What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning Goals?

Identify and Tackle Your Self-LimitingĀ Beliefs and
Finally Make Progress

I get a lot of email from developers and students looking to get started in machine learning.

The first question I ask them is what is stopping them from getting started?

I try to get to the heart of what they are struggling with, and almost always it is a self-limiting belief that has halted their progress.

In this post, I want to touch on some self-limiting beliefs I see crop up in my email exchanges and discussions with coaching students.

Maybe you will see yourself in one or more of these beliefs. If so, I urge you to challenge your assumptions.

Don't give up

Don’t Give Up
Photo by brendan-c, some rights reserved

Self-Limiting Belief

A self-limiting belief is something that you assume to be true that is limiting your progress. You presuppose something about yourself or about the thing you want to achieve. The problem is you hold that belief to be true and you don’t question it.

Steve Pavlina lists 3 types of self-limiting beliefs in is post:Ā Dissolving Limiting Beliefs:

  • If-then Beliefs: e.g. If I get started in machine learning, I will fail because I am not good enough.
  • Universal Beliefs: e.g. All Data Scientists have a Ph.D. and are mathematics rock gods.
  • Personal and Self-Esteem Beliefs: e.g. I’m not good enough to be a machine learner.

You’re probably a logical and rational thinker. Apply those skills to your own beliefs about your goals and aspirations in machine learning and challenge them.

Waiting To Get Started

I think the biggest class of limiting belief I see is the belief that you cannot get started until you have some specific prior knowledge. The problem is that the prior knowledge you think you need is either not required or is so vast in scope that even experts in that subject don’t know it all.

For example: “I need to KNOW statistics“. See how ambiguous that belief is. How much statistics, what areas of statistics and why do you need to know them before you can start your investigation into machine learning?

Below are some of the more common self-limiting beliefs of skills or prior knowledge that must be obtained before you can get started in machine learning.

I can’t get into machine learning until…

  • …I get a degree or higher degree
  • …I complete a course
  • …I am good at linear algebra
  • …I know statistics and probability theory
  • …I have mastered the R programming language

You can get started in machine learning today, right now. Run your first classifier in 5 minutes. You’re in. Now, start blocking out what it is from machine learning that you really want?

I have written about some of these before, for example:

Awaiting Perfect Conditions

Another class of self-limiting belief is where you are waiting for the perfect environment or conditions before taking the leap. Things will never be perfect, leap and make a mess, then leap again.

I can’t get started in machine learning because…

  • …I don’t have the time right now
  • …I don’t have a fast CPU, GPU or a bazillion MB of RAM
  • …I am just a student right now
  • …I am not a good programmer at the moment
  • …I am very busy at work right now

It does take a lot of time and effort to get good at machine learning, but not all at once and not all at the beginning.

You can make good progress with a few hours a week, or tens of minutes per day. There are plenty of small snack-sized tasks you could take on to get started in machine learning. You can get started, it is just going to take some sacrifice, like all good things in life.

Struggling or Tried and Failed

The third class of limiting belief is that where you have made a small start but you are struggling or have failed to achieve your goal.

This is a tough one. Machine learning is hardĀ but no harder than other technical skills like programming. It takes persistence and dedication. It’s applied and empirical and demands trial and error.

I can’t get into machine learning because…

  • …I feel overwhelmed
  • …I don’t understand x
  • …I will never be as good as y
  • …I don’t know what to do next
  • …I can’t get my program to work

My advice is to cut scope or change direction. I advocate small projects as often as I can because the methodology has been so successful for me.

What is your self-limiting belief?

Do you have a self-limiting belief? Think about it. What are your goals and why do you think you are not there yet?

Do you have a goal to get into machine learning, to become a data scientist or a machine learning engineer but have not taken the first step?

  • Are you waiting to acquire some perfect set of skills before getting started?
  • Are you waiting for the perfect conditions before getting started?
  • Have you taken a first step and abandoned the trail?

Where do you want to be and what are you struggling with?

290 Responses to What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning Goals?

  1. Avatar
    Aman Tandon November 12, 2015 at 1:41 pm #

    Exactly, we should go beyond our limits and we should think there is nothing which we can’t do. I have weak aptitude but have very good ideas to implement various things using machine learning.

    And I really appreciate your work. Thank you Jason

  2. Avatar
    Roberto May 18, 2016 at 8:31 am #

    This page is pure awesomeness

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee May 18, 2016 at 8:52 am #

      Thanks Roberto.

    • Avatar
      Harpreet Mehra July 3, 2019 at 6:15 pm #

      Very well written. I have been contemplating to get into data science since a long time. I just stand at the edge of thos vast ocean of info about machine learning waiting to jump into it. Your article is just bang on what stops one from taking the plunge and why it is not necessary to procrastinate foe so long.

  3. Avatar
    Rex May 31, 2016 at 11:00 am #

    Love what you wrote.
    I just forwarded this article to my friend who has been coming up with all sorts of excuses to delay his learning of Python.
    I hope this could slap him so hard in the face, that he won’t be able to look at himself in the mirror for the rest of his life before he starts moving again.

  4. Avatar
    Kleyn Guerreiro June 7, 2016 at 5:01 am #

    Beeing a data journalist would be my preferred approach to encourage people to start with ML and this is what I couch people who watch my speeches…After a few projects learning how to find data, build visualizations e tell stories, then algoritms and ML would be the next step…

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee June 14, 2016 at 8:23 am #

      Great suggestion Kleyn, although it does presuppose skills in writing.

  5. Avatar
    Bilal Malik June 20, 2016 at 8:05 pm #

    I knew nothing about Machine Learning till 2010 till I donwloaded PLS toobox and boom got the results for my data using SVM.(At this stage I didn’t know much about SVM and may not much about linear regression itself. But I manged to use SVM for determination of glucose concentration and was able to publish few papers in journals on chemometrics.

    But till date I have not been able to build on my learning i.e. do something about ML and get published in this area.
    I always think it may be my math skills. although I tried to learn linear algebra from Andrew Nag’s Course but …………… and did a statistics course from Coursera and yes started working using Matlab ….
    But I feel I am not able to go much beyond this.

  6. Avatar
    Maanav July 1, 2016 at 12:37 am #

    I am a 9th grade student from India, am deeply interested in machine learning. I have mastered the fields of linear algebra, probability and statistics, but I wanted to inquire whether it is the right age for me to pursue ML. Should I wait a few more years? Or can I begin right now?

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee July 1, 2016 at 5:41 am #

      If the field interests you then why not get started.

    • Avatar
      S Kotrappa February 26, 2017 at 1:41 am #

      Congratulations !! Maanav Go ahead there is no age for learning skills & you can become master and expert by the time you come to UG , all the best!!

  7. Avatar
    Jessica September 4, 2016 at 7:27 am #

    Thank you for sharing! I am a graduate student majoring Information Systems. Most of time I have to use machine learning techniques to solve business problem. Since I focus on academic and research area, more advanced and novel methods should be created by myself. And I feel that is very difficult for me. For now, I am researching on Bayesian Network and calculate parameters by using EM algorithm to predict the label. Sadly, the results are not quite good compared with HMM model. Still struggling on my work. But your website really helps me a lot. Hope you could publish some more interesting machine learning techniques and articles especially on how to improve the original algorithm! Thank you very much!

