Practice Until You Get Better

Show Up Everyday and You'll See Progress

Hey! It's me, Phi.

This week has been one of those "WTF did I do?" weeks. I know I sat down and did work but it sure doesn't feel like I made much progress. I worked on some refactoring because I'm breaking the game every 5 minutes. I worked on a target and marking system that works but doesn’t do much yet. I worked on some bug fixing. And that’s the week… with not a lot to show for it. What happened?

Reality of the Grind

Welcome to the Grind… as my wife and I usually call it. I'm not just talking about the daily grind of doing the work we do. It's also the grind of life, especially if you're trying to do this thing on the side, or after hours. I mean even if you're not doing this on the side and its a full time thing for you, it's still a very, very hard thing to balance with all of the other obligations of life. Too much of that adulting can really take a toll on yah. As a result… This is all I have to show for this week. eff you Grind!

It’s a little marking system that will allow me to pin point where I want to cast and a little targeting system (green) which will eventually be where fish would be.

Small, Consistent Actions

I don’t think I’ve quite hit the wall, or plateau yet. Still too soon for that. But it’s already feeling close. To help with that, I've been trying to embrace the "make it easy" philosophy from Atomic Habits by James Clear. That means finding ways to lower the barrier to entry. Like leaving the project open on your computer so you don't have to even double click on the program to get started. Because we all know... getting started is the hard part. Procrastination creeps in, and it's easy to say "I'll do it tomorrow".

There are so many good golden nuggets in Atomic Habits. It's one of those books you just need to read and re-read every year to remind you of all the things. I was never the one to ever finish books if I'm being honest. I can't remember the last time I've read a book, cover to cover. But I was able to get through Atomic Habits by reading a little of it everyday. Showing up... right before I go to bed.

Yah know what tho?... every little bit does help. Showing up to practice, draw, code, read, or whatever it is you're trying to do is progress. Even on those days where you only have ten minutes... 5 minutes... or even just 1 minute! I've definitely had those 1 minute sessions. But hey... at least I showed up! It might not be 1% better, but that's at least better than 0%.

The hardest part is not being able to see that progress over time. 1% better is not much, but from the graph above, the progress over time is exponential. Tracking progress, even tiny progress, helps too. Habit track, or just write down what you did for the day, what you practiced. The goal is to keep the streak going. Missing a day happens, but try not to miss two. Don’t be too hard on yourself for missing a day, it’ll happen. It’s what you do after that counts. You gotta have some grit if you're going to get into this creative thing. And grit is all about consistently showing up, especially when you don’t feel like it.

Maintaining Focus

We all have limited time, so cutting out the distractions and focusing on what little progress you can make helps. If something isn't contributing to the goal, it's just taking up space. But it's amazing how those small, consistent actions compound over time. Building the daily habit is a challenge, but those little steps eventually get you where you want to go.

To keep things in perspective, try taking the regular morning walks to clear the head and figure out what's next. Whether it's game development, writing, or even just trying to sketch regularly, the daily grind is real. I'm just figuring it out as I go, with plenty of fails, new things to learn, and little bits of progress along the way. It's all part of this process I believe in.

Keep practicing, keep showing up... TODAY. We'll get there.