Optimize for Tiny Victories
I was talking with Dawn C. Hayes, a maker and occasional adjunct processor in NYC earlier this week. We were talking about things like motivation and things like biting off more than we can chew when it comes to large projects, as well as estimating how long something will take. She mentioned that it's important to optimize for quick early successes, like getting a student to have an "I got the LED to light up" moment. With today's short attention span internet, you can see that's totally true. Every programming language has a "5 min quick start" dedicated to giving you some sense of accomplishment quickly. But she also pointed out that after the LED Moment students (and everyone ever, says me) always underestimate how long stuff will take. It's easy to describe a project in a few sentences but it might take months or a year to make it a reality.
This is my challenge as well, perhaps it's yours, too. As we talked, I realized that I developed a technique for managing this without realizing it.
I optimize my workflow for lots of tiny victories.
For example, my son and I are working on 3D printing a quadcopter drone. I have no idea what I'm doing, I have no drone experience, and I'm mediocre with electronics. Not to mention I'm dealing with a 7 year old who wants to know why it hasn't taken off yet, forgetting that we just had the idea a minute ago.
I'm mentally breaking it up in work sprints, little dependencies, but in order to stay motivated we're making sure each sprint - whether it's a day or an hour - is a victory as well as a sprint. What can we do to not just move the ball forward but also achieve something. Something small, to be clear. But something we can be excited about, something we can tell mommy about, something we can feel good about.
We're attempting to make a freaking quadcopter and it's very possible we won't succeed. But we soldered two wires together today, and the muiltimeter needle moved, so we're pretty excited about that tiny victory and that's how we're telling the story. It will keep us going until tomorrow's sprint.
Do you do this too? Tell us in the comments.
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About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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I just moved to another country (remote worker here, too) and I need to get as much little wins as I can get. Great post and thanks for sharing!
This coupled together with continuous integration/deployments and frequent code check-ins means the teams function better together with each others code as well. We're not 100% in the dream zone yet, the team is adapting but those small wins is not just a victory for ourselves but also the project owners who are able to see and feel their project coming together.
As Reid Hoffman says, "If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late." :)
Be embarrassed, fail fast, and (most importantly) learn learn LEARN!
Yes, this is SO true. I guess we all tend to underestimate hoe much time projects cost. I create tiny milestones as well, I integrate them in my workflow in Trello. That satisfying feeling of moving a task card to the 'Done' column! Before I started doing this, it was, well, horror. I used to burn the midnight oil while trying to live up to my promises. But creating tiny milestones and planning those in, helped me to celebrated the little successes, it gives me more energy (instead of sprinting towards the next mega goal) and more importantly, it helps me writing more realisitic timetables in my project proposals.
Thank you for your relatable story and your honesty in this blog post.
All the best,
@Jojanneke
Same for programming: my git branches all represent small units of work, each of which (usually) has its own ticket. Each commit is a chapter in the short story that is that branch. Reminds me of the ABCs from Glengarry Glen Ross: always be closing (tickets and branches). It's easier when all they're small.
I try to set small-term goals and timelines for myself, and I get those broken down into medium and small steps before letting myself run through my queue of work, so that once the work is summarized, I can just zip through it and stay focused until the end.
Nothing beats me down more than getting nothing done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrMWv5rcCo
. Resisted temptation to play with (unnamed) cool new javascript library for mobile
. Resisted temptation to start watching a 3rd TV series from streaming service
. Started reading 350 page historical novel set in the 1800s
. Played basketball 3 days in the last week
. Played board games 1 night
. Learned a few new things for technology already in the project I'm working on... not blue sky, it'd be nice to work on this someday technology
. Solved 1 business problem for our project within the already in use technology/methodology
. Learned to live with others coding styles better...
. Reduced screen time.
Small achievements add up. I further this by making a todo list with small tasks on it and then getting the satisfaction of crossing things off quickly and consistently. Also if I did something that wasn't on the list, I add it and cross it out. Then when you look back on your list for the day you can recount what you did. I use a pocketmod for my lists.
Projects are more involved than this, but again it boils down to just a work list: pick the project up, complete something, put the project down.
I completely agree that what you've described is a great way to prove to yourself and your younger lab partner that you're achieving something.
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But it feels as though I'm fixing the wrong problem. Instead of trying to fix motivation, I really need to fix my expectation that result should come quickly. I need to learn to shift my focus from short term gains to long term rewards.
I'm still trying to figure out how.