Wrong Wrong Wrong

Things rarely go exactly the way you played it in your head.

Often, you find yourself deep in the rabbit hole as you try to address the risks and obstacles that could come up with your plan or idea.

Our brain is brilliant at coming up with ideas. But it has its limits (well, mine at least) – you can only foresee so far ahead. Unless you’re like Doctor Strange who can see 14,000,605 possible future outcomes.

In chess, you plan your attack while defending your king. To successfully build a good defense, you need to at least have an idea of how your opponent is planning to take you down – so you can prepare for it (obviously).

Similar to planning, you polish up the plan by coming up with Plan B’s just in case things don’t go the way you thought of it.

A side project I’m currently working on reminded me of that.

I had this idea that’s been brewing in my head and I was very certain it was going to work…until I started putting the plan into action. The result? It failed. I had to come up with a new idea or strategy to get it to work.

Now I eventually got it to work but I already wasted about an hour of my time.

If I had to do it all over again, what I should’ve done is to run my idea in a “small test” before applying it throughout the whole project.

Then I realized that “putting the plan into action” is the best validation tool for gauging if something will work or not. Meaning, you need to get out of your head and take action by applying your idea to the real world.

It is the best form of…

Feedback

Just finished the first issue of MSPAINT3D Magazine – a personal project to promote my artwork (and to tell the stories behind it).

But before I publish it out for the public to consume, I needed to make sure it’s not as boring as most people would think. To do that, I needed to acquire feedback.

However, acquiring feedback can be challenging at times. How?

You need to make sure you’re getting the most honest feedback you can get. Friends and family tend to give good reviews – they wanted to be nice.

How about putting it out in public, some stranger who doesn’t give a crap about you? Well, they’re probably just going to ignore you overall because really, what’s in it for them?

Which is why I only approach friends who are not scared to tell you what they really think.

Giving a “not-so-honest” feedback skews the reality. Don’t tell someone they’re good when in reality they suck. That’s like being ok with having a piece of salad stuck in the person’s teeth (some person you care about). The longer you keep the truth, the more embarrassing it is for them.

You’ve heard this before “The truth shall set you free” – but that freedom comes with a cost: emotional pain. But it’s worth it 😉

Poor Focus

The quality of my focus is poor in the afternoon. I can read or study after work, but my level of comprehension during these hours is close to zero.

Forcing myself to do something (in this case, studying insurance) disables me to remember or understand any of what I’m doing. Meaning, it’s a waste of time.

Which is why I should be studying in the morning instead – when my creativity level is at its peak.

Then the lazy person in me says, “But it’s the weekend, why not give yourself a break?”

That was a mental script I finally learned how to address.

I’m not sure if this is a sign of “maturity” but today I value time – A LOT.

And “valuing time” does NOT mean “save as much time as I can” but more like “make the most out the given time I have”.

Efficiency > Quantity.

I haven’t touched my PS3 for a long time now. Not even attempted to buy a PS4 but it’s been playing in my head for years. I love playing video games.

However, playing also makes me feel uneasy (especially after playing for more than 1-hour). Guilt creeps in, reminding me that I could’ve used that time to work out, read a book, draw or whatever more useful activity I could be doing. It’s always an internal battle between “I deserve this because I worked hard” and “You considered that working hard?”.

The idea of becoming “ultra-productive” hit me just recently. I feel like I can do more and I wanted to do more. But am I doing more?

On some days, yes. On most days, no. I stick the usual. Now I need to upgrade.

“Busy is a decision” – I need to be reminded of that.