Procrastination is my enemy, and perhaps my biggest personal flaw. I am lazy to a fault.

I know that procrastination afflicts a lot of people, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. The successful people that I know are not lazy. The most important thing I’ve learned the past few years is that if you want to be successful, you have to put in the work. It’s that simple. The most brilliant idea is not going to make you rich and famous unless you actually implement it. This is why I have this quote (among others) posted right above my monitors:

“Everyone wants to be great but very few people are willing to put in the work necessary to be great”

Fighting procrastination is something I have been trying to do for many years. Even when I was working for someone else, I knew that I would need to overcome it when I went indie. And I’ve been trying. The appeal of working for myself and on my project is invigorating, but it is not always enough to motivate me to get up early and work. Sometimes you’re in that wonderful zone, and you can’t wait to get back to work. Other times you’re slogging through some terribly boring shit, and you need ways to overcome the sloth.

These are methods I developed for myself, which help me form better work patterns. I don’t know how effective they would be for anyone else, but they work for my psyche, so I’m sharing them:

• Do it now. More than anything, just start on whatever task you need to do. Once you start, it’s easier to keep going. This here is probably the first self-motivation article I ever read, many years back, and I still find it useful today.
• No clear direction, or conflicting ideas. When I get overwhelmed by the different issues demanding my attention, I write my thoughts out, my worries, and how to address each of them individually. By this stage, the picture is usually much clearer. I then logically evaluate the highest priorities and address those first. For the rest of the issues I ask myself whether they are truly important. If not, I just forget about them. Those that are, I decide exactly when I will address them. Once all that is done, it’s easy to get cracking on the highest priority task.
• Break down your tasks. It’s a small corollary to the last point. Big tasks always seem more daunting. If you can break them down to discrete, achievable steps, you will have a clearer picture and feel less inclined to procrastinate.
• Don’t be complacent. It is important to review why things go wrong, why you were lazy, why you were successful, and what you can do to improve on your flaws, and continue doing your good work. For me, this weekly dev diary is part of that process. I know that at least once a week, I will sit and reflect on my progress, and take an honest look at myself and the project. It keeps me grounded, it keeps focused, and it prevents me from blowing weeks of my life without accomplishing anything.
• Eliminate distractions. Use them as rewards instead. The internet is my biggest time sink. I regularly make mental contracts with myself. “I won’t check my browser till this feature is implemented”. It helps a lot.
• Be disciplined. Getting up at a regular time (something I struggle with). Establishing clear work hours allows you to separate work from play/rest. All these things help you stay focused. Being disciplined in any area is a learned skill. The more you do it, the better you become at it.
• Be positive. It’s easy to get down on yourself for being lazy. I mentally beat myself up a lot over it, but it is something I strive to avoid doing. Instead of focusing on the negative (which sometimes only furthers your procrastinating), focus on the positives of getting things done: how you will feel when you accomplish a task, complete the next major feature, release the game, read your first review. Mentally picturing positive outcomes helps you on a multitude of levels.

Writing this post has had a cathartic effect on me and has helped me refocus my energy. I think I’m going to have a really good week.

Work Done Last Week

Productivity improved this past week. It’s still not 100% where I want it to be, but I am a lot more focused and making progress.

I’ve focused on the game play and control schemes. A lot of old test code has been removed and made way for a cleaner system of controllers, allowing me to easily add new “abilities” to the player’s avatar. I’ve been trying out different ideas, so the path forward is not always clear, but it’s starting to evolve into something tangible.

I’ve also spent more time immersing myself again in the design book – something I had neglected while I was focused on the editor. It doesn’t always have the answers, but it helps me ask the right questions of myself, of the game. It definitely helps spur new ideas.

I fixed a few small editor issues, but as planned, most of my time was spent on the gameplay.

Work Planned This Week

The focus remains on the gameplay this week. I have two weeks left to complete the first demo, so the pressure is on. I’ll be evaluating the remaining tasks to ensure that I hit my deadline as effectively as possible.

I will also be fleshing out a couple test levels to try out some new ideas, and use those as the basis for my demo. I’ve attempted to let the various control mechanic ideas grow organically, and guide the shape of the game. At this point, it’s all about experimentation really, to see what works and what doesn’t. Right now, the game is starting to resemble a platformer and I’m not sure yet if it will remain that way (or whether I want it to). We’ll see…

Related Posts

1. Dev Diary 24: A Quickie
2. Dev Diary 40: Project Management
3. Dev Diary 11: IGF No Go
4. Dev Diary 38: Taking Stock