I spent $4200 on online courses in two years. Then I realized I was buying the feeling of progress.

Every course started the same way excited, notes ready, first three lessons done. Then life. I'd buy the next one before finishing the last. My library grew, my skills didn't. Last month I cancelled everything and gave myself one rule: finish one project before buying anything new. I've shipped two things since.

The courses weren't the problem. I was using them to avoid the discomfort of being a beginner in public.

For those who've stopped buying courses was it the content or the habit? And the harder question: what have you bought recently that you were really buying to feel like someone who does that thing?