Perseverance: What I Learned from Assembling my new $135 Chair

Perseverance is often talked about as this grand, heroic trait. We picture inventors staring at blueprints in the dead of night or athletes pushing past their limits. But sometimes, perseverance looks a lot less dramatic. Sometimes, it looks like sitting on a rigid wooden folding chair for hours, desperately trying to focus on Python logic while your lower back slowly staging a mutiny.

Lately, my programming journey has been all about building momentum. I’ve been laying down a solid foundation in Python and actively working to transition those core concepts over into Godot to bring full game ideas to life. But here’s the truth about learning to code: it requires serious time in the seat.

For a while, I tried to hack a solution. I shuffled a pillow back and forth from my bed to my desk every single day—a tedious ritual that got old fast. I tried an alternative chair, but it sat so low my arms and shoulders complained after twenty minutes. I even thought about running to the mall for a quick seat cushion, but a soft bottom doesn’t fix a hard wooden backrest.

Eventually, I realized that taking my work seriously meant removing the friction points holding me back.

So, I made the call to upgrade. I managed to score a solid computer chair marked down to $135 CAD, added a $30 three-year warranty for peace of mind, grabbed a free bonus gift, and booked an Uber to haul the heavy box home safely.

Then came the real test of stick-to-itiveness: assembly.

Perseverance When Assembling the Chair Pays off

Sweating, starving for lunch, and wrestling with cryptic diagrams, I spent an hour trying to force the frame together. One stubborn screw absolutely refused to cooperate. I finally gave up, accepted that it was “mostly together,” and sat down. It was only after a few hours in the chair then that I realized I had installed both armrests completely backward.

Once I flipped them around, every single screw slid in like butter.

It was a total facepalm moment, but it mirrored programming so accurately it made me laugh. Thomas Edison famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Whether you are debugging a state machine in Godot or building flat-pack furniture on an empty stomach, progress is rarely a straight line. You try an approach, it fails, you sweat over it, and then—suddenly—you flip the logic, and everything snaps into place.

Now, I’m writing this from a setup that actually supports the grind. From programming to playing games to reading, my butt is comfortable and my back gets good support when I lean back to relax for a minute or two (or decide to sit in the chair properly). It allows me to focus on what’s on my screen and not how I’m feeling, unless I’m hungry or need to use the washroom. More focus means more time spent being productive, or being able to relax and enjoy what’s on screen at the moment. I can truly use my perseverance to the fullest.

If you’ve been enjoying following my development updates and want to help absorb the cost of this “save my lower back” workspace upgrade (or just buy a hot chocolate for the guy who put his chair arms on backward), feel free to drop a donation over on my Ko-fi.

Every bit of support helps keep the lights on and the code flowing. Now, back to learning Godot and working on my next modpack in Minecraft! Care to help me beta-test the modpack I’ll be releasing into beta with the launch of my new Minecraft series? Become a member and you’ll get to do that!