Month: January 2020

Most of this week has been spent visiting my dad in Florida. Leading into the trip, I had a vision of waking up early, and getting into some writing each morning. Of course, reality set in the first morning, and I was back in the same routine, relatively, as I was back home. Waking up just in time to start work and writing at the very end of the day. In general, I’ve been really only working on a new ideas that come to mind at the time. For the remainder of the trial, I’d like to change this approach and focus on developing the many existing ideas.

Late Start

I wish I could say I succeeded in my previous goal of getting an earlier start, but that would be a lie. Visiting my dad has been great, but of course the “vacation feel” has made sticking to my habits a bit tough. Well actually, I might be sticking to my bad habits too well.

Getting pulled into work right after waking up is the one thing I was hoping to avoid with the extra hour on Eastern time. As they say, no matter where you go, there you are.

Here’s to looking ahead and trying to get off to the right foot this next week.

Starting from Scratch

Writing is what I’ve stuck to this week, as I haven’t had much for ideas in the art department. More often than not it’s been short stories or the opening scene of a larger idea.

Starting something new has been a nice way to explore different ideas as they come to me, beyonf than just a couple quick notes. I’ve definitely had some fun exploring some ideas, usually driven by recency bias. For example, after watching a few mystery movies, I got to drafting up one myself.

But in order to really create something, one needs…

Progress

The remaining weeks of this trial, I’ll be shifting my focus to working on old ideas will help create real progress on what I’ve started. I’m giving myself the constraint of no new ideas. I have to work on something I’ve already started.

Which brings me to a game concept I mentioned in the last post, I want to shift my plan and make some tangible progress on it. There is an element of fear that it won’t turn out the way I want and so I’ve been putting off real work on it.

I’d like to see how far I can get in the remaining time of this trial. Last year, I participated in two Game Jams, making two games in a limited time. With that experience, I know a lot can be done in a short amount of time.

Spending a week actually making things has been nice, but tougher than I expected. For the most part, it’s been more writing, but I also made some art for a game concept I’ve been fleshing out. The hardest part for me has been getting the ball rolling. Staring at a blank canvas or page can be daunting, but once even the smallest piece is added, ideas start flowing.

Start Small

Day one was tough. The motivation boost I had the night before died in less than a day. I opened my computer and thought, “Now what the hell do I do?” I decided to pull up an old story idea I had and started writing whatever came to mind. After, a few minutes, I hit a dead end and really didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. That’s one thing I’ve noticed, I have a lot of concepts, but not many real ideas. That being ideas with depth that can be expanded on, and that’s okay. For now, I’m focused on just making things. It doesn’t matter if they’re good or long or marketable. Developing the habit of creating is all I’m looking to do.

To help me get started writing, I’ve been coming up with short little poems that get my mind in a creative mode. The poems are bad, like really bad, but putting what’s in my brain on the page is the hurdle I’m practicing getting over. Quality can be improved with time and editing.

When making any art, I like to start with a base idea of what I want. For example, what I created this past week was basically a Bruce Wayne rip off, so I pulled images from Batman the Animated series to get started. Now that the base is there, I can start tweaking the character to be my own.

Another strategy I’m going to try is to start with editing, a tip I found from this extremely relevant video.

Start Early

One bad habit I’ve picked up is putting creating off until just before bed. I get started and next thing I know it, I’m up past my intended bed time. Then, trying to lay down, ideas keep hammering my mind, while I’m trying to find sleep.

Just last night, I started writing a couple jokes after a poem started to turn into a bit. I ended up writing a short set that I thought was pretty funny. Again, this is right before bed, and I’m just coming up with different things one after another. Trying to sleep I was thinking about how to re-word this piece or adding that element to this other joke.

My goal for this upcoming week is going to be to create at one of two times during the day, to avoid this problem. The first is before work, and the second is before dinner. Both are far from bed time, but have the downside of a clear stopping point.

Hopefully you’re out creating something too. If you are, share it in the comments below.

While my excitement to start the year off early got me started writing again, I didn’t really have a trial in mind when I stared. Drafting up my New Year’s post, I didn’t want to dwell on the decision too long, so I decided to pursue the first thing that came to mind. Standing while working is supposed to be good for you, so why not. I’ll tell you why not, it’s boring and there’s not much to say. So, I’m changing direction for the next few weeks.

Standing Summary

Before getting into my future plans, I want to offer a few final thoughts on using my standing desk a few hours each day. I think I have seen some great benefits from standing more during the day. I feel less lethargic around the midpoint in the afternoon, and the day even seems to go by faster.

If I wanted to squeeze out a few more posts on the benefits of a standing desk, I could probably look at some research done on the subject or take the trial to the extreme, like standing all day. While I’ll continue to take advantage of the standing setup I have, I don’t want to write on it anymore.

Carelessly Creating

Looking back on that New Year’s post, I made a comment about trying out hobbies for this blog, not just habits or routines. For a long time, I’ve wanted to create things. While I’ve been writing here for a couple years now, many other projects have been stuck in the black hole of rough drafts and notes.