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee September 4, 2016 at 8:06 am #

      I’m glad you’re finding it useful Jessica, thanks.

  8. Avatar
    Baouche rafik September 28, 2016 at 9:11 pm #

    Machine Learning in geophysical is a chalenge for predictions of Parameters which approach the model in earth sciences. Using the well log data and process the rules, the prediction of reserves evaluation in oil field can be possible.

  9. Avatar
    Amrit October 2, 2016 at 5:59 pm #

    This is really helpful to start for a beginner .
    Encouraging and well defined.
    Thank you.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee October 3, 2016 at 5:18 am #

      I’m glad to hear that you found it useful Amrit.

  10. Avatar
    Sagar October 6, 2016 at 11:10 pm #

    This is a helpful post and motivational. I am going for PG in Data Analytics and this post motivated me to overcome many self beliefs and doubts. I was in double minds on whether to go for PG or not considering lack of practice in Maths/Stats and new concepts of ML (R and Python).
    But agree to your writing that we can overcome these fears and start learning.
    Thanks for this post šŸ™‚

  11. Avatar
    Saad Yaseen October 9, 2016 at 6:31 pm #

    I am not so good with Mathematics. I’ve always scored C grades in most university math courses. However, I am quite excited about ML, I am adept at Java programming. Do I have to have better grades in Mathematics in order to learn ML?

  12. Avatar
    Mark Kaghazgarian November 17, 2016 at 9:16 pm #

    This article made my day and gave me enough motivation to keep going ahead in learning machine learning since I was overwhelmed by many resources out there which usually asked for prior knowledge in Mathematics and statistics

  13. Avatar
    Diego November 30, 2016 at 5:00 am #

    Thanks for inspiring me. Greetings from Ecuador

  14. Avatar
    Krishna November 30, 2016 at 8:17 pm #

    Great post !! its always interesting to understand our own mind play and overcome the limits with the same will power šŸ™‚ And this applies to anything new to start with.

  15. Avatar
    Yashraj November 30, 2016 at 11:31 pm #

    Though this article is written by keeping machine learning in mind, this article can be co-related any new thing to learn which we think is gigantic effort and out of reach for us.
    Thanks Jason for such inspiring thoughts

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee December 1, 2016 at 7:29 am #

      Thanks Yashraj, I’m gald you found it useful.

      I think it is such an import area that few are talking about.

      It all comes down to mindset, the tools are already there and ready to use.

  16. Avatar
    Taye December 2, 2016 at 9:07 pm #

    Thank you Jason for such a wonderful inspiring thoughts. I hope any one can even use these principles in his every day life other than Machine Learning.

  17. Avatar
    Arnold January 5, 2017 at 1:54 am #

    thanx Jason, am one of them i tryed a small project with no success……ended up giving up but will give it a try again

  18. Avatar
    Imane January 14, 2017 at 4:18 am #

    Thanks for advices, I’m now ready to get start my first leap

  19. Avatar
    Murali February 13, 2017 at 5:26 pm #

    Till now i was very confusion and i had the notion that machine learning is not for me because i don’t know math stuff with me. This post inspired me so much, made me to come out of my inner fear. Thank you very much Jason.

  20. Avatar
    S Kotrappa February 26, 2017 at 1:46 am #

    Wonderful Jason for your service and resources , motivation you provide us in Machine Learning, thanks

  21. Avatar
    Abhishek sharma March 3, 2017 at 6:20 am #

    Thanks for making me fearless about machine learning through this amazing inspirational content and you are providing such a phenomenal resources on machine learning for a beginner as well as for expert.
    Thank You So much, Mr Jason Brownlee

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee March 3, 2017 at 7:46 am #

      You’re welcome Abhishek.

      Thank you in return for your support! Without readers like you I’d be out here talking to myself.

  22. Avatar
    Gautham March 4, 2017 at 11:51 pm #

    This is the best getting started page I’ve ever seen, In all my self learning journey.

  23. Avatar
    Jijo March 11, 2017 at 4:05 am #

    I not a programmer,but i want to learn Machine Learning.Should i first master Python or other languages to start ML

  24. Avatar
    Uche April 3, 2017 at 8:51 pm #

    How do I get started.

  25. Avatar
    Uche April 3, 2017 at 8:52 pm #

    I want to start with R. How do I get started

  26. Avatar
    Abhishek Kumar April 8, 2017 at 3:58 pm #

    Can you be my mentor please? I can do anything to learn from you. I know this website helps a lot in machine learning already, but I would like to go beyond this and to achieve extreme level in my life. Please mentor me even though it takes anything.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee April 9, 2017 at 2:57 pm #

      You can learn from my tutorials, blog posts and books. It is a way I can help many students at once.

  27. Avatar
    T.D.Nuwan Chathuranga April 21, 2017 at 4:22 am #

    Hi Jason,

    Thank you for your good thoughts and influence for a become a good ML Engineer,

    Learning ML in good = 1/Self Limiting Belief

    Thank you again

  28. Avatar
    Sathish Kumar C May 3, 2017 at 2:30 pm #

    Hi Jason,

    Thanks for your motivational thoughts,

    To become a datascientist, I feel like need to be technically(I am little strong) and analytically (I am not week, need to explore more analytical equations) strong.

    Learning ML is good and very intersting..

  29. Avatar
    Bharat Poptwani July 26, 2017 at 8:49 pm #

    Hi Jason,

    You have put me in a dilemma haha. I am a software developer at India’s Biggest ticketing platform, BookMyShow. I have good enough challenges on my plate in both client-side (We are moving our Native apps to React Native) as well as server-side. But I had this sudden desire for uninterrupted learning, I do keep learning new developments in web development world, but the thing is I am restricted to the time that I find after working hours and on weekends. So I was thinking of doing MS in US specifically in Machine Learning.

    Even though I will take a huge educational loan, my reasons for doing MS in US were:
    1. First and foremost I will be learning uninterrupted for 2 whole years.
    2. Highly qualified faculties.
    3. Access to the best resources available (The myth that you busted, internet is the best resource available, thanks for reaffirming that. Even I believe so because I am a self-taught programmer myself)
    4. Spending time with other similarly interested and enthusiastic individuals.

    Now, I would like your opinion on if I should make that trip and live two tough years to devote myself to machine learning? I see points 1,2 and 4 as solid reasons, what do you think?

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee July 27, 2017 at 8:03 am #

      This is your choice and you must use your freedom to make it.

      I wish you the best of luck and would love to hear what you decide.

  30. Avatar
    Satya Prakash Sharma July 30, 2017 at 12:46 am #

    I have a Burning Desire to learn a machine Learning , Already
    I am Good in Android Developing , Already I developed an Android App , that is “SafeWallet One 4 All Password Manage”.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onefourall_wallet

    Jason I like your blog , really this is helpful. can you guide me .

