Oh, for the ability to extend days as long as necessary so you can fit everything in. Oh, for the ability to call up motivation on demand and just get things done with time to spare.
There are lots of things I want to get done at the moment. You may recall quite some time ago that I was working on a game project with RPG Maker and that I was very excited about it. I am still very excited about it, and yet I haven’t done a whole lot on it recently. Why? I can’t really explain that, other than the fact I just feel like there hasn’t been a whole lot of time to do so recently.
I’m not sure whether or not that is actually true or whether it is just the perception in my mind, but that’s certainly the way it’s been feeling recently. I get up, I do work, I flop down in the evening, I relax, I go to bed, I repeat the process throughout the week and then take the weekend to recover.
I could, of course, use my time more efficiently. I could get up earlier in the morning and do stuff, and in fact I had been intending to get into some good routines having rejoined the gym/swimming pool complex in town, but unfortunately getting horribly, revoltingly ill put paid to those plans almost as soon as I had put them into motion. As soon as I shake off the last remnants of whatever plagues have been filtering through my systems, I will get back on that.
In the meantime, though, there’s nothing stopping me getting up early and, instead of going to the swimming pool or the gym, working on my game instead. Tomorrow morning I will at least make an attempt to do that, though it will depend on how I feel when I wake up.
I also need to do the same with my Japanese studies, since I now have a month off from classes and don’t want all the things I’ve learned to fall out of my head.
I think I am probably going to have to make myself some sort of schedule to try and stick to, though the mistake I often make with this sort of thing is making it too strict and consequently not wanting to stick to it. I think if I can set myself aside a few hours in the morning before I start work — I start late — to do something productive, be it game development, Japanese revision or going to the gym/pool, then that will get me into good habits and good routines, and thereby get some things done. When the evening comes, then, I can settle down and relax without guilt and do what I want to do. Maybe.
This is all fine and good until I get a bunch of lengthy, time-consuming games to play through for review and as luck would have it, several of those are on the way now. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it; for now, let’s try and get into some good habits and get shit done!
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I sympathize completely. The impulse to be productive is something that I struggle with every day as well. Modern society places so much emphasis on being productive. Every moment of your day has to be spent doing SOMETHING. You’re a bad person if you’re idol, etc. I think that it’s largely bullshit though. As an adult, you’ve got afew genuine responsibilities – find and participate in some form of “work” that allows you to provide shelter and sustenance for you & your family, ensure that the affairs of your home are in order (finances, maintenance, etc.), tend to your health and hygiene. Everything else is leisure time. If you choose to do something with your leisure time (ie. me with my drawing, you with your game making), then so be it. But you should always try to refrain from pressuring yourself to be productive with your leisure time. As you and I always conclude when we talk about the niche games we love, guilty shouldn’t enter into it. If you’re not feeling it, there’s nothing wrong with taking afew days, or even weeks off from a passion project. It’ll be there waiting for you. At the end of the day, when you’ve tired yourself out tending to what you have to do, the worst things you can do is make something that you WANT to do feel like work as well.
Oh I couldn’t agree more!
…. with both of you, in case you thought my previous statement was ambiguous.