Productivity Challenge

[TrickWithAKnife]

Oi, you. Yeah, you. Time to stop being so lazy, and actually get some work done. Games don't make themselves, you know.

Your keyboard and mouse won't magically spring to life and create a masterpiece while you're watching anime and surfing the Internet.

Procrastination is a wonderful thing though. It's like a warm blanket, so cosy and safe. There's no fear of making mistakes there. But it's all an illusion. You'll regret not taking action sooner. It happens to us all.

What can we do? Well, my idea is having a group of people that set daily or weekly goals, and post their progress here, to make sure they are keeping up with their goals. Sometimes a little peer pressure can go a long way.

The goals need to be realistic though.
For example, I think 500 words per say would be a realistic daily goal, if I allow 2 days a week for doing nothing. Sometimes work is really busy. Sometimes we all need a day off.

Goals can vary too. For example, finish this character by next Thursday, compose a track by the 25th, code this feature by the end of the week, etc. Goals could be adjusted as needed.

Anyway, before charging ahead with this idea. I wanted to see if other people might be interested. And if others have different ideas on how to do this effectively.
On thing I had thought of is having a list of people and their goals in a single post. Next to/under their names we could show if they have been keeping to their goals or not.

Potential recruiters may be interested in seeing that you can stick to deadlines too.

Please discuss!

[Obscura]

Funny, I was just going to write a post with "writing tips" we could collectively put together. Holding people accountable is actually a suggestion that fits under that umbrella.

It's not something that works for everybody (sometimes lagging/procrastinating on a project, IMHO, is a good sign you should at least temporarily abandon it instead of trying to walk through a brick wall) but concrete goals are generally not a bad thing to have.

I'm really aiming to have one of the few crowdfunded projects that gets out on time, so I'm totally up for this. I'd say start a thread or use this one. It's also nice to hear people cheering each other on or offering advice along the way.

[Sapphi]

Ew, it's my arch-nemesis commitment...

Haha, just kidding.

...Well, not really, but I think this is a helpful idea. I've been contemplating setting challenges for myself where I would try to write one complete short story (<500 words) per a certain amount of time.

[EroBotan]

It's not something that works for everybody (sometimes lagging/procrastinating on a project, IMHO, is a good sign you should at least temporarily abandon it instead of trying to walk through a brick wall) but concrete goals are generally not a bad thing to have.

in my experience, this is very true for programmers. I was very tired and bored but I try to force myself on writing more codes, it progress very slowly. In the end I decided to take a break and drawing sprites instead. 1 week later I'm back to coding and I facepalming very hard and wonder is that really me who wrote that whole mess of a code x__X? Those codes works but in a very very roundabout way and makes things unnecessarily complicated >.<

[Auro-Cyanide]

I don't think I have much problem with productivity, but I would be interested to see if this worked. I am thinking that the lack of real life repercussions will remove most of the threat, and so people who can't commit to themselves will have trouble with this as well. On the other hand, competition can do wonders, as exemplified by Nanoreno.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I'm not sure what a realistic way to work a competition would be though. People work at different speeds, have different goals, and different schedules.

[Deji]

Well, one could set weekly or challenge-length goals and, like NaNo, if you meet them by the time you said you'd meet them, you win?

[Applegate]

My productivity problems are more linked to, well... I could -write- it, but now that I'm having fun drawing, I'd rather -draw- it! And then I find I can't draw it well enough to be servicable. Being me is suffering.

I think this kind of idea could work, but you shouldn't be writing/producing just because of peer pressure. Some of these things should be made because you want it to be made. It's true that "artist's block" and "writer's block" are often remedied by just going out and doing it, or working on something else for a while... as opposed to just letting it sit there and pretend you don't need to work on it at all.

[Auro-Cyanide]

I'm not sure what a realistic way to work a competition would be though. People work at different speeds, have different goals, and different schedules.

It's not the goal that matters, it's the fact there is a goal. For instance, Nanoreno is all about making a VN. What that VN actually entails is up to the person doing it. But you would have probably noticed, that over time, people try to out do each other. But like all competition, this works best with the people who are usually doing fine anyway, and it doesn't help the people struggling. That's the greatest flaw about it.

I'm of the opinion productivity is something that comes from within. You are literally your greatest enemy. Maybe if people practice self-discipline, they'll get better at it? That would be a good outcome.