  31. Avatar
    FIKIR August 28, 2017 at 4:04 pm #

    hello im masters sudent I took ML course but still im confused how build the model how selct algorithims how apply …soon Till now i was very confusion i have low confidence low low self-esteem and most of the time i feel I donā€™t have the time right now because im student.now i want do my research around ML im interesting when im searching different sites i get ur site im so excited i hope this post inspired me so much,highl improve my confidence not only by ML by all thing and gave me enough motivation. Thank you very much Jason!!!!!!!!!!!

  32. Avatar
    Renato Caetano September 22, 2017 at 8:23 pm #

    You help me a lot… Thank you Jason Brownlee!

  33. Avatar
    Aadrsh September 28, 2017 at 4:53 pm #

    That’s so motivative.
    Thank you, Sir.

  34. Avatar
    Aniket October 1, 2017 at 3:25 am #

    Hi Jason,

    I have a question about how to get started in machine learning. The thing ehich frustrates me and even hoding me back till today is that there are thousands of courses out there online having different contents(topics) to go through and I don’t understand totally which course I should go through to understand the nuts and bolts of machine learning. Even quora answers about “how to get started” don’t help me to take a good course.
    I have also taken up machine learning couse on coursera by Andrew Ng but it covered some aspects of machine learning.
    So, please help me to guide a good course in machine learning.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee October 1, 2017 at 9:08 am #

      Great question.

      There are many ways to get started, you need to find the one way that works best for your preferred learning style.

      I teach a top-down and results-first approach to machine learning.

      My best advice is broken down into a 5-step process, summarized here:
      https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#getstarted

      I hope this helps as a start.
      Iā€™m here to help as you have more questions.

  35. Avatar
    Shunmugapriya October 23, 2017 at 5:25 pm #

    This page is wonderful giving hope for beginners and failures. I belong to the self-limiting belief: Struggling or tried and failed.

    your words here motivate me to continue doing.

    Thanks a lot Prof.

  36. Avatar
    Shridhar October 31, 2017 at 12:48 am #

    This is inspirational. Thank you.

  37. Avatar
    Laeeq Khan November 9, 2017 at 12:35 am #

    This page make me the perfect person for machine learning. Thanks Thanks Thanks a lot Dr.Jason Brownlee you did very great effort for all people who are confuse to get start in machine learning

  38. Avatar
    Luu Hai November 26, 2017 at 10:57 pm #

    thank you!

  39. Avatar
    Clare November 30, 2017 at 5:21 pm #

    Thanks Jason – I’m just starting to get into this, so new that I only started just now šŸ™‚ I went to a talk last night by John Bates who was involved with designing a lot of the early AI based algorithmic trading solutions, and this has really got me fired up. I’m love the positivity and practicality of your messages there. Itts great to be encouraging people to take real steps to investigate AI and machine learning.

  40. Avatar
    Rahul December 7, 2017 at 9:54 pm #

    Hi Jason, I am a Java JEE 10+ yrs experience guy who wants to work on Machine Learning in near future as a professional. I am learning Python for the same. However the dilemma is that I would need to study and build ML Repertoire as personal capacity as there is no (or very less projects) with work using ML as focus (in my curent company). Do you have any suggestions for any decent Machine Learning “PATH” (read course with source codes and challenging exercises)(to become a ML Developer with Python with a self studied ML Projects Repertoire) which you may think needs to be followed by experienced industry professionals like us (apart from your 2 ML books on Python) ? Kindly advise !!!

  41. Avatar
    Felix December 22, 2017 at 2:25 pm #

    Hi Jason, thanks for the great article. But what about the belief “I cannot get a job in data science because I don’t have enough experience (in this field) and I’m too old for starting a new tech career”? On a rational level, I know that this belief must be wrong and sounds harmful … however, it has been learned through “reinforcement learning”, i.e., is substantiated through experience.

    Although I can bring (some) math skills and a PhD in CS (just not in machine learning) combined with 8 years in SW dev to the table, people just don’t see me as potential machine learning engineer / data scientist. Online course specializations so far don’t help either and getting real projects in ML seems extremely hard (even harder than applying ML itself). So this poses a classical bootstrap problem. Any advice?

    Ah, before I forget: Happy holidays šŸ™‚

  42. Avatar
    Rohit Kumar December 29, 2017 at 1:04 am #

    Hi Jason,

    Thank you for your great work.

    for me, you are like “Parth in MahaBharat”.

    Please share some articles for Basic ML & Python.

  43. Avatar
    Emmanuel Gunti January 21, 2018 at 7:15 am #

    Excellent Jason, I m inspired & i am going to start and follow the steps you have mentioned, i m from Aviation field & eager to learn ML and make my career.

    Thanks a lot.

  44. Avatar
    Michael Blackwell January 24, 2018 at 4:20 pm #

    I’m an older guy (47 yrs) living up near Silicon Valley, actually Stockton, Ca. I’ve been wanting to get into the tech sector for years but I had a lot of the excuses that stopped me cold. I was an Intelligence Specialist in the Navy(USS JFK CV-67) back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. I tried getting into digital effects but it was so mathematics heavy that I got discouraged and opted for a career in truck driving until I could figure out what I really wanted to do. Fast forward 26 years later and was looking through engineer professions and up comes Machine Learning and a light went off. I decided this is what I want to do and my old research skills kicked in and I found your information that matched what I was looking for PERFECTLY!

    THANK YOU

  45. Avatar
    M.Ravi Prakash February 24, 2018 at 5:34 am #

    Hi Jason,
    Beautiful article and wonderful Blog.it’s amazing to see you handle all aspects of programming not just the code but the psychological aspect. Every step is meticulously chiseled. I have these mental blocks and I have been looking for a way to get over it. Have even been forraying into Data Science and Machine Learning for past two years but little success and I would keep giving myself reasons either it would be the work I do in the office or something else. But lately, i have been reading your articles and finding my loopholes trying to plug them.
    Thanks for showing the lighting up the path in every aspect. Appreciate your guidance and the time that you have put into creating the blog and showing us the way

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee February 24, 2018 at 9:26 am #

      Thanks, I’m glad the posts help.

      Hang in there! It’s worth it. There is nothing more fun than learning solutions to complex problems rather than coding them.

      ML is not magic and data scientists are not elite priests. It’s work, just like everything else.

  46. Avatar
    Mittal Patel February 28, 2018 at 4:10 am #

    This is such a great boost up for newbies of ML field.

    ML can get really intimidating and most of the folks leave it pretty soon without making good progress due to wrong start. Going by your motivating blogs could be highly encouraging for beginners without losing hope even if they face some difficulties.

    For doubters, I would suggest to also go through below posts which are linked from the blog:
    Programmers can get into machine learning
    What if Iā€™m not good at mathematics
    What if I donā€™t have a degree
    What if Iā€™m not a good programmer

    Great resource for ML you have built Jason. I will recommend to all the students who are getting started on ML learning.

