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Big Plans, Big Rocks

For a sustained momentum being able to see progress is important. Big important things have to get worked in first by the big rocks theory, but big rocks and big plans are hard to see, hard to keep in your head. Pick out your goal, your big rock, and then break it into the small tasks you need to do to finish it. This can get very official, like a project managment “Work Breakdown Structure,” but it doesn’t have to be.

Baby Steps

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, right? But seeing the progress is good for morale. You need morale for sustained momentum. Measureable accomplishment in work that directly plays into your Big Rock goal is extremely encouraging. You need encouragment, believe me. So, break up the work, write it down so you don’t forget steps. Breadcrumbs, remember? Accordingly, here are some of the steps on the way to my tutorial (my big rock goal).

1. figure out how to deliver the tutorial
   1. web page
      1. how to build a web page Jekyll
      2. hosting GitHub Pages
      3. GitHub Actions needed for the daily Jekyll build regardless of commit activity
      4. how to make a web page not look terrible
      5. how to not sound like spelling and grammar don’t matter
   2. format
      1. blog for running commentary, self entertainment, momentum Jekyll
      2. project page, holding what will eventually be the final product, modular in case.. GitHub Pages
2. figure out what to include
   1. thinking out loud on blog this post and others
   2. compare other tutorials, leverage them, link them
   3. don’t compete, extend
   4. focus on process, capture gains, slow and steady
3. plan the code
   1. research entity component system
   2. deliver value, player visible functionality, admin visible functionality
   3. plan to test, maybe strict test first
   4. plan modular, microservice

Tread Water

Don’t try walking on water, tread water. To start, just break things down a little. Until just now, I hadn’t really gone into as much detail as I have above. As you look at and think about the work breakdown, over time, you’ll think of additional details. Update your outline, list, heirarchcy, whatever, as you go so that you don’t get bogged down with planning. But, make sure that you have at least a few points broken down so that you can work on things that you know for a fact play directly into your goal. And, mark them complete when you’re finished with them.

⇠ A Solution Is Born

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