AlejoLab
  • Start
  • Blog

First 5 weeks coaching with Game Design Doctor

20/8/2013

0 Comments

 
I am taking action into helping game designers out there with Game Design Doctor. Lots of things on the ideas box, but the first one is providing direct help. Not by typical consulting but with coaching techniques.
Five weeks ago I started to work with my first coachee and today we did some evaluation and revised the objectives. The experience is great and it really feels good to help others doing something I like to do. It's also very valuable learning since I have to make an effort into taking myself out of the equation and not giving easy and cheap advice based on my experience. I's interesting to hear, ask and lead the other to find his own questions and answers.
Now it's time to find one more coachee.
Picture
0 Comments

Mini game: closing the gap with where you want to be

1/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Imagen
I made a game based on Oliver Emberton's answer to a question on Quora. He used these images to answer someone wondering about pursuing a work that pays the bills or one that makes you happy.
Imagen

Read More
0 Comments

Lab projects overview

31/7/2013

0 Comments

 
That is a table I keep in my files to have a quick overview of projects or experiments I have open. While reviewing the objectives of this blog I though if this is a creative lab I should sate more clearly what are the "experiments" going on. It may not be completely up to date sometimes but it is there if I need it. Now, I can use it as a foundation for a new way of representing what is going on in the lab.

PROJECT

nº of 'actions' as a reference for: time, energy, motivation

Last action taken

Oppa! video project

…................

26 July, quick news and fb comment.

Game prototypes

…...........

28 july, 21 coins prototype..

Zombies and robots

…..

4 July, ppt and post

Minecraft videos

..

2 July, post about test

VirtualMe (novel)

….........

14 July, writing characters synopses and info.

“Power-ups” trailer

...

18 July, meeting with JP

Explainer video for AlejoLab

..

10 May, some editing

AdWords experiment

….

20 June, 3rd round ends

Game design doctor

….......

30 July, coaching session; redacting tools.

I am going deep with rethinking the blog and there is more work on the way.  I got a bit stuck and I am using extensively a self-coaching technique (long story short, writing a dialogue with myself), it works great. If I don't get to the conclusions in the next two days (before the end of the week) I will just start to do "random creativity" posts to fill up.
0 Comments

A treasure map to find your motivation

30/7/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Avast! Is this a map to the greatest treasure of all? Aye, it is! A map for motivation.

Well, it is actually a conceptual map to deconstruct motivation in two different dimensions providing some insight into different kinds of motivations. Understand better how your motivation works applying your own experiences into the map.


Read More
1 Comment

Rethinking the blog 2: Looking at the origins and statistics

19/7/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I am sharing with you the steps in the process of rethinking the blog.  You may not find very interesting reading what changes I decide to make to my goal, audience and content in my blog. But you can see how to set up a thinking framework and a process to do that.

In this first step it's time to look at the data. Search for it and gather it all together to better see the patterns.

A picture of the past


Read More
0 Comments

Rethinking the blog: setting up a thinking framework

16/7/2013

0 Comments

 
I am at a turning point, which I already defined to be spanning through, at least, three areas of my present everyday life and my vision. The blog is one of the things I am rethinking. 
I am going to share all the process in a series of posts. Starting with how do I set up a thinking framework:

Process overview

First, I will describe some data about the blog, which I will analyze and meditate about, driving me to the setting of a new goal for the blog.
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

How to focus your mind in 1 minute

15/7/2013

0 Comments

 
In the last weeks I have been meditating almost every weekday for some minutes after breakfast. It helps me to face the day with more perspective, avoiding to do just the first task I stumble upon.

Something I usually do is to count from 1 to 10 while visualizing the numbers. I do this when starting or finishing my meditation session because it helps to stop the noise and get focused.

During today's session the images of the numbers were quite vivid, so when I finished I felt encouraged to make this video which can actually help you to get in focus, or silence your mind, in 1 minute.
Some days counting to ten has taken me several minutes since I get to breath very, very slowly. Another interesting benefit is that the noise coming from your subconscious when doing the exercise tend to be quite revealing. It is like receiving a message which tells you were your energy is going and that you must take some action.
0 Comments

Dissecting: Three fronts of action

13/7/2013

0 Comments

 
I have been dissecting the situation with the help of my girlfriend/fiancé to find different fronts where I want to take action to improve and keep moving forward. Today we have managed to define at least three courses of action for what seemed a tangled and unique situation, formerly known as "what I do". I think thats three areas are mostly everything, but I cannot be sure yet until I finish making all the questions to see the situation from all the possible angles.