  47. Avatar
    Kamran Khan March 5, 2018 at 5:00 pm #

    Thanks a lot for sharing this Jason. My self-limiting belief is not just one but two

    – I’m 38 year old hence not as young as many other students
    – I don’t have a Computer Sciences background although I got two degrees in Aeronautics Engg and Telecommunications Engineering but that was a long time ago

    My experience is in the commercial side of things focusing more on how businesses can benefit from machine learning and what are the real time applications that fall under the domain of ML and AI

    However I’ll now start using content until I get my confidence that I can do it and be on the path of learning ML and AI

    Thanks again

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee March 6, 2018 at 6:09 am #

      Hang in there! It is a large industry in need of people that understand how these tools work.

  48. Avatar
    Marie @ Girl Knows Tech March 17, 2018 at 3:14 pm #

    THANK YOU! Needed to read this as I’m considering doing a master in ML and felt like shit.

  49. Avatar
    Mark H March 22, 2018 at 5:45 am #

    I am a DBA and trying to help broaden my skill set and be able to get an idea of the information that we have in our databases. And see if there are new ways we can make use of the data we have. I work crazy hours and I am having trouble making this important info for me to make it happen, I did the crash course and I just picked up, the introduction to Machine learning With Python from the library and hope to be able to channel some of the cash from my next pay day to get your book. The tutorial really gave me a huge step forward and helped kick up my confidence level. Its been awhile since I have got my degree and I am hungry to learn more and apply it to some of our companies data and see where it might lead us. Thank you very much for sharing what you have learned in a way to help this old dog learn some new tricks.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee March 22, 2018 at 6:27 am #

      Hang in there Mark.

      Focus on solving problems and getting results. ML is just a set of tools towards this end.

  50. Avatar
    JesĆŗs MartĆ­nez April 11, 2018 at 11:55 pm #

    Most of the time we won’t achieve skills because we have so ingrained in our brain that we are not capable of doing so. Another common mistake is that we are always preparing, always learning, always consuming but seldom (or ever) producing. I’d dare to say this is the root of most of our problems… Also, we are so afraid of failing and sucking at new things, when, in reality, there’s no way around it! It’s a process and any and every time we try new things, we’ll suck at it. I think is key to embrace this fact and TRUST THE PROCESS, not focus on RESULTS, given that the latter is an unavoidable consequence of the former if given sufficient effort and time.

  51. Avatar
    Shravan April 17, 2018 at 2:50 am #

    Really motivating article and I think this has enough self-limiting beliefs, probably, evolved through machine learning ????

  52. Avatar
    Govinda April 21, 2018 at 4:29 pm #

    Thank you so much. This article is very helpful… šŸ˜€

  53. Avatar
    Ved May 5, 2018 at 12:50 am #

    I can’t believe this feels like it was written for me. And yet, this is exactly what so many other people think. I guess you can’t be unique even in your failures šŸ˜‰

    Jokes aside, being a machine learning focused site, I am glad and appreciative of the fact that you took the time to actually write this page, that you even thought of it. Thank you so very much and please accept my gratitude and best wishes.

    You have a subscriber.

  54. Avatar
    Andy McDonald May 11, 2018 at 12:41 am #

    I have only just found your site Jason and like what I see so far.

    I have been trying to learn about machine learning and data science for a possible career change, but often when looking at adverts they state you need to know Python/R, have a degree in maths/computing etc….. So it has kind of pushed me back a little and made me think that I need to do a massive amount of learning before even considering machine learning and data science.

    But reading this post has motivated me a bit more and made me realise I should just keep going with what I am doing and continue to learn the skills bit by bit.

    I will go and continue to read your other articles just now. šŸ™‚

  55. Avatar
    Leo May 13, 2018 at 11:11 am #

    Hey Jason,

    Very insightful and thoughtful article.

    Knowing how to code to be able to learn machine learning is a pre-requisite or a self limiting belief?

  56. Avatar
    Opeyemi May 27, 2018 at 10:36 am #

    Well this is good. I’m interested in ML and I’m just starting to read algebra, stats, probability etc. Been postponing for months. How do I get started without being overwhelmed?

  57. Avatar
    Yogesh Suryawanshi May 29, 2018 at 9:42 pm #

    Thanks a lot for sharing this Jason. My self-limiting belief is not just one but two

    ā€“ Iā€™m 38 year old hence not as young as many other students
    – I am 14 yrs in to IT industry – Network engineering and project management is my background. lack of programming skills is something which holds me back
    – I am weak in maths too

    From your article what i think is first , i need to train my brain to get ready it learn ML and i may need to take baby steps and i am confident with my professional background and experience certainly i can in to that… appreciate if you can suggest me those baby steps.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee May 30, 2018 at 6:43 am #

      You can do it, and provide a ton of value to business!

      Hang in there.

  58. Avatar
    Madhubala Jayakumaran June 17, 2018 at 8:31 pm #

    OMG!! You are responding to everyone.. Man .. you are awesome.. And it’s a great article…

  59. Avatar
    Aynaz Biniyaz June 28, 2018 at 2:09 pm #

    you are awesome ..you gave me a big motivation to learn machine learning!
    thank you!
    stay awesome.

  60. Avatar
    Rushikesh July 6, 2018 at 3:11 pm #

    Got all prejudices about machine learning cleansed after reading this article! Thanks a ton:-)

  61. Avatar
    Ramanathan Vijayan July 13, 2018 at 9:55 pm #

    Hi Jason,

    Your words are really motivating every one..i have started my journey towards to the machine learning .

    Thanks šŸ™‚

  62. Avatar
    Naveed July 18, 2018 at 1:06 pm #

    Hi Jason,
    I have a mixture of all four categories of self-limiting belief. I am always waiting for a good time to get into ML. Discipline is definitely what I struggle with the most though. I have audited the introduction to ML course by Andrew NG. However, I never finished going through all of the materials especially when he got into deep learning and my lack of linear algebra and mat lab skills caught up to me. Now I am not sure whether I should just try the course again or learn how to use scikit-learn and explore kaggle projects. I almost started studying for GRE so I can go to grad school after getting frustrated repeatedly until I have found your blog.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee July 18, 2018 at 2:47 pm #

      Lectures are boring.

      Focus on solving problems and learning enough to help you solve problems better.

      Get good by practicing on standard datasets and build up a portfolio.

  63. Avatar
    Ankur August 10, 2018 at 1:54 am #

    Thanks Jason… u have pinpointed the primary problem and make me realize the truth… thanku so much… this post is savior and I can start machine learning right away..thanks man

  64. Avatar
    Sri Jags September 26, 2018 at 8:51 pm #

    Thanks Jason. It covered all the myths and cleared fears and prerequisites. Want to start my machine learning course after couple of months once I become good in Python , Math and Stat. After seeing this blog I started now and today itself and continue at least few hours for week even though I am packed with my regular work.

    Once again thanks for wonderful post.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee September 27, 2018 at 5:59 am #

      I’m happy it helped.

      Stop getting ready to get started and dive in!

  65. Avatar
    Karthik October 19, 2018 at 4:37 am #

    Hi Jason, can you suggest any freeware that can help me load stuff into my windows machine and get started in running the easiest ML problems?
    Is there a work book or something that has worked out example (sample code) that help me understand and appreciate ML better?-And thank you for the igniting many minds

  66. Avatar
    Pratyush October 24, 2018 at 1:12 am #

    hey Jason, I have learned different techniques and machine learning algorithms from various websites. But it took so much time that I didn’t had the time to apply all that into any real-world project and now I didn’t even have a single project that I can show in my resume. I want to build up my portfolio do you have any suggestions for me I’ll be grateful.

