I had the idea yesterday of helping myself to focus by writing down exactly what I’m going to do next on a post-it note and put it on the bottom of my monitor. When I’m done with it, I throw it away and put up another one. If I cannot avoid switching tasks before it’s done, I’ll stick it to my desk and put another in its place until I finish that one. When that’s finished, I put the other post-it back up.

If my mind starts wandering or I ever wonder what to do, I just look at the post-it on the bottom of my monitor, go “Oh yeah!” and get back to it.

I definitely use a To-Do list, but the bigger it gets, the harder it is to focus on just one thing at a time with all the noise around it. Having a single post-it note with a single to-do on it has been helping tremendously.
It’s been working really well so far for me. If you have a huge, varied workload and have problems focusing on one thing at a time, try this. :)

Greetings out there in internet-land! How fare thee?

I have been a busy boy. I had one of my best friends come down from Iowa to visit me with three of his friends and over the course of six days I went to four house parties, two shows, went drunken miniature golfing while all the girls we were with were making out, tried Cristal (the champagne, not the meth), tried absinthe, went to a beer tasting party, went skinny dipping with two beautiful women and got chased by a police helicopter. A busy week indeed! Yes, I’m dead serious. :)

Since I got back I’ve been burning the midnight oil on Dungeon Runners and having the time of my life. Never before have I felt so thoroughly satisfied with what I’m doing… like I’m finally doing what I’m meant to be doing: Managing people.

I’ve basically been handed the artistic reins of this project and been given full freedom into what I get to put in it, how I art direct, who I hire, how I organize everything, how and where I spend money. And no one tells me how to do my job. Can you believe that they let someone that looks like ME do this?! :)

Dear god, I’ve never been happier. I’ve never felt like I’ve been in a better situation or a more perfect fit for my skills and natural inclinations. I love our game, the team’s amazing, the studio I’m at is incredible and they’re giving me everything I could have ever hoped for, other than the bottomless personal harem I’ve always clamored for. But that’s a minor quibble… and still in negotiation.

The whole job is such an amazing learning experience. I’m learning how to art direct, lead a project, hire people, manage people, budget, schedule, organize, document and learn how to manage my time effectively. And they’re letting me do it however the hell I want, as long as I get the job done.

Have you EVER heard of anything like this happening to someone? Being handed the keys to a project you’d love to work on and play, with a kick-ass team you can barely believe you’re a part of, at one of the industry’s largest and most respected companies, and hearing them say “Have fun!” ?!

God, I’m happy. I’m using this as a springboard to learn EVERYTHING I’ve always wanted.

I’ve always been totally fascinated by numbers, particularly with dollar signs attached to them. Learning how to set prices, negotiate, budget and allocate money is amazing because I get to see EVERYTHING. I know exactly how much my budget is and it’s up to me as to how it’s spent. I’ve never done it before, but I know enough about it to be able to learn fast and aim pretty well toward kicking ass at it.

Talent scouting is amazing, too. I’ve been poring over my contact lists to find people I know and have come to trust over the eight years I’ve been making game art. Looking at these people, knowing their character, and mixing and matching their talents with specific needs I have on the project are fantastic. Especially when I come across a friend that’s desperately in need of a job or his first big industry break, and I KNOW he’s perfect for the job, and that I need him just as much as he needs me, and it’s a perfect fit. I’m trying like hell to learn how best to make ideal matches of talent to task.

It’s EXCITING, man!! :)

And that’s just people I know! Scouring the internet finding people I DON’T know that I want to pay money to make art to my specifications is a whole different beast entirely. How will I know if they’re any good? How does the way they conduct themselves determine whether or not I want to hire them? If their skills aren’t a 100% match for what I want, can I look at what they do and make an intelligent assumption as to whether or not they’re art directable enough to get what I want out of them? If they’re not experienced, do I see specific and advantageous gaps in their experience that I can fill and direct?

Fascinating questions, all, no? This keeps me up at night, in the best possible way!

And when it comes to managing people, that’s a whole other skillset ENTIRELY! One that’s perhaps more fascinating to me than anything else I can possibly imagine. My biggest goal is to learn to harness their talents to create great works. I want to be able to, on a personal level, help these people find hidden reservoirs of talent, energy and pure creative drive inside them and inspire them to create better art than they EVER thought they were capable of.

And on a teamwide level, I want to be able to bring together people exactly like that, bearing their talents and focusing them like a laser on the project, to produce a huge catalogue of kick-ass art that wouldn’t have been possible without all of their energy and drive, and someone that knows how to take all that talent and turn it into one unified, whole, great vision, perfectly executed.

I love connecting with people and I have an absolutely boundless belief in the potential greatness of human beings. And I don’t think most people know what they’re capable of. I want to be the kind of leader that can unlock these hidden talents and powers in people and bring them to the surface, give them the self-confidence they deserve and help show them how these great works are just the BEGINNING of what they’re capable of.

I want to make teams of people just like these that create incredibly great games that are loved the world over by critics, fans and artists alike.

I want to be the guy that brings it all together and shows the world what really can be if you just look for it and try your best.

And I am, right now, in the perfect place to start learning how. And I am learning.

I love my job.