Impatience Will Always Sabotage Consistency

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:

You've worked four consecutive days on a new game you're excited about.

You're proud of yourself for having the discipline to get through the exhaustion You feel after work, and even prouder for not doom-scrolling on your phone or playing video games or watching TV with all your free time.

But after what feels like months worth of work on this game, You're dissatisfied because you don't see any desired results.

The game isn't playable yet. You spent longer than you should have trying to fix that annoying bug (you couldn't fix it). You have three more ideas You want to add to the game.

On your fifth day You decide to stop working on your game an hour early.

You tell yourself You worked really hard this week and You deserve a reward: A night out with your friends!

Or maybe You're not a fan of going out. Maybe You reward yourself with a night of playing video games or catching up on that show You've been hooked on.

Then it's the beginning of the week again. You come home from a long day of work and spill yourself on the couch.

Between all the stimulating activities You did on the weekend and the stress at work, You try to muster the strength to sit at your desk and work on your game.

You work for 30 minutes. Then You reach for your phone and scroll on social media for 5 minutes.

Then 5 minutes becomes 10... 10 becomes 20... and You know the rest.

It's so easy to scroll for so long because the reward comes easy; You don't have to wait at all.

The reward of releasing your game, however, You have to wait until You finish working on it. Your game which, by the way, STILL isn't playable yet.

The thought of working on your game makes You uncomfortable because now it feels. so. boring.

So you end work early again, not knowing it'd be another few months before You start again.

What actually happened is this: your consistency deteriorated because your patience ran low.

Now, I think breaks and small rewards are great, and highly recommended no matter what kind of work you're doing. It's just the healthy thing to do.

I take breaks every week. You can't drive (work) if your tank (energy) is empty right?

But what's important to keep in mind is that breaks are just that: breaks. They are not retirement. A break needs to end eventually.

As a post-grad developer, as soon as You've recharged your mental battery You're the only person responsible for telling yourself when your breaks end.

Otherwise, you jeopardize the consistency You've been building up over the days You've been working on that game!

Having patience with Yourself is one of the best skills to learn, especially as a game developer.

Think about how long it takes You to build consistency. Think about how long You estimate completing your game will take.

If every few days You grow impatient waiting for the fruits of your labor, how much longer do You believe the wait will feel like?

So how do you build patience anyway? Do you just sit around and do nothing while you wait for something to happen?

It's different for everyone. Sometimes when I get anxious I really do just stare at the ceiling until my mind returns to the present.

The thing You have to understand about patience is people who have high amounts of it are those who know what to do while they wait for an outcome.

That 'what' can be anything.

It can be going for a walk in your neighborhood. It can be doing house chores. It can be reading a book. It can be meditating. It can literally be just thinking!

It can also be watching TV, or playing video games, etc. But as we know that these kinds of activities tend to stimulate you further. You just have to be really mindful of how much of it you consume, and especially how often.

If you build patience alongside consistency, your work ethic will be tough to beat.

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Consystent Creatives

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