  67. Avatar
    sammer October 25, 2018 at 1:01 am #

    What a nice article! I feel I want to read it again and again
    Excellent work, Jason

  68. Avatar
    Winnie October 25, 2018 at 6:04 pm #

    Just what i needed to hear.I’m not holding back from now!

  69. Avatar
    H.ELk October 29, 2018 at 10:52 am #

    by browsing the web as I do daily! I find this page rich in computer related machine learning … Thank you very much I appreciate your work that can help me personally
    Dear professor
    I would be very grateful if you can help me at the level of the orientation .. I wanted to apply the machine learning for the prediction of the electronic structure of the atoms (quantum chemistry) if you can give me a guide on which I will study to do this I will be very very grateful
    thanks again

  70. Avatar
    May Zar Hlaing November 19, 2018 at 4:10 pm #

    Thanks Jason. This article encourages me to run away from self-limiting beliefs on studying Machine Learning.

  71. Avatar
    khaoula Briki December 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm #

    Thank you for this page
    and This article encourages me to run away from self-limiting beliefs on studying Machine Learning

  72. Avatar
    jeyanthi December 11, 2018 at 4:16 pm #

    your are not only a good machine learning teacher but also a good motivator….thanks for your post

  73. Avatar
    Richard December 13, 2018 at 6:08 am #

    What about if you are 45 and older with a 20 years old computer science degree?

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee December 13, 2018 at 7:59 am #

      Perfect! Your experience will help you learn the tools and apply them more effectively than someone who has seen fewer real projects.

  74. Avatar
    Ihab December 18, 2018 at 12:11 am #

    Perfect! Thanks

  75. Avatar
    Ansh December 20, 2018 at 8:33 pm #

    Really appreciate your work

  76. Avatar
    Keshav December 22, 2018 at 8:28 pm #

    Really it cleared many of things in mind. Even I haven’t started the course but happy with this article.

  77. Avatar
    wanze December 24, 2018 at 7:47 pm #

    I am afraid of that learning machine larning maybe need so many time that I am a adult programmer not a student right now , I am afraid may there is no abundant time for this.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee December 25, 2018 at 7:20 am #

      Do a little each day, even 20 minutes. It will compound over days and weeks.

  78. Avatar
    PeterNguyen January 16, 2019 at 2:20 am #

    your article saved my life, thank you so much, actually I am a beginner in this field, I am extremely overwhelmed when I started learning ML by myself, I think negative and always doubt about myself that I can’t do it. So i feel really stressed when I study because I met a lot of math concept that I don’t understand, at that time I think I can’t do it, I gave up many times. once again thank you so much Jason

  79. Avatar
    Arsha January 19, 2019 at 9:10 pm #

    wonderful article.

  80. Avatar
    Mohammed RABHI February 2, 2019 at 10:29 pm #

    Thaank you Jason, I came across your blog while thinking of going through ML for my Ms Thesis. I was hesitating at first thinking it’s hard and I don’t have enough proficiency and knowledge in the filed. But after reading this, I will chose this topic and go for it.
    it’s ” Image-based Lane Keeping Control using End-to-End Machine Learning “

  81. Avatar
    Mitch Edmunds February 15, 2019 at 2:22 am #

    Hi Jason, I’ve been stuck reading your blog posts all-day. Perhaps this is part of my self-limiting belief that I choose to spend all day reading about machine learning rather than doing or perhaps it is because the posts are genuinely insightful with painstakingly distilled and relevant information. I’ve been going for three months trying to learn the skills I need for data science, and have made some good progress so far with the R language in particular.
    However, the self-limiting beliefs of waiting for the perfect set of skills and waiting for the perfect conditions resonate a lot with me. I think that this is exactly the advice I need, along with your advice on small projects for me to actually progress into more of a doing phase of learning. Furthermore, the comparison of “I’ll never be as good as y” is very dangerous in all walks of life. You see it with young people on Instagram in terms of beauty, you see it with my single female friends who worry that all their friends are getting hitched and they’re not. I tell them, it’s not a race! I caught myself thinking these thoughts only today in relation to programming/ML/data science – “I’ll never be as good as y and they’ve already beaten me to the punch”. I need to tell myself it’s not a race, get my head down and start doing!
    Thanks for all these great resources.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee February 15, 2019 at 8:12 am #

      Thanks. Hang in there!

      Try to write/create/add-to a project each day. Over the days, weeks and months you will look back and see that you have achieved so much!

      But you have to start.

  82. Avatar
    Thiago Lyra Rocha February 25, 2019 at 11:03 pm #

    This site is an aboslute Gold Mine!

  83. Avatar
    Reema March 20, 2019 at 2:28 am #

    I am very glad that I was able to find this post. I was struggling to start machine learning with lack of confidence and as you rightly mentioned – self limitation belief.This post has motivated me to start all over again. I keep getting stuck with coding as I am in the process of learning it and get demotivated once in a while thinking that this is something that I will never be able to do. Your blog post had helped me to think again with different perspective and I feel a lot better and confident. There couldn’t have been a better time for me to go through your posts.

    Thanks a ton for all your posts and resources!!

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee March 20, 2019 at 8:33 am #

      Thank you for sharing!

      I’m so happy that it helped.

      You are not alone, we are all here together, striving.

  84. Avatar
    Chris Johnson March 22, 2019 at 4:39 am #

    Thank you for this, Jason. I’d come across this article a couple weeks ago and saved it for later (typical action on my part, but I’m getting better at taking action sooner). My wife and I were just discussing limiting beliefs yesterday, and one of my big ones was “I’m too far behind.” Hidden within that belief were other beliefs such as “There’s not enough time”, “I’m not at my peak learning ability”, and “I won’t be able to handle the increased responsibility”. My wife is a life-coach-in-training, so she helped me work through a couple of those, and I am now much more confident in moving forward.

    One thing I’d add to the discussion is this: Not everyone who can do something ends up doing it. The reality of this is huge for people like me, when I was feeling like I’m too far behind to be able to catch up and make an impact. The reality is, the need is great in this field, and it will only become greater. As the need becomes greater, fewer people will be available to fill it. Even those that are able to fill it today are saying to themselves, “I need to learn X first” or “I need to become better at Y”. Whoever doesn’t limit themselves by saying those things, those people will find themselves in the field instead of the ones who limit themselves.

    I’m excited to be starting my journey today. Thank you for your encouragement and guidance!

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee March 22, 2019 at 8:39 am #

      Thanks for sharing Chris, I’m really happy to hear that you’re making progress.

      You’re spot on with your point. There is a massive need for skills in ML, and if you’re capable, it is almost important to supply those skills to businesses that need them.

  85. Avatar
    Gopal Bhandari April 2, 2019 at 12:00 am #

    Hi sir,

    I belongs to non-technical background student, I had done Data Science course from one of the institute and didn’t understand much so i Plan to take Udemy class, I already started class it helped me so much.

