When you begin learning a new technical skill, the process can feel overwhelming. Setting up your computer is tricky, and you might find yourself re-watching tutorials just to understand how to use new software. Each concept seems challenging, so patience and a willingness to feel lost are essential. You trust your instructor and do your best to follow along.

Take JavaScript, for example. The initial setup can be daunting: you’ll need a runtime like Node.js and a code editor after experimenting in online playgrounds. Understanding and fixing your first errors can be a real challenge.

However, after you overcome these early hurdles, it’s easy to forget just how difficult they were. That’s why, after a few weeks of practice, it’s valuable to pause and revisit your roots. Going back to your first projects—and even rewriting them from scratch—gave you two powerful benefits. First, you can clearly see your progress: what once seemed hard now feels easy. Second, with your newfound understanding, you notice details you missed before, since your initial focus was just getting things to work. Revisiting your work is a fantastic way to improve what you created and enjoy the comfort of a familiar project.

The same applies to music. If you record your early piano sessions, they may feel amateurish in hindsight, even if they took a lot of effort to master. But after several weeks of practice, you’ll see those recordings with a more critical and objective eye. Recording the same track again offers a chance to better follow the musical score—adding subtle touches like slowing down to mark the ending or smoothing the transitions between notes.

By going back to the beginning, you reinforce your knowledge and grow your confidence for future challenges. You’ll also discover that tasks which once took hours now only take a few minutes.