How Can I Become More Confident Programming in Python?

Try a very small project such as a number-guessing game. Generate a random number, ask for a guess, compare the two values, and tell the player whether the guess is too high, too low, or correct. Then put the process in a loop and add improvements one at a time. Begin with something as simple as printing text and numbers if necessary. Tutorials should teach you concepts, but once you start building, close them and search only for the specific issue you encounter. You don't need to stop using help entirely—you should gradually need less help for familiar problems.

It may also be worth honestly considering whether you enjoy programming at all. Learning it is difficult and requires a lot of persistence, so if you consistently dislike the work itself rather than just feeling frustrated by it, another field might suit you better.

Go back through the material from your first-year classes and work through it slowly by writing small programs for each concept. You don't learn programming just by understanding an explanation, in the same way you don't learn to ride a bike by reading about it. You have to try, make mistakes, and gradually combine the basics. The goal is not to avoid falling; it's to keep practicing until the process becomes familiar.

The blank screen is a normal part of learning. Start with something you actually find interesting, but break it into extremely small tasks. For a calculator, you could first print a message, then read input, then perform one calculation, and only afterward combine everything. Rebuilding tutorial projects from memory is also useful: follow one once, close it, and try to recreate it yourself. Getting stuck on small details is where a lot of the learning happens.