    I have some doubt i hope you will explain it. The Doubt is below–

    1. How can i know business problem, Is Regression, Classification, Segmentation etc.

    2. How to do project is there any Model Building sample for each problem.

  86. Avatar
    Kirti April 12, 2019 at 8:34 pm #

    I am a 12th grade student from India and I have passed my 12th grade board examination. I have heard about ML and AI. I am interested in learning these technolgies and also I tried to begin by learning Linear Algebra from MIT OCW, but I understood nothing cuz I am not good at Mathematics. Also I have no knowledge about skills and tools and other technologies related to ML and AI.
    So I just request you to kindly tell me like what should I literally start with . Like what apps or software or tools I should download on my Laptop and what should I do with them and how should I use them to get desired results and hence take a step forward in my ML journey.
    I am in need of advice from an expert like you who knows what is the reality of ML.
    I have always not wanted to go for any formal degree. All I want is precise guidance suiting my capabilities and interests.

  87. Avatar
    Prateek April 19, 2019 at 7:05 pm #

    Hi,

    Felt very good that I landed this page.

    Highly motivating and kind of looking deep inside anyone’s thought process who wan to learn ML but has not started yet.

    Same is the case with me.

    It has been 7 years I hove worked much in tech domain. Now, looking to get into it through ML.

    Looking to learn ML to have little fun with data and data sets and get some small part time projects to get some income.

    Also, will try to implement ML in finance and investment decisions. Dont know how it will be done, but will look it its possible.

    Looking for your kind co-operation.

    Thanks.

  88. Avatar
    Sukant May 1, 2019 at 3:51 pm #

    Thanks Jason,

    A wonderful post and have read this at the most appropriate time. Am a Network engineer by profession and have dealt in the network industry for over a decade. Now things are taking a huge turn in this era and every thing is getting automated. Am studying for python and network automation and programming along with New avenues in Networking but i still feel that there has to be some thing more to it. Machine Learning and Deep Learning are the subjects that i always had the inclination on and wanted to pursue. There are multiple things that has been holding me back like time, environment but i think your post has covered it all. I will need your help and guidance to move forward. I have purchased two books of Machine Learning(theoretical) by Tom Mitchell and the other ” Machine Intelligence: Demystifying Machine Learning, Neural Networks and Deep Learning” by Suresh Samudrala. Will these books be a good start.

  89. Avatar
    jamila May 7, 2019 at 9:00 pm #

    motivational article šŸ™‚

  90. Avatar
    Mannu kumar May 8, 2019 at 5:28 pm #

    Thanku jason for the article.It really helpful.

    In my most of search,I didnt find the answer from where to start the Machine Learning?

    Yesterday night,I saw same machine learning challenge code fo about 500 to 700 lines on hackerthon.
    I just got afraid of moving my step forwards.The questions arise can I so such?

    As Machine learning is so vast and i am a self learner.

    Your post just inspired me a lot.

    I find the most helpful and motivational.

  91. Avatar
    Arezoo Samiei June 8, 2019 at 8:44 am #

    Hi,

    Thank you for so much for your post. My self-limiting belief stands on two-fold.
    1- I am not sure if my project is the one that I can apply machine learning in it or not. If I can implement Machin learning in Autonomous Tasks allocation problems or not.
    2- I know I am not good enough in programming.

  92. Avatar
    Denis June 18, 2019 at 11:25 pm #

    PC games:(
    Because of them, I haven’t enough time to learning ML.

  93. Avatar
    Gaurav Jain June 20, 2019 at 4:04 pm #

    Thank you Jason for breaking the mental block which has been stopping me for doing this thing.

  94. Avatar
    Mihirvh July 14, 2019 at 1:16 am #

    Glad I came here it’s one of the best blog /website for machine learning
    Thank you Jason

  95. Avatar
    Norman Lopez Sobalvarro July 16, 2019 at 1:12 pm #

    Exactly what I needed to read. Thank you.

  96. Avatar
    Lucjan July 29, 2019 at 7:22 pm #

    Hello Jason and thanks for the post. It is quite interesting how these beliefs are shared among so many people. You’d think that all things considered I’d have the perfect conditions, yet I’d been postponing whatever attempts at transitioning from my current line of work because of the fear of failure. Even though I have a degree, am a physicist by training, so have a good basis in mathematics, and have programmed in Python before (mostly numerical methods like FDM, FEM, etc.) I still don’t think that I am ripe enough. I’ve also tried to blame it on the time, or how busy I was at work and that extra time spent on the work project would help me keep my job. There are so many insecurities that we all have – it is mind boggling! But then again your post helped me realise that I actually do not have any excuses to go on. I just need to get my act together, roll the sleeves up, and start working. I was actually hoping to pursue a PhD in ML and AI, but still haven’t figured out which facet of the subject to explore more. And to be honest, if you had any advice on that I’d be most obliged. Wishing you all the best.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee July 30, 2019 at 6:07 am #

      Thanks for sharing, and I’m glad it helped.

      Yes, I have advice here:
      https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/what-research-topic-should-i-work-on

      • Avatar
        Sourav Roy December 18, 2019 at 5:18 pm #

        Hi Jason,

        No words are enough to express my gratitude…
        I am a non technical fellow.
        Though have done my SAP CRM global certification and Lean six sigma Green Belt global certification too.
        Now willing to dive into Salesforce ecosystem with ADM and App builder certification….

        Mate,my inquisitive nature is a bit insatiable in nature….????????????????????????

        Wanted to take dive into the data science ocean too….????????????
        Is Data Analytics is the first step into the Data Science ecosystem?
        ML and AI comes at what stage of that ecosystem?

        Azure and AWS different certifications got anything to do with ML and AI?
        Cause I have also enrolled with Microsoft Azure fundamental certification too…

        Are all my previously done certifications (SAP,LEAN SIX SIGMA GREEN BELT) and my newly ventured (SALESFORCE,AZURE) got any correlation with ML and AI?

        Can’t make decisions ????????????????????????????????

        Kindly guide me Dr. Jason….
        I believe without your guidance….it will never ever possible for me to take a call.

        Much awaiting your reply on the same.

        Keep flourishing.

        ????????????????????????????

        Sourav Roy.

        • Avatar
          Jason Brownlee December 19, 2019 at 6:23 am #

          Sorry, I don’t know about certifications.

          I focus on teaching developers how to use machine learning to solve hard technical problems.

  97. Avatar
    Ravi Ponamgi August 17, 2019 at 7:56 am #

    Jason, I’m so fortunate to have discovered these pearls of wisdom which you’ve brilliantly incorporated into this website. The self-limiting beliefs “Waiting To Get Started” and “Awaiting Perfect Conditions” seem to have blocked me from pursuing so many of my intellectual ambitions. Now it’s time to remove all such inhibiting beliefs and go learn like a machine!

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee August 18, 2019 at 6:36 am #

      I’m happy to hear that.

      It’s time to take a step forward!

  98. Avatar
    Keith August 27, 2019 at 6:55 pm #

    Step 1

  99. Avatar
    Darshan Prajapati August 27, 2019 at 9:03 pm #

    Hello, Jason

    Greeting from Darshan!

