What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning Goals

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What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning

Goals?
by Jason Brownlee on December 24, 2016 in Start Machine Learning  290
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Identify and Tackle Your Self-Limiting 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
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: 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:
Programmers can get into machine learning

What if I’m not good at mathematics
What if I don’t have a degree
What if I’m not a good programmer
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 hard 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?
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About Jason Brownlee
Jason Brownlee, PhD is a machine learning specialist who teaches developers how to get results with modern
machine learning methods via hands-on tutorials.
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290 Responses to What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning Goals?
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee May 18, 2016 at 8:53 am #
You’re welcome Aman.
REPLY 
Roberto May 18, 2016 at 8:31 am #
This page is pure awesomeness
REPLY 
Thanks Roberto.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee July 4, 2019 at 7:41 am #
Thanks, I’m glad it helped.
Now jump in!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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…
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee June 14, 2016 at 8:23 am #
Great suggestion Kleyn, although it does presuppose skills in writing.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Take it slow and build the skill over time.

If you are looking to go deeper into how the algorithms work, take a look at this free mini-course on machine
learning algorithms
https://machinelearningmastery.com/machine-learning-algorithms-mini-course/
It might be easier to focus on one algorithms, say linear or logistic regression and stay on it until you deeply
understand it, then move onto another technique.
REPLY 
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?
REPLY 
If the field interests you then why not get started.
REPLY 
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!!
REPLY 
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!
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee September 4, 2016 at 8:06 am #
I’m glad you’re finding it useful Jessica, thanks.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Thanks Baouche.
REPLY 
Amrit October 2, 2016 at 5:59 pm #
This is really helpful to start for a beginner .

Encouraging and well defined.
Thank you.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee October 3, 2016 at 5:18 am #
I’m glad to hear that you found it useful Amrit.
REPLY 
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 🙂
REPLY 
Thanks Sagar.
REPLY 
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?
REPLY 
No you don’t Saad.
See this process to getting started:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#getstarted
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee November 18, 2016 at 8:22 am #
I’m really glad to hear that Mark.
REPLY 
Diego November 30, 2016 at 5:00 am #
Thanks for inspiring me. Greetings from Ecuador
REPLY 
Thanks Diego, you made my day!
REPLY 
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🙂 And this applies to anything new to start with.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee December 1, 2016 at 7:27 am #
So true Krishna.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Thanks Taye.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee January 5, 2017 at 9:22 am #
Hang in there Arnold!
I’m here to help if I can. Start here:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here
REPLY 
Kiran June 16, 2019 at 5:02 pm #
Mr. Jason not only an expert in machine learning but great motivator too. Thanks for inspiring words.
REPLY 
We all need motivation sometimes, even me.
REPLY 
Imane January 14, 2017 at 4:18 am #
Thanks for advices, I’m now ready to get start my first leap
REPLY 
I’m glad to hear it Imane.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee February 14, 2017 at 10:04 am #
I’m very glad to hear that Murali.
REPLY 
S Kotrappa February 26, 2017 at 1:46 am #
Wonderful Jason for your service and resources , motivation you provide us in Machine Learning, thanks
REPLY 
Thanks, it’s great to have you here.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Thanks Gautham.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
No, consider starting with Weka that requires no programming:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#weka
REPLY 
Uche April 3, 2017 at 8:51 pm #
How do I get started.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee April 4, 2017 at 9:13 am #
Start here:
REPLY 
Uche April 3, 2017 at 8:52 pm #
I want to start with R. How do I get started
REPLY 
Start with R here:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#r
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
I’m glad it helped. Hang in there!
REPLY 
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..
REPLY 
Hang in there Sathish.
REPLY 
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?
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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 .
REPLY 
Thanks. Stick with it, it’s worth it!
REPLY 
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 don’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!!!!!!!!!!!
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee August 29, 2017 at 5:01 pm #
Hang in there!
REPLY 
Renato Caetano September 22, 2017 at 8:23 pm #
You help me a lot… Thank you Jason Brownlee!
REPLY 
Thanks!
REPLY 
Aadrsh September 28, 2017 at 4:53 pm #
That’s so motivative.
Thank you, Sir.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee September 28, 2017 at 4:56 pm #
Thanks, I’m glad to hear that.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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:

I hope this helps as a start.

