Anxiety and procrastination - how do you deal with it?

Hi all,

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I have come to a point where I’m quite far through a project (3+ years working on it) and after a long break can’t seem to get back into it.

I think about all the bits I want to implement during the day and have a plan, but then when I sit down to code, I remember that I wrote some advancecd bits of code that I now need to relearn. I get anxious and start to procrastinate. It doesn’t help that I reddit a bit and unity3d sub has some amazing bits of work and I almost get a sense of depression that I haven’t made any progress for a while.

Does anyone else feel this way sometimes? How do you all handle this?

Cheers,

G

I haven’t worked on a full scale game project, I do more small interactive demos and now getting into AR apps. When I get overwhelmed , I’ll start a fresh new project and just work on a small piece of the project such as an interactive button on a menu, that may trigger. lets say a cube to change color. Then I pull it apart on how I did it (the trickiest part of unity is where to stick your code and what object gets attached to what part of public variable) . Then I’ll make a “cheat sheet” of just that technique and write in my own words that I understand. Once you make that “little success” it can mostly break down the wall and get you back in action on your bigger project.
Hope that helps

I feel the same way very often. I find it helping to just start with some small detailed work, like a button, one particular light or whatever. It gets you in the flow and once I’m in that state your anxiety will be gone. It’s all about finding a point to penetrate your project to get into the tunnel again. Where this point is does not really matter. Its just to get you started again.

You may want to read about the flow theory by Mihail Csikszentmihalyi. Really interesting and connects to the topic.

And now rock on :slight_smile:

Maybe the problem is that you aren’t inspired? Or maybe you don’t see yourself making progress? I use a time tracker to see my progress as I work on projects. Timing Automatic Mac Time Tracker – Manual Timers Optional

Or maybe it’s too easy to become distracted (ahem, reddit)? If the case is the latter then try this browser extension—it blocks distracting websites http://www.stayfocusd.com/ after a set amount of time.

I use both of these and it has a serious impact on what I get done.

I had felt like before, I understand you completely, in my case I stopped fighting and embraced that cold wtf should I do moment for a while. and one day I just sit down got some paper and read n write all things in the project until everything gets crystal clear. well, I’ve never finished that project but I feel good about not giving up.

Jeff Minter wrote about these difficult phases of a project:

http://minotaurproject.co.uk/blog/?p=452

It is reassuring to know it is a very common experience, it’s just about not giving up, really.

**Hi @