    I am a Mechanical Engineer and want to start a career in Artificial Integellance & Machine Learning Intern.

    Here, Could you guide me how can I start my career in AL/ML Engineer?

  100. Avatar
    Adama September 1, 2019 at 6:46 am #

    100% correct about everything. Thanks you for this article. Do you have a Discord or Slack group I can Join ?

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee September 2, 2019 at 5:23 am #

      Thanks, I’m glad it helped.

      Sorry, I don’t offer other support channels at this stage.

  101. Avatar
    Md Shariful Islam Sohel September 9, 2019 at 4:08 pm #

    Absolute Genius Sir! I had a belief that I need to finish statistics before I start with ML and I bought one statistics course in Udemy. I am expert in programming so I think I can start just immediately. Just do and learn model.

    Many thanks for this awesome article. Hats offf to you Sir!

  102. Avatar
    Bharath September 13, 2019 at 5:12 pm #

    Really motivating, to get started with Machine learning. Thanks for your support.

  103. Avatar
    DIVINE FRANCIS October 15, 2019 at 2:07 pm #

    Sir ,

    I am 20 years old

    I am doing by b tech in cs. I am very found of ML .Currently i”ve applied for a course in ML (coursera). I have certain doubts :

    1.which language is best for ML (python / java)

    2.In ML we are not coding rather ask the machine to learn for itself // Is it correct or not

    3.What made you an ML lover (inspiration / how do you become an expert)

    4.Do you love any other concepts other than AL / ML

    5.Before coming to ML . What is your area of research.

    You are a good man.You herby teach knowledge is to share

    With all respect , i’ve made this comment bcz your article solves most of my confusions.

    Thank You Dr.Jason Brownlee

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee October 16, 2019 at 7:56 am #

      Python.

      Correct.

      I wrote bots for games (quake) and I was hooked.

      What do you mean other concepts?

      My background is in computer science – my area research was machine learning.

  104. Avatar
    Musawar Ahmad October 25, 2019 at 7:00 pm #

    By reading this self reflection questions, i am surprised to see that it is really happening with most of us. Thanks for breaking he shell…

  105. Avatar
    Sait December 6, 2019 at 12:10 am #

    I am starting ML and DL, because of you. Thanks, really awesome post.

  106. Avatar
    Carlos Virgen December 17, 2019 at 3:39 pm #

    Thanks for this post, it is a great way to start for many people. I am learning ML, DL and other stuff, sometime I lose my hope but come back here and remember my way.

    Thanks.

  107. Avatar
    Garima January 14, 2020 at 5:57 pm #

    Thanks for the post Jason, I have 10 years of software development experience in IT, with more than 7 years in C/C++ and rest in PEGA.

    I have facination for AI. I really want to build something that could have intelligence to act and react.

    From where should i start, to step ahead in this direction?
    Also, could you explain how machine learning is different from Data Science?

  108. Avatar
    najeh January 18, 2020 at 9:25 am #

    Hi Jason,
    Is there a book to start with machine learning and deep learning?

  109. Avatar
    erenjeager February 17, 2020 at 10:33 pm #

    I really really want to learn ML,
    and I am good at math.
    but I havent enough money to buy those books…..Maybe the only thing I can do is to find PDF .

  110. Avatar
    Luqman Shofuleji March 2, 2020 at 10:37 pm #

    Thanks Jason, highly motivated and encouraged by this post.

  111. Avatar
    Bongani March 12, 2020 at 4:03 pm #

    I am new to machine learning but not maths and statistics. I think that my push is the fact that there are just too many problems out there in the world that need us to get out of our comfort zone and help those who will never be able to help themselves.

    Now I am not saying we should solve world hunger, but rather do what we can with the resources at our disposable. If anyone reads this article … then remember one thing.

    “THE WORLD NEEDS YOU”

  112. Avatar
    Sandhya Mulay March 19, 2020 at 4:53 am #

    Great….this is really encouraging as i am exactly into the self limiting beliefs.
    Thanks for this

  113. Avatar
    Marco Baturan March 22, 2020 at 3:11 am #

    I’m finish recently your mini-course for ML in Python3.
    And it’s very inspiring, because It’s helps to get a start-point.
    I hope can do It all posts of your website.

  114. Avatar
    Ananyaja Debadipta April 8, 2020 at 12:21 am #

    I am very thankful to get this site. Thanks for sharing this information which is very helpful.

  115. Avatar
    Dexin April 18, 2020 at 3:52 am #

    The article lists a few things that are quite common. What I feel challenging in ML field is to get proficient using all packages and functions of python or a programming language. Understanding is one thing, and memorizing all programming language syntax and methods is another.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee April 18, 2020 at 6:11 am #

      Hang in there.

      No one is proficient in all the packages or even in one package. Proficiency is a high bar. Most people simply survive a project!

      People aren’t even proficient drivers.

  116. Avatar
    Daniel C April 22, 2020 at 4:20 am #

    I have one self-limiting belief that I am too old. I am 40 years old being math teacher but programming stuff was very complicated to me but I know that I need to left all these ideas aside and start right now.

    I really want to do something that could improve education in math subjects to students using ML…I left this because I want to return someday and see that today I started my career in ML

    Thank you so much Jason

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee April 22, 2020 at 6:07 am #

      You can learn a lot in a month, in a year. You can remake yourself so easily.

      It’s mindset, not skills.

      A person that drives a car – even badly – is a driver, then it is just a matter of degree. A person that uses the tools of machine learning is a machine learning practitioner.

  117. Avatar
    Mayur Tamboli May 4, 2020 at 3:31 pm #

    Very awesome work you have done with your writings as belief is the only reason to stop people from achieving the purpose. Thank you so much for the help required in this direction & it will help every individual to achieve what they actually want to.

  118. Avatar
    Sukant May 18, 2020 at 3:08 pm #

    Hello Jason, your post has always been inspiring for me. Am working as an Associate Network Architect , more into planning and designing networks mostly based on Cisco devices. I had always interested in mathematics from my childhood days but have not come across a proper mentor , so had been always struggling and did my own trial and error by reading books which mostly or partially i didnt understand. My job took me far away from mathematics but though, it had kept me intact with IT but had not been studying maths since quite a long time. Machine learning is the place where i feel that i can fulfill my desire and my eagerness to learn algorithms and also work on code. I want to slowly bend the curve from my present profile to machine learning completely. Am already 40 and i am really struggling to design my plan of action of how to start. As due to my hectic schedule in work i could not give enough time for this . I have purchased few books on kindle “Understanding Machine Learning (From theory to algorithms) by Shai Shalev-Shwatrz and Shai Ben-David and Machine learning Algorithms by (Giusseppe Bonaccorso) . I try reading these in my spare time but i am bit struggling with the mathematics part. Do i refer to Andrew Ng videos to start with or learn with Linear Algebra by Gilbert Strang to start with. i also purchased a book for Machine Learning by Tom Mitchell but i just have stuck up at many areas some times making it hard to understand the mathematical clarifications which takes a lot of my time. I am also studying python in parallel to understand the language better.