[TrickWithAKnife]

I'm of the opinion productivity is something that comes from within. You are literally your greatest enemy. Maybe if people practice self-discipline, they'll get better at it? That would be a good outcome.

In a perfect world, yes. But some people are naturally bad at time management, and sometimes need a kick in the pants to get things done. Myself included.
My hope is to help boost productivity a little for those who need that extra nudge.

[SusanTheCat]

I was part of a competition where you had to post everyday what you did "creatively" that day. It didn't matter what it was - writing, drawing, coding.

I got into the habit of writing an entry in the morning saying what I was going to do that day and how I did on what I had promised to the previous day. I was super productive for that month.

So I fully endorse this thread.

Susan

[Roxie]

If anyone's watched the Failure Club webseries, it's about individuals that have their own unique goals [win a ribbon in equastrian competition, own one's own handyman business, first paid comedy gig (she had stage fright and wasn't that funny), make a holiday tune that is in top 10 on itunes, etc] that they wish to accomplish within a year. They met every 2 weeks and gave progress on their goal. Anytime an individual doesn't seem to be progressing much, or makes a lot of excuses on why it's not moving, the group really pushes the person to show something at the next meeting, also offering advice as well as encouragement. The fact they also saw the other members progress at their own pace, motivates themselves to work hard and try out new things as well. By the end of the year, just about everyone accomplishes their goal (amazingly). Best line in the show, "there isn't a someday on the calendar, so you got to do it now." This is pretty much how I interpret what TrickWithAKnife wants to achieve.

Personally I've always noticed some of my best artworks are those I want to show to friends or present as gifts. Drawing for myself it came out pretty horrendously (better nowadays). Not the same for everyone, but it works particularly well for me when I'm surrounded by those that are productive. I think this idea can work with the right group of people. Maybe I am biased since I'm doing most of the roles (main art, programming, editing, writing) in gaming making. I can never get into a "block" cause there's always something new I can work on, or I can learn a new skill that will help my game along in the long run (slight distraction with a goal in mind nonetheless).

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I'm of the opinion productivity is something that comes from within. You are literally your greatest enemy. Maybe if people practice self-discipline, they'll get better at it? That would be a good outcome.

In a perfect world, yes. But some people are naturally bad at time management, and sometimes need a kick in the pants to get things done. Myself included.
My hope is to help boost productivity a little for those who need that extra nudge.

Apparently my internal filter messes me up something awful - all my papers, stories, and art I've done at the last minute with a tight deadline - i.e. with no time for revisions - are always some of my best reviewed stuff. If I carefully structure my time and do everything on a schedule like I should, I end up with mediocre or merely 'okay' results.

For one instance, in college, if I worked on and researched a paper over several weeks, and did revisions and planned ahead, I routinely got 'B's. If I waited until the day before to do everything, suddenly I would get 'A's. In fact, I researched and wrote a mid-term essay paper in 8 hours the night before once, and the professor not only gave me an 'A+' but asked to use it as an example for future classes on what he was looking for in an essay.

So I obviously miss, remove, or filter out my gold material without the stress of a deadline. But I HATE the feeling of being stressed on a deadline. (And a couple of times crunchtime on professional projects has gotten so down to the wire - like our final scenes at the studio - that my hand just started involuntarily shaking due to stress. Probably a combo with lack of sleep, but it makes it super hard to draw!)

[TrickWithAKnife]

This is pretty much how I interpret what TrickWithAKnife wants to achieve.

Yes. This.

@LateWhiteRabbit:
I'm best with a deadline too, but with a solo project, there is no deadline.

Well, there seems to be enough people interested (more than one), so, just need to figure out the best way to do it.

Susan's suggestion seemed quite interesting.

[Sharm]

The RPG Maker forums have a challenge that I think is really well thought out. You choose the schedule, you choose the game you're working on and if you do at least a half an hour of work to that schedule you get a point. Everyone is divided into teams and the teams only get the points for that week if no one misses their scheduled point. If someone does then the team has to complete some sort of challenge to get the points back. The reason I think this was effective is that the goals were self inflicted, but there was still a peer pressure group effort to back up your internal motivation. Also, failure wasn't met with disaster, it just meant that you had to work harder.

To be honest though, I think what would be the most helpful to me would be a thread where I could just say "I worked all day on outlining my VN" or "Today I tried to get the lines cleaned up on my MC's sprite". I suppose I could put that in the thread for my game, but it seems spammy.