Five with Fry

36: Boom! When Frustration Becomes Your Teacher

• Dr. Jen Fry

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Ever had that satisfying moment when you finally figure something out after hours of wanting to throw your computer across the room? That’s what this episode of Five with Fry is all about—the messy, frustrating, and ultimately rewarding process of persistence in a world that wants everything instantly.

I share a personal story about building a new website using what I call “vibe coding”(i.e., natural language tools that spit out code). At first, I created separate web pages with no clue how to actually connect them. Hours of research later, I was frustrated and ready to quit. But I didn’t. I kept pushing, kept asking myself, What other ways have I not looked at this? And then came the breakthrough: realizing I could build everything from one central page. That single shift made the whole thing click.

The real win wasn’t just the finished site. It was the growth that happened in the struggle, like learning new skills, seeing the problem differently, and feeling that unique glory when persistence pays off. Growth doesn’t happen in spite of frustration; it happens because of it.

So if you’re staring at a problem that feels impossible, don’t stop at the first sign of difficulty. Your next skill set, insight, or moment of confidence might be waiting just on the other side.

Come follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @JenFryTalks, or connect with me on LinkedIn. Until next time, stay curious, stay bold, and keep the conversation going.

Dr. Jen Fry:

Friends, welcome to Five with Fry, where five is the magic number, whether it's five minutes, five questions or anything that fits in five. I dive into the big topics that matter, sometimes alone and other times with a friend. From navigating sports conflict to family dynamics, travel, tech, hard-hitting issues and even politics Nothing and I mean nothing's off the table. This is where curiosity meets conversation, and we always sit at an intersection. I'm your host. Dr Jen Fry of Jen Fry Talks. Let's get into it, friends. Welcome to Five with Fry. This is your hostess with the mostest Dr Jen Fry, and we're going to talk about something that doesn't seem to happen as much with the advent of AI, google YouTube, all those things. It's the keep working on something until you figure it, the heck out, and story time. I am doing a new website for Cordal and with this new website I'm moving it over to this. It's called like vibe coding, where you just kind of type in what you think and it creates it. It's fabulous and, as you know, on a website, there are numerous pages in one website, and so I build out each page individually, thinking that I'm going to have a way to connect them all on this one website, and I'm already kind of stressing out, because I'm like man. Then I have to go to each individual web page that I built and connect all the other pages and I'm like this is going to take me forever. So I've been googling everything, I've been youtubing, I have been looking at everything possible and I hadn't really reached the point of frustration. But I was trying to get annoyed because I also did not want to make a move on changing my domain my domain to this new one and the pages don't work. Because we know we've all been onto a website where half the pages don't work and it's frustrating as heck. So I've been sitting here I mean the way I've YouTubed all of these videos and I'm just in here trying to figure it out out and then, out of nowhere, it hits me that instead of making separate web pages and thinking I'm going to combine them all, I need to pick one web page and, under each of the navigation buttons on that one web page, make then the web page for it. And it just was an epiphany, and so I was able to take the code from the other web pages and just copy and paste it and bada, boom, bada bing, it's created all the other web pages in this one main central page.

Dr. Jen Fry:

And I say that so many times people quit before they are able to figure it out, because there is a glory in finally figuring it out. You are just kind of sitting at the top of the hill and you have figured this thing out. And I think so many times we stop at the point of frustration and we don't sit there and say there has to be another way, I've just got to figure it out. And so I tell this story because we have to keep working and tinkering and researching and just looking up things to figure stuff out. We can't keep stopping at the frustration and throwing our hands up and saying, well, there's no other way, I'll just keep it the way it was before, because in the middle of this trying to figure it out has been tremendous amounts of growth. Now I understand how to use this website better. Now I understand how web pages flow together. Now I understand better the prompts I need to use for saying what code I need, what buttons I want, how I want the buttons to look, how I want a picture to look. Now I'm figuring out all of those things. Where had I need what buttons I want, how I want the buttons to look, how I want a picture to look. Now I'm figuring out all of those things. Where had I stopped? Just at my frustration, I would have never, in a way, developed a new skill. So, that being said, when the frustration hits, you have to just think of what other ways have I not looked at this thing? And keep trying to push through. Do not allow the frustration to just stop you, because right on the other side of that can be a badass skill that now you know Well.

Dr. Jen Fry:

Friends, that's it for this episode of Five with Fry your dose of five insights, ideas and inspiration. If you love what you heard, don't forget to head over to where podcasts are played, to subscribe, share and leave a review. Got a topic you want us to tackle? Drop us a message. We'd love to hear from you. You can come follow me on IG, twitter, the TikTok at Jen Fry Talks, or join me on LinkedIn. Look for me at Dr Jen Fry. Until next time, stay curious, stay bold and keep the conversation going. See you on the next Five with Fry.