of feelings are usually temporary. The arise when we are struggling with a specific problem. I find that these manifest themselves in physical symptoms for myself. I get headaches, I get antsy, I feel tired. To combat these, I have found that a physical change is the most effective remedy.
For overwhelm and hopelessness in data science, these feelings don't go away easily. Usually you feel helpless after you get overwhelmed by how big the field is. First, no one is expected to have an understanding over the complete domain of data science. There are a couple things you can do here. First, focus on projects. These are a great way to narrow the scope of learning. Second, build or subscribe to a structured course of study. 365 Data Science (the sponsor of this video), provides a great curriculum for this.
Finally, the feeling of inadequacy is the largest contributor to discouragement (Impostor Syndrome). I first recommend starting to cultivate a growth mindset. Second, track your progress, remind yourself how far you've come. Finally, use real data to evaluate yourself.