I’m here to help as you have more questions.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Hang in there!
REPLY 
Shridhar October 31, 2017 at 12:48 am #
This is inspirational. Thank you.

REPLY 
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
I’m glad it helped, hang in there!
REPLY 
Luu Hai November 26, 2017 at 10:57 pm #
thank you!
REPLY 
You’re welcome, hang in there!
REPLY 
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🙂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.
REPLY 
Thanks Clare, hang in there!
REPLY 
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 !!!
REPLY 
Yes, I outline exactly this path here:

REPLY 
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 🙂
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee December 22, 2017 at 4:18 pm #
Hi Felix,
Easy problem to solve. Demonstrate skill using a portfolio. Start small and slow on the side nights and weekends
and leverage the outcomes on steadily larger and more complex problems.
More on the portfolio approach here:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/build-a-machine-learning-portfolio/
Does that help?
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Sure:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#python
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Hang in there!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee January 24, 2018 at 4:41 pm #
I’m so glad to hear that.
Hang in there!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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 I’m not good at mathematics
What if I don’t have a degree
What if I’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.
REPLY 
Thanks Mittal!
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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
REPLY 
Hang in there! It is a large industry in need of people that understand how these tools work.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
I’m glad it helped Marie, hang in there!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Hang in there Mark.
Focus on solving problems and getting results. ML is just a set of tools towards this end.
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Jesús Martínez 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.
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Great advice!
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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 ????
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Govinda April 21, 2018 at 4:29 pm #
Thank you so much. This article is very helpful… 😀
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You’re welcome, I’m glad to hear that.
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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 😉
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.
REPLY 
Thanks Ved, I’m glad it helped.
ML is technical and pretty straightforward for developer types.
Mindset is way harder.
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Janaki Raaman November 4, 2019 at 3:20 pm #
I am short of money ???? that I can’t take a course and certified.
REPLY 
You can a version of all of my courses for free here:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/
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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. 🙂

REPLY 
I’m really glad to hear that. Hang in there!
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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?
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Limiting belief. You do not need to know how to code.
Take a look at this:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/do-i-need-to-be-a-good-programmer
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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?
REPLY 
Start right here:

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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
– I’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.
REPLY 
You can do it, and provide a ton of value to business!
Hang in there.
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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…
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Thanks.
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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.
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Jason Brownlee June 28, 2018 at 2:12 pm #
I’m glad to hear that, hang in there!
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Rushikesh July 6, 2018 at 3:11 pm #
Got all prejudices about machine learning cleansed after reading this article! Thanks a ton:-)
REPLY 
Glad to hear it.
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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 🙂
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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.
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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.
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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
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Jason Brownlee August 10, 2018 at 6:20 am #
I’m happy it helped.
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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.
REPLY 
Stop getting ready to get started and dive in!
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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
REPLY 
This tutorial will help you install everything needed for Python:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/setup-python-environment-machine-learning-deep-learning-anaconda/
Or, you can use Weka:

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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.
REPLY 
Yes, start here:

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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
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Thanks, I’m so happy that it helped!
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Winnie October 25, 2018 at 6:04 pm #
Just what i needed to hear.I’m not holding back from now!
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I’m glad to hear that!
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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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee October 29, 2018 at 2:12 pm #
This process may help:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#process
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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.
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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
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Jason Brownlee December 5, 2018 at 2:24 pm #
I’m happy to hear that!