    My only concern is the time factor as i feel am not able to give justice to these subjects where am planning to see myself at least 5 years if not more from now. I dont want to fall in a trap of shallow learning and keep my seat back , just pretending to know it all. I need your guidance here as to how to proceed or am i doing it right by the trial and error method.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee May 19, 2020 at 5:56 am #

      Thanks.

      You must find a path that works for you. I recommend a very different practical path:
      https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/how-do-i-self-study-machine-learning

      • Avatar
        SUKANT May 19, 2020 at 3:26 pm #

        Thank you so much Jason. That will greatly help….

        • Avatar
          Jason Brownlee May 20, 2020 at 6:19 am #

          You’re welcome.

        • Avatar
          Sifa June 27, 2020 at 9:55 pm #

          Thank you Dr.
          Indeed this is an awesome piece. I’ve just found myself guilty of the endless excuses I’ve had towards diving in ML.
          I’m a recent graduate of Computer Science with a deep passion for ML. I’ve had a hard time getting the right platform to get my passion on the move. All thanks to you for this owesome content. I confident that I’ve found the right place and good to go.

          Once again, thank you sir

          • Avatar
            Jason Brownlee June 28, 2020 at 5:50 am #

            Thanks, I’m happy to hear that!

  119. Avatar
    Avicii May 20, 2020 at 7:39 am #

    Loads of loads of thanks for this amazing and mind-changing blog.
    With one read it already changed my mind to set myself on machine learning journey

  120. Avatar
    deJAVU July 14, 2020 at 11:30 pm #

    JUST DO IT

  121. Avatar
    Prince July 17, 2020 at 12:47 am #

    Absolutly agree on all points you have mentioned here.

  122. Avatar
    Ryan Buchanan July 30, 2020 at 4:20 am #

    Thanks so much Jason! You’re a true inspiration!

    I needed that article sooo much.

    My self limiting belief is that at 46, I believe I’m over the hill & can’t learn this – or I won’t be able to get a job even if I do. I mean, I’m just so old & there are so many brilliant Gen Zs out there – why would anybody want me?

    But you absolutely right – that is not logical.

    Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

    You are the best Man!

    Cheers Mate,

    Ryan

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee July 30, 2020 at 6:28 am #

      You’re welcome.

      Not logical at all. We gen-x’s need to keep pushing!

    • Avatar
      Ramesh December 17, 2022 at 10:10 pm #

      Come on mate. You are not older than me. I am 52

  123. Avatar
    Christian C November 1, 2020 at 10:40 pm #

    I’m so glad I landed into your website (looking for a Linear Algebra ebook).
    This so accurately describes how I feel (I spend too much accumulating knowledge and thinking I don’t know enough, instead of just making the leap).

    This is changing my strategy moving forward and its so great at keeping motivation. Thank you so much!

  124. Avatar
    Jean-Christophe Chouinard February 22, 2021 at 11:51 am #

    Starting today, I have decided to go through your curriculum, one post a day. Until I have read all your articles. Hopefully, energy will follow through! Love your work.

  125. Avatar
    Jamie March 3, 2021 at 2:47 am #

    The Truth

  126. Avatar
    Matt April 3, 2021 at 6:03 pm #

    Thank you so much

  127. Avatar
    Meenakshi June 15, 2021 at 1:31 pm #

    Hi Jason Sir. You are doing supreme job of sharing knowledge; that too for free. Thanks and God bless you. May all get the benefit of this……. Meenakshi from India.

  128. Avatar
    Mark Owusu June 15, 2021 at 6:19 pm #

    I don’t know much about python, data science and machine learning but have the desire to learn. Unfortunately anytime I enroll in a course I am not able finish.

    • Avatar
      Jason Brownlee June 16, 2021 at 6:18 am #

      Start small and build on what you learn each day. One small addition, e.g. a new model to try, a new dataset to try. Keep everything in a directory and keep building on it.

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    Sounava July 12, 2021 at 6:24 am #

    The guy who wrote is a god. Very inspiring

  130. Avatar
    echo August 13, 2021 at 2:59 pm #

    you are my power.

    • Avatar
      Adrian Tam August 14, 2021 at 2:36 am #

      Glad you like it.

  131. Avatar
    Mahmoud October 29, 2021 at 7:45 am #

    Very very good start, I’m a developer of machine learning, and I love your blog. Unfortunately, machine learning and data science do not have a special place in Iran. I was hoping to go somewhere that could be useful.

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    Vinayak Bansal March 4, 2022 at 10:06 pm #

    It’s exactly what I feel when started. It’s lack of motivation

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      James Carmichael March 5, 2022 at 12:39 pm #

      Great feedback Vinayak! Keep moving forward on your machine learning journey!

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    Vishal Ahirwar June 11, 2022 at 5:34 pm #

    Thanks, Jason, for posting this whole series on machine learning šŸ™‚
    I’m C++, Django Developer, but now I’m also interested in machine learning and your tutorials are such a motivation tonic :))

    • Avatar
      James Carmichael June 12, 2022 at 9:26 am #

      Thank you for the feedback Vishal!

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    Muhammad Waseem June 14, 2022 at 2:36 pm #

    i have read material related to machine learning, but I saw someone more intellectual than in ML, I thought I cannot reach there. Due to a lack of statistics, linear algebra alignment with images. I had same belief as you discussed, now i will evry thing for my future in machine learning IN SHA ALLAH.
    thanks alot…

    • Avatar
      James Carmichael June 15, 2022 at 7:20 am #

      Thank you for the feedback Muhammad!

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    Ashwini Patil November 27, 2022 at 3:36 am #

    Thanks, James,
    For giving me a study direction, I am weak in mathematics but because of your article I have grown my confidence and now I start my carrier in Machine Learning.
    Once again Thank you

    • Avatar
      James Carmichael November 29, 2022 at 9:26 am #

      You are very welcome Ashwini! We appreciate the support and feedback!

  136. Avatar
    Haris Manzoor December 30, 2022 at 12:15 am #

    Thank you James, Your question what are my disbeleives.
    I just not able to think in time but I think I can write one by one.
    1. I never had a chance with my company to work on it
    2. My projects are totally based on web development.
    3. Never get motivated for it.

    Why I wanted to start
    1. My company suggestted me to do that.
    2. I was in my comfort zone with web development
    3. I wanted to get out and do something for my personal growth.

  137. Avatar
    James February 6, 2023 at 3:20 am #

    This is such an awesome article. I definitely have some of these self limiting beliefs and they are terrible. They really hold me back.
    Thanks for writing this, it has really helped!

    • Avatar
      James Carmichael February 6, 2023 at 11:33 am #

      Thank you James! We appreciate your support and feedback!

  138. Avatar
    Jana March 8, 2023 at 5:42 am #

    I am keen on learning machine learning. Please enrol me in this course.

    Thanks.

    Kind regards
    Jana

  139. Avatar
    JosƩ Tandavala October 26, 2023 at 6:25 pm #

    This website is such a gold mine, I will make it my permanent room for the next 6 months. I just don’t have the proper words to express my gratitude

    • Avatar
      James Carmichael October 27, 2023 at 9:28 am #

      Thank you for your feedback and support Jose! We greatly appreciate it!

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