Escape from Tarkov wiped yesterday, and I spent most of the evening playing, but I’ll get to that in a second. Yesterday was productive, work and home-wise, and I’ve already got today off to a good start. I only had four hours of sleep last night but I’m actually pretty alert and energetic. I haven’t had a drink since the return flight from Disney, so it’s five days now and I’m pretty clear headed. I’m actually kinda worried about this being a holiday weekend, that I might fall back into those habits — old BCM, as Missus calls it — and go back to feeling shitty.
I’ve had a metaphor stuck in my head lately, something from my TL that said something like work like a lion, not a gazelle. Actually, the quote is from Naval, and “working well is hunting like a lion, not grazing like a cow.” I like that much better. I should know that anyways, I have had the Almanac sitting on my dresser for over a year, I guess I should re-read it.
Anyways my point is that I’ve been managing the team like we’re a bunch of cows. Since I’ve never delivered anything like the dao before, I’ve been allowing everyone to do their thing without much interference. It was hard for us to establish timelines without knowing tasks, and we spent a lot of time doing research and doing other things that were dead ends. It was almost leisurely, in a way. Now though, the heat is on, so I’ve shifted how were operating, it’s time to pounce like a lion for the next two weeks and grind out the release. In this case it’s not so much about seeing an opportunity as being given a directive, but the team is confident they can deliver and I have to trust them.
That said, there’s still a lot to do between our initial release and where I’d like things to be, but we’re in a bear market, competition is hot, and the money will be coming into the space soon. Small fish won’t survive, so we need to show we can deliver.
At home I’ve had to make few changes as well. Since we don’t have any daycare plans for the kids, and sleep-away camp is a few weeks away, I’ve had to put some ground rules down for the kiddos. No TV before 10AM. I’ve got a list of chores — maybe I should start calling them responsibilities — that I want them to start doing before I even consider allowing them screen time. Things will easily devolve into a cluttered mess of clothes, toys, dishes, &c., and Missus and I are going to have to maintain our sanity. The girls are going to have to step it up. I’ll not be living in filth.
I’ve started playing Habitica and using pomodromo timers to get my ass in gear. I even created a Habitica party with Elder to try and motivate her. My dailies include meditation, blogging, exercise, and and hour spent practicing music (keys and pads), and I wrote a task list up on the fridge whiteboard for the kids with the things I expect out of them, and I’m trying to establish clear boundaries for them. They will not be watching TV all summer. No sir.
Lasty, Tarkov. I don’t want to be writing about Tarkov as I’d rather be playing Tarkov, or watching videos about Tarkov. I am utterly and completely hooked. The wipe was yesterday, all accounts were reset to zero, and I spent the entirety of my afternoon and evening squeezing in as much time as I could. It’s only my second wipe, so I’ve been playing since December or so, and my progression should be a lot faster now that I know what I’m doing. I actually killed another player in my first PMC raid and it was pretty exhilarating. The game is super fun at this stage, so I want to get as many runs as I can in, ratting with my scav every chance I get, and trying to do missions and chadding it out with my PMC when my scav isn’t available.
Of course I woke up dreaming about Tarkov, and I promised myself that I would limit myself to a scav run this morning, but only after I did all my morning chores.
And I’m done.