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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
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Thanks.
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Richard December 13, 2018 at 6:08 am #
What about if you are 45 and older with a 20 years old computer science degree?
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Perfect! Your experience will help you learn the tools and apply them more effectively than someone
who has seen fewer real projects.
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Ihab December 18, 2018 at 12:11 am #
Perfect! Thanks
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Ansh December 20, 2018 at 8:33 pm #
Really appreciate your work
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Thanks.
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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.
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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.
REPLY 
Do a little each day, even 20 minutes. It will compound over days and weeks.
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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
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Hang in there Peter!
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Arsha January 19, 2019 at 9:10 pm #
wonderful article.
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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 “
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Go for it!
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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.
REPLY 
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.
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Thiago Lyra Rocha February 25, 2019 at 11:03 pm #
This site is an aboslute Gold Mine!
REPLY 
Thanks.
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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!!
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Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy that it helped.
You are not alone, we are all here together, striving.
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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!
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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.
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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.
REPLY 
Good question, this framework will help:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/how-to-define-your-machine-learning-problem/
And this:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/what-is-the-difference-between-classification-and-regression
REPLY 
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.
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Great!
Start here:
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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.
REPLY 
Thanks.
Perhaps you can get started with time series forecasting:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/start-here/#timeseries
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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.
REPLY 
Hang in there!
Those books are a great start.
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jamila May 7, 2019 at 9:00 pm #
motivational article 🙂
REPLY 
I’m glad it helped.
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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.

REPLY 
Hang in there, start small.
Perhaps this will help:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/how-to-run-your-first-classifier-in-weka/
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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.
REPLY 
This framework will help you to determine if your problem is suited to machine learning:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/how-to-define-your-machine-learning-problem/
You can use Weka for your project that does not require and coding:
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Denis June 18, 2019 at 11:25 pm #
PC games:(
Because of them, I haven’t enough time to learning ML.
REPLY 
Fair enough.
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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.
REPLY 
Well done!
I’m glad the post helped.

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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
REPLY 
Thanks. I’m glad it helps!
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Norman Lopez Sobalvarro July 16, 2019 at 1:12 pm #
Exactly what I needed to read. Thank you.
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Jason Brownlee July 16, 2019 at 2:20 pm #
Thanks, I’m happy to hear that.
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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.
REPLY 
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
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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.
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Sorry, I don’t know about certifications.
I focus on teaching developers how to use machine learning to solve hard technical problems.
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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!
REPLY 
I’m happy to hear that.
It’s time to take a step forward!
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Keith August 27, 2019 at 6:55 pm #
Step 1
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Step 1?
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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?
REPLY 
Yes, right here:

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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
?
REPLY 
Sorry, I don’t offer other support channels at this stage.
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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!
REPLY 
Thanks, I’m glad it helped!
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Bharath September 13, 2019 at 5:12 pm #
Really motivating, to get started with Machine learning. Thanks for your support.
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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
REPLY 
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.
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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…
REPLY 
Thanks, I’m glad it helped!
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Sait December 6, 2019 at 12:10 am #
I am starting ML and DL, because of you. Thanks, really awesome post.
REPLY 
Thanks, I’m happy to hear that! Welcome!
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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.
REPLY 
Thanks Carlos.
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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?
REPLY 
Sounds like you are more intersted in AI than predictive modeling / machine learning:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/how-are-ai-and-ml-related
This might help re AI:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/faq/single-faq/do-you-have-tutorials-on-ai-or-agi
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najeh January 18, 2020 at 9:25 am #
Hi Jason,
Is there a book to start with machine learning and deep learning?
REPLY 
It really depends on what you want to achieve.
Start here for machine learning and deep learning:

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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 .
REPLY 
You can read the FREE tutorials here:

REPLY 
Luqman Shofuleji March 2, 2020 at 10:37 pm #
Thanks Jason, highly motivated and encouraged by this post.
REPLY 
Thanks, I’m happy to hear that!
REPLY 
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”
REPLY 
Thanks for sharing.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Thanks, I’m happy it helps!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Well done!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
You’re welcome.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Thanks, you’re very welcome!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
SUKANT May 19, 2020 at 3:26 pm #
Thank you so much Jason. That will greatly help….
REPLY 
You’re welcome.
REPLY 
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
Thanks, I’m happy to hear that!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee May 20, 2020 at 1:32 pm #
You’re welcome! I’m so happy to hear that.
REPLY 
deJAVU July 14, 2020 at 11:30 pm #
JUST DO IT
REPLY 
Agreed!
REPLY 
Prince July 17, 2020 at 12:47 am #
Absolutly agree on all points you have mentioned here.
REPLY 
Thanks!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
You’re welcome.
Not logical at all. We gen-x’s need to keep pushing!

