Prioritizing & Motivation
To start off, here's a shot of the latest stage in development:
This is the Pigpens level, where a notorious vampire fiend has gotten to the livestock. Yes, you heard it right -- you'll be facing off with vampire pigs, chickens, and cows in this area... not to mention a few other unexpected goonies.
But the real topic of the day is Prioritizing & Motivation!
I've basically got most of the things that need to be done for the game listed off by now. It's just trying to work out what order to attack this checklist that's the real challenge. Should I finish all the enemies and powerups first, or tackle it one stage at a time? Etcetera. Either way, I've made it my goal to get at least one thing done every day, and have been successful in this over the past week. I find that if I can get just that one thing finished, I tend to have no problem getting a few more, because by then I've gotten myself into a good work mode. So I'd like to suggest this to you all!
When you're working on a project, it can get tough when you have a whole bunch of things to get done; you might feel overwhelmed, or you might just lose interest in the project seeing it all laid out so simply. So just try my method, and don't push yourself too much, just tell yourself to finish one thing off your list. Just one! This might make it seem like your project will take forever, but there's a bit of science to how this works, and it does!
That one thing turns out AWESOME!
For starters, with a whole day (theoretically) to work on just one thing, you'll find yourself putting a lot more thought into it than you would normally! Instead of "just another" thing to do, it becomes "the" thing to do. It becomes a whole goal in itself, rather than a small part of a much larger goal, and this will spark your brain in places you didn't even know existed. You'll look at this item objectively, and see where it stands in your project as a whole, and this makes it really easy to fine-tune it to near perfection.
Suddenly, I'm feeling motivated!
That's right! When you allow your mind to focus like that, it really helps "clear up" all that other junk that was distracting you, whether it be the recent argument with a family member, a surge of negative feelings towards your project, feelings of self-resentment, intimidation over finishing something, or whatever. Your mind focuses in on what you're working on, because you've exploded it into something bigger and more important, and just that little thing becomes a worthwhile endeavor. When you finally finish it and step back, you suddenly realize that you've done an excellent job, and that this is just part of your project as a whole. But your brain has now been turned on in all the right places, so instead of that being an intimidating thing, your mind will immediately focus in on what needs to be done next, or maybe you've already got that planned out. Either way, jumping into it is no problem. It's like running down a hill... it's not that you can't stop, it's that it's just easier to keep running than even trying to stop!
In the end, it's worth it!
Look at your project, after all is said and done. It will be a masterpiece unto itself. Every little detail will have had its turn, been thought out, massaged into something even better than what was conceptualized. Not only that, but you'll find you've learned a lot on your adventure. While working on one aspect, you'll find that the research involved in improving that one particular thing is now part of your own knowledge base, and is something you've learned and will never forget. Now, you are a better designer, a better artist, or a better programmer than you were before.
But the game didn't turn out so great :(
So what? As I said in the previous paragraph, you've developed and refined a whole new range of skills! Your projects can only get better from this point on. If you fail 10 project, your 11th project will be far better than that first one could ever have dreamed of being. So even if you do lose this battle, you gain so much that it's hardly worth even noticing.
Hope you enjoyed the article! I've got a thing to do, now, so wish me luck -- hoping the best in your own endeavors!
This is the Pigpens level, where a notorious vampire fiend has gotten to the livestock. Yes, you heard it right -- you'll be facing off with vampire pigs, chickens, and cows in this area... not to mention a few other unexpected goonies.
But the real topic of the day is Prioritizing & Motivation!
I've basically got most of the things that need to be done for the game listed off by now. It's just trying to work out what order to attack this checklist that's the real challenge. Should I finish all the enemies and powerups first, or tackle it one stage at a time? Etcetera. Either way, I've made it my goal to get at least one thing done every day, and have been successful in this over the past week. I find that if I can get just that one thing finished, I tend to have no problem getting a few more, because by then I've gotten myself into a good work mode. So I'd like to suggest this to you all!
When you're working on a project, it can get tough when you have a whole bunch of things to get done; you might feel overwhelmed, or you might just lose interest in the project seeing it all laid out so simply. So just try my method, and don't push yourself too much, just tell yourself to finish one thing off your list. Just one! This might make it seem like your project will take forever, but there's a bit of science to how this works, and it does!
That one thing turns out AWESOME!
For starters, with a whole day (theoretically) to work on just one thing, you'll find yourself putting a lot more thought into it than you would normally! Instead of "just another" thing to do, it becomes "the" thing to do. It becomes a whole goal in itself, rather than a small part of a much larger goal, and this will spark your brain in places you didn't even know existed. You'll look at this item objectively, and see where it stands in your project as a whole, and this makes it really easy to fine-tune it to near perfection.
Suddenly, I'm feeling motivated!
That's right! When you allow your mind to focus like that, it really helps "clear up" all that other junk that was distracting you, whether it be the recent argument with a family member, a surge of negative feelings towards your project, feelings of self-resentment, intimidation over finishing something, or whatever. Your mind focuses in on what you're working on, because you've exploded it into something bigger and more important, and just that little thing becomes a worthwhile endeavor. When you finally finish it and step back, you suddenly realize that you've done an excellent job, and that this is just part of your project as a whole. But your brain has now been turned on in all the right places, so instead of that being an intimidating thing, your mind will immediately focus in on what needs to be done next, or maybe you've already got that planned out. Either way, jumping into it is no problem. It's like running down a hill... it's not that you can't stop, it's that it's just easier to keep running than even trying to stop!
In the end, it's worth it!
Look at your project, after all is said and done. It will be a masterpiece unto itself. Every little detail will have had its turn, been thought out, massaged into something even better than what was conceptualized. Not only that, but you'll find you've learned a lot on your adventure. While working on one aspect, you'll find that the research involved in improving that one particular thing is now part of your own knowledge base, and is something you've learned and will never forget. Now, you are a better designer, a better artist, or a better programmer than you were before.
But the game didn't turn out so great :(
So what? As I said in the previous paragraph, you've developed and refined a whole new range of skills! Your projects can only get better from this point on. If you fail 10 project, your 11th project will be far better than that first one could ever have dreamed of being. So even if you do lose this battle, you gain so much that it's hardly worth even noticing.
Hope you enjoyed the article! I've got a thing to do, now, so wish me luck -- hoping the best in your own endeavors!
Posted by ChevyRay at 4:29 PM.
3 Comments:
Nice writing Chief. :)
Poris says:
I know what you mean. I find myself doing the same thing. "I'll work on the lava today" and often I find that it came out well and am pumped to continue. And if it doesn't I usually try another thing which then gets me pumped up so, yes, this is really great advice.
Nice post, it's a good way of breaking your project down into parts rather than trying to tackle the whole thing in one go. I think I find myself doing this naturally, but will make more of a point of making a list of things that need doing nearer the end of a project when momentum starts slowing down. The last 20% of a project often feels more like a chore, but worth it in the end!
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