Back in 2018, I started the year off recording a few episodes for a podcast. The editing was pretty boring to do, and I had a long way to go, but it was still a lot of fun to make. I hope to capture some of that enjoyment again.

My trial for the next four weeks will be to spend at least 30 minutes a day creating. What I actually make doesn’t matter much to me at this point. Spending the time to make something, anything, is what I want to build a habit doing. It could take the form of writing, programming, art, or anything else for that matter. Taking an idea and making even the slightest progress towards reality is my goal.

I find myself stuck in the idea phase far too often. I hope that by starting to create more regularly will help me to materialize those ideas.

For a few months now, since buying my new mattress actually, I’ve had somewhere to stand while I work. I’ve heard about the benefits of standing desks, or more accurately the negatives of sitting for eight hours a day. While I’ve spent some time working at my “desk,” I never made a dedicated effort to do so.

Stay Standing

My goal for the past week has been to work at my standing desk, which is a large box, for four hours each day.

The experience so far has been good. Most days I’ll start out sitting and get the day started. After a cup of coffee, I’m usually ready to start. My approach has been trying to hit two hours in the morning, then two in the afternoon.

I feel like it’s been helpful throughout the day. For one, switching between sitting and standing shakes things up enough to help the work day move along. While standing, I’ll also walk around the room if I’m stuck on something. It may not seem like much, but taking a step back, in this case literally, can help more than staring down a problem.

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it sounds. There are times when standing is pretty rough. With regular runs and yoga classes, some days, my legs are a bit worn out. Until just this week, I’ve been running in some old shoes too. My feet and ankles have been getting beat up run after run. New shoes in hand, or more accurately on foot, I should be feeling better.

I wish I had more to say, but for now that’s really all the thoughts I have. Let me know in the comments below if you use or have used a standing desk.

With a new year upon us, I’ve been looking back on 2019. As well as, making some plans for what’s next.

The Big Picture

At the end of last year, I felt it was time to lock in and focus on finishing some projects I’ve started. Though I didn’t realize how much I still needed to just play around with whatever came to me. Thinking about this made me think about a lot of my path in life as a whole so far. Neither good nor bad, I feel that I’m still getting a grasp on the freedom I actually have.

There have been so many times in my life I’ve settled for what I saw as the default state. I went to the same high school as my brother, because that made sense. Ran cross country and track because he did too. I went to the one college I applied to, took the first job offer at the company I interned at, took a promotion at that company at the first chance.

Many of these decisions have brought me amazing friends, skills, and memories, but at the end of 2018, I finally took a step off that default path. Not happy in the promoted position, I decided to leave the company I was with for four years at that point and start over again. I’ve been happy with that decision so far.

The reason I started this blog was to try things I found interesting. It started with habits and routines, but I even tested with skills and hobbies. There have been a number of hobbies I’ve played around with that I haven’t fully shared here. Some have stuck, some turned out to be temporary interests, and others not as interesting as first thought.

Goals

This past year specifically, I made six goals across three categories: health, wealth, and wise.

Health

My goals in this category were to attain a new personal best in the marathon and go on two outdoor trips in the year. My old time was back from 2016 around 3:35, to be honest I don’t even really remember it. As training started, I was lucky to have a great group to train with in the harsh winter.

For my outdoor trips, I went on two short camping trips with friends. The first was over Memorial Day and was a chill camping experience. The other was a backpacking overnight. It was still within a campground but was fun carrying around everything until we found a site we were happy with. It had rained recently so we couldn’t start a fire, so we just talked in the dark.

Both trips involved going to breweries while in the areas we were, a coincidence? I think not.

Wealth

The name suggests financial concerns, but I used it for experiences and relationships. My goals here were to take an international trip and to have a weekly social event. The latter I wasn’t thrilled about as the year went on, but I still participated in a weekly event with friends or family, primarily facilitated by weekly trivia at a local bar.

The international trip was definitely one of the best experiences of the year. I went to London with a couple friends. The time we were there felt three times as long. Each day was full of differing activities from museums to a musical to a castle tour, there was certainly variety.

Wise

In this final category, I actually changed both goals mid-year. My goals at first were to read 26 books and to pass a Japanese proficiency test. At the end of 2018, I started learning Japanese through apps and online resources. Around the midpoint of the year, Japanese took a backseat to learning game development for a Game Jam I participated in during August.

With that, I made it a goal instead to participate in two different game jams. I took part in the one mentioned in August, the Game Maker’s Toolkit Game Jam, and the other was in December, the 2 Button Jam. You can check out the games I submitted in the links!

As for books, I became a better reader this year. I passed my original goal of 26 books by September, and in the end have finished 41. Some of these were comics, others were audiobooks, but the important part for me was starting and finishing books. I read some fiction, and plenty of non-fiction as well. I started putting a decent dent in my reading backlog, while finding new and interesting reads along the way. Following my brother on Good Reads was certainly helpful.

Next Year

With the year ahead, you can check out my new goals here. Trials start again tomorrow, in which I’ll start with using my standing “desk” during the work day. I’ll be kicking off the year a week earlier than I originally planned, but I’m just too excited to wait.