REPLY 
Ramesh December 17, 2022 at 10:10 pm #
Come on mate. You are not older than me. I am 52
REPLY 
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!
REPLY 
I’m happy to hear it helps.
Also, see this:

https://machinelearningmastery.com/youre-wrong-machine-learning-not-hard/
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Jason Brownlee February 22, 2021 at 1:09 pm #
Hang in there! I’m here to help if I can.
REPLY 
Jamie March 3, 2021 at 2:47 am #
The Truth
REPLY 
Thanks!
REPLY 
Matt April 3, 2021 at 6:03 pm #
Thank you so much

REPLY 
You’re welcome!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Thanks!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Sounava July 12, 2021 at 6:24 am #
The guy who wrote is a god. Very inspiring
REPLY 
Thanks!
REPLY 
echo August 13, 2021 at 2:59 pm #
you are my power.
REPLY 
Adrian Tam August 14, 2021 at 2:36 am #
Glad you like it.
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
Vinayak Bansal March 4, 2022 at 10:06 pm #
It’s exactly what I feel when started. It’s lack of motivation
REPLY 
James Carmichael March 5, 2022 at 12:39 pm #
Great feedback Vinayak! Keep moving forward on your machine learning journey!
REPLY 
Vishal Ahirwar June 11, 2022 at 5:34 pm #
Thanks, Jason, for posting this whole series on machine learning 🙂

I’m C++, Django Developer, but now I’m also interested in machine learning and your tutorials are such a motivation
tonic :))
REPLY 
James Carmichael June 12, 2022 at 9:26 am #
Thank you for the feedback Vishal!
REPLY 
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…
REPLY 
James Carmichael June 15, 2022 at 7:20 am #
Thank you for the feedback Muhammad!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
James Carmichael November 29, 2022 at 9:26 am #
You are very welcome Ashwini! We appreciate the support and feedback!
REPLY 
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.
REPLY 
James Carmichael December 30, 2022 at 8:12 am #
You are very welcome Haris! We greatly appreciate your feedback! The following location is a great
starting point to establish a path for your machine learning journey!
Additionally, the following resource may be of interest in terms of gaining more practical experience with machine
learning concepts:
https://machinelearningmastery.com/investigate-machine-learning-tools/
REPLY 
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!
REPLY 
James Carmichael February 6, 2023 at 11:33 am #
Thank you James! We appreciate your support and feedback!
REPLY 
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
REPLY 
James Carmichael March 8, 2023 at 9:13 am #
Hi Jana…You are very welcome! The following location is a great starting point for your machine
learning journey:
REPLY 
José 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
REPLY 
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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Welcome!
I'm Jason Brownlee PhD
and I help developers get results with machine learning.
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What Is Holding You Back From Your Machine Learning

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Identify and Tackle Your Self-Limiting Beliefs and

Waiting To Get Started

I can’t get into machine learning until…

…I get a degree or higher degree

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

Programmers can get into machine learning

Awaiting Perfect Conditions

I can’t get started in machine learning because…

…I don’t have the time right now

I can’t get into machine learning because…

What is your self-limiting belief?

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

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More On This Topic

And I really appreciate your work. Thank you Jason

You’re welcome Aman.

This page is pure awesomeness

Thanks, I’m glad it helped.

Now jump in!

Love what you wrote.

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

Take it slow and build the skill over time.

If the field interests you then why not get started.

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

This is really helpful to start for a beginner .

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

No you don’t Saad.

See this process to getting started:

I’m really glad to hear that Mark.

Thanks for inspiring me. Greetings from Ecuador

Thanks Diego, you made my day!

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

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

Hang in there Arnold!

I’m here to help if I can. Start here:

Thanks, I’m glad it helped.

We all need motivation sometimes, even me.

I’m glad to hear it Imane.

I’m very glad to hear that Murali.

Thanks, it’s great to have you here.

You’re welcome Abhishek.

No, consider starting with Weka that requires no programming:

How do I get started.

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

Start with R here:

Thank you again

I’m glad it helped. Hang in there!

Thanks for your motivational thoughts,

Learning ML is good and very intersting..

Hang in there Sathish.

I have a Burning Desire to learn a machine Learning , Already

Thanks. Stick with it, it’s worth it!

You help me a lot… Thank you Jason Brownlee!

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:

I hope this helps as a start.

your words here motivate me to continue doing.

Thanks a lot Prof.