Motivation & Getting Started

Many things in life, especially game development begin by just starting. It's so easy to get caught up with specific goal, comparing yourself with others, feeling like you're not prepared to start just yet etc. Too much time is wasted planning rather than doing. Of course many things need good planning but getting started is better than having a plan. If you're new to something, just learning, doing something for fun or just creating something that isn't necessarily a large project then just start. Once you've got the skill, knowledge and foresight, only then should you start pre-planning. To plan for something, in most cases, requires experience to be able to see what's ahead and work around it but you'll find that very hard to do if you have no experience. Experiences come from doing not thinking. Get started, make something, fail and learn. Failing isn't the problem. When you're NOT failing, that's the problem. It stumps your development, learning and in many cases doesn't feel as fulfilling as you think it would. It's about the journey, having fun and getting started not the end goal.

- You'll fail 1000's of times so the faster you get started the quicker you get past them failures and start creating things truly amazing. When starting out, create mini project and goals. It's more fulfilling and better for development when you first start off!

--MOTIVATION--

Motivation or the lack of can stump us all. Rather than looking for motivation, find something that you have a drive for. Motivation is a temporary fix but if you find something you have a drive for, things become a lot easier. Of course this can be easier said than done, especially in certain circumstances. Contrary to the approach of many, I take a laid back approach. Don't force yourself to do something you really don't want to do because it can do more damage than good. If you really don't want to do something and that motivation isn't there then don't do it. However, if you get the smallest bit of fire inside, let it run free. Go on full offence as soon as you feel it. Don't hold back, no excuses, just start. Think of the goal, where you want to be but most importantly enjoy the process. Enjoy what you do because when you do you'll find that your drive to work on your projects become bigger and bigger and continue to snowball. I'm not going to lie. You will hit road blocks but stop feeling sorry for yourself, get back on your feet and just start. If you keep saying "Just 5 minutes" you'll soon wonder where the last 2 hours has went.

-Tell yourself just 5 minutes, find something that you have a drive for, develop drive by loving the process.

--APPROACHES TO WORK--

Previously I've been very laid back when it comes to creating. It's just who I am as a person. For the most part it worked very well for me. The number one thing that worked for me was not worry about it. Unfortunately this doesn't always work for others as well as it did for me. Some people require more thought to overcome technical problem or to get started. Some people need that push and some find it hard to take a laid back approach and get stressed even more as a result. That's fine, try to find out what works for you. The only thing I'd say is work hard but don't let it get to you.

Despite this, I've recently been changing my approach to many things in my life. I'm still the chill, laid back guy I was before but if I have a drive for something and the fire in my soul I'll go full offence. No waiting around, just get started and think on my feet. Nothing can be planned in life, just take things as they come and open your opportunities. Especially if you're young, you have loads of room to experiment. Try out new things. If that doesn't work out, onto the next thing. Move out of your comfort zone and get started. An example of me taking this active, offensive approach recently is when I started to Direct Message exhibition stand builders offering my freelance rendering service for their stands. I also got up the other morning and a family member was filling little Christmas themed boxes with sweets for relatives. I thought they were cool and would be a great idea to sell them. I quickly worked out some math for the expenses to makes sure it was profitable. After that I just started. Made up the boxes with sweets, took a few photos, posted them on local facebook groups. The same day I got an order from one person that paid for the all the boxes I had, the whole box of sweets and with profit to spare.

-My point is, just start. The worst thing you can do is later regret not doing anything. Enjoy the journey for now as well as gaining skills and learning from your failures for your future. Just get going.

Hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did making it and I hope you took something away from it.

Best Regards:

~Ross Hankinson~