1. Evolve the blog

As I was talking in yesterday's post Turning point. The goal of this blog has been accomplished. I have managed to build the habit. But there are some things that the blog needs in order to keep being useful:
  • A new goal, to be defined with questions such as: What I have learn until now thanks to the blog? How will I use this new habit to work towards my vision?
  • Change the time when I usually write and publish the posts. Which is usually at the end of the day because I either don't manage my time better or because I have get used to talk about what I have done during that day and so, it seems logical to make it at the end of the day.
  • Work in batches and have a reserve of posts. In case I keep posting daily , which I feel is something I want to keep doing.

2. Take a solid step towards my vision

That is, to start working more seriously on a project that can be useful and profitable. Since making an income to live from blogging is not my first choice, I have put to rest some plans to market and promote the blog (because I have a small audience) until I define if the new goal of the blog really needs it.

Separating the search of an income stream from the blog is important since I have been slowly believing that I need more readers to be able to turn the blog into a source of income.

I have around 7 projects or topics which I have been talking about in the blog, plus 2 more which I haven't, that are candidates to be explored to help someone needs.

3. Improve time management

I need to make better use of my time, specially when doing personal, everyday house chores. Because I am at home most of the day, the everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning and so on, tend to be around me always and they define my daily schedule more than I have wanted to admit until now.
Because of my inabilty to manage "house chores time" I am also having problems on how to use my "productive time" efficiently. So I am going to use the sames steps I would use to improve a creative or business process to improve the way I face the daily chores:
  1. Track
  2. Analysis
  3. Test improvements
  4. Evaluate and control

For example, one of the most time consuming chores is to decide what to cook according to our diet, what we have eaten recently and what ingredients I have available. I haven't succeded in preparing weekly meal plans. Which would be ver useful when doing the grocery list. What we usually use as a reference is what we have bought the last time (specially when buying online) instead of what we have consumed. So, from now on I will be tracking what things we consume each day, instead of trying to figure out what to eat the next week when doing the groceries. 
Another thing I have done is to prepare three check lists in a whiteboard with daily, weekly and monthly tasks for personal and house chores.
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
0 Comments

Power advice

25/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Just one simple, and memorable, sentence said today at the NLP course:
Wherevere the attention goes the energy flows
So you better have your attention aimed at something useful and productive. This is just another view on the positive thinking philosphy. If you have your attention to how to solve the problems, then you are giving your energy to the problems. 
0 Comments

Quick weekend log

23/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Last Friday I posted my first mini-product for sale a writers tracking spreadsheet to help improve productivity when writing. Apparently my mind thought all the work poured there surely deserved missing the post on the following day. Yep, that's the second day I miss the daily post. I was the whole Saturday working (or fighting) to develop the web for my upcoming wedding and at the end of the day I just wanted to go to bed and keep my reading of A storm of swords.
Today I had another session to work on the Oppa! video project, but the weather was so awful that we ended in a cafeteria and nothing worthy to be speak of was made. Because of the way the project is this was expected to happen anytime. I wonder why do I want to make a project that relies so much in the weather if I am in the UK.
I have also been writing, and using my brand new and cool tracking spreadsheet for the first time. I wrote 1583 words in two sessions, with an overall speed of 590 words per hour. I was working on character notes and synopses. I don't have enough data yet to draw conclusions, but it seems that I can spot a pattern appearing. My speed is a bit higher on my second session during the day. I will keep an eye on that since this is just a vague hypothesis, I don't even have proper data about long sessions or days in a row working.
See you tomorrow.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Alejo AC

    AlejoAC
    Indie game designer
    and Coach

    Like what you see?

    Archives

    April 2022
    November 2021
    April 2021
    December 2019
    June 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Artificial Life
    Building The Habit
    Business
    Comic
    Creativity
    Game Design
    Group Dynamics
    Log
    Marketing
    Meaningful
    Minecraft
    Nlp
    Oppa! Video Project
    Painting
    Performing Arts
    Productivity
    Projections
    Ptower
    Reading
    Wedding
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.