I was recently reading through a thread on the TIGForums about how independent game developers stay motivated while working on projects. As a teenager who is unsure what he wants to do with his life and has attempted and failed to complete multiple projects, I read this chain of posts with a keen eye, searching for whatever novel tips I could find.
The consensus was that people who are passionate about making games invariably run into parts of their projects that they don?t enjoy working on, but that the successful ones brave through those parts regardless of how they feel. A poster made the analogy of motivation coming in waves: you have alternating periods of excitement and boredom ? motivation and a lack thereof ? and that as long as you continue to work, even when you?re at one of the lows of the wave, you?ll eventually return to a high point on the wave and feel good about working again. If you drop off of the wave when you?re at a low point, you won?t get anything done.
It seems to me that, if this wave analogy is generally true, I?ve started my projects as I?m rising to the top of a crest, and that I give up at the first or second valley ? in other words, far too early.
Many posters agreed with this analogy, and I?d like to borrow it and apply it not only to motivation, but to other feelings and qualities of the mind ? happiness comes and goes with sadness, excitement with boredom, etc. I?d also like to apply it to other areas of work, and passions in general. From what the experienced folk from TIGForums tell me, no single activity is 100% enjoyable 100% of the time for any given person.
This idea shocked me. I had honestly believed that genuine ?passion? was something that a fortunate few were gifted with, and that they did what they loved with excitement and vigor all the time. Sure, I thought, there are some times where they don?t optimally enjoy certain parts of what they do, but they stick with it because they?re always excited about it ? in other words, because they find it easy.
In past, whenever I?ve felt elated and passionate about doing something, I?ve been able to work at it so diligently and efficiently because I didn?t have the mental barriers of boredom and a ?lack of motivation? ? continuing with the activities, in other words, felt easy. That?s what I mean by ?easy.? No, developing a game, building a rocket, or completing a painting isn?t ?easy,? but it feels a boatload less difficult when you?re enjoying it. (Perhaps by ?easy? I mean that something about the situation allows you to persist in more or less a state of flow, regardless of its actual difficulty.)
Before reading this post, I?d been advised that I should find a career in ?something I?m passionate about.? Wise advice. I?d also heard that even my passions will not always be enjoyable. Also wise advice. But before I had read this post, I hadn?t realized that the implications of these completely separate ideas could be combined. But the posters to this TIGSource thread seem to suggest that, in fact, the two ideas are inseparable. Motivation, even for the passionate ones (or, rather, for the activities or pursuits you?re passionate about), comes and goes, and even the best hit their walls. Bob Dylan, for one, says that he thinks of walking away from music every day. But he still does it.
The indie developers have rocked my world. It appears that I?m going to have to work on my discipline.
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