Dealing With Data Science Overload

4 Ways to Keep Yourself Going…when it feels like too much.

Ever look at all the data science content on Medium, Linkedin, and other sites and feel like you’ll never learn it all?

It can it can get very overwhelming, even for experienced data professionals. Sometimes you even question the point of it all. Fortunately, you don’t need to do that.

The secret is learning to focus your efforts, and be realistic about your interests, passions, and how you approach your learning.

Here are four ways to not get overwhelmed while breaking into the data science space.

Getting overwhelmed comes from taking on too much at once. It also comes from not budgeting your time well. Goals help break this down in to small manageable chunks and allow you to asses the results of your efforts. Of all five ways, setting goals is the biggest one- it enables the other four to be successful.

Specific and measurable goals help direct your efforts. They help you decide how much time to spend studying and what path to follow. They keep you from burning out, and help you to be consistent. Once you set you goals, break them up into: 2 week goals, 6 month goals, and long term goals — 2 years max. Always start from the long term goals then break it down.

This will help you keep track of your data science goals, and keep you from looking to far ahead — a common source of feeling overwhelmed. You also get a view of the larger picture.

You begin see how each goal you complete is a part of a larger effort, and the progression to it. When you know how your effort fits in the bigger picture? Its not so overwhelming.

A very quick way to get overwhelmed is to start following trends. This means that every time that someone posts a new technique, code snippet, or statistical article or post, you end up worrying about it. After enough of these, you feel overwhelmed and unmotivated to pursue your goals. Chasing trends relentlessly destroys your ability to be skilled at anything.

When you feel tempted to follow a trend:

The bottom line?

Stick to what motivates you in data science and analytics. These are your passions. And those passions will act as a magnifier for what you do. If you are always chasing random trends, it will make it impossible to learn anything.

If your passion happens to coincide with a trend? Then strive to be the innovator: learn the basics and aim for the highest quality. It might seem pointless in the beginning, but if you learn these well, the insights will flow like water.

Another frequent way to get overwhelmed in focusing on other people’s journey and not yours.

When you focus on trying to compete with others, you end up feeling overwhelmed. Especially if seem they are very knowledgeable in the data science space.

To focus on your journey, focus on quality of your efforts. Always check to not only making sure they are aligning with your goals and passions.

If you want to focus on your journey, focus on your passions. Make your projects and learning an extension and expression of who you are.

Do:

Don’t:

Your journey is your own. Neither I, nor anyone in data science can tell you how to walk it. We can only be signs, pointing you to were you want to go.

What you want out of it, and how you walk it? That’s up to you. Your data science path is made made by walking on it.

When you focus on your own journey and compete against yourself, you’ll get overwhelmed less. Work will become play, and others accomplishments and achievements will be data that guides you.

Consistency is important. Knowledge is exponential, and builds on both your successes and mistakes. This is accumulated knowledge.

Both successes and mistakes are critical to developing this, since each gives context to the other. You get more successful because learn from your mistakes, and you make mistakes because you are trying new ways to be successful.

When you completely give up because of a bad day or because you didn’t live up to your expectations? This breaks the accumulated knowledge.

Consistency doesn’t mean pushing until you break. Your study and relaxation must have a rhythm — you have to eventually switch from one to the other. Committing to a break completely is an effort on its own

Through the process of consistent quality work you will refine your knowledge. And being so focused on this, you will not have time to feel overwhelmed.

Data science can be a formidable field to break into, no matter what background you come from. Feeling overwhelmed is a normal and natural thing, and is a part of the process — what’s more important is how you handle it.

In summary:

Remember, its not about falling down. Its about whether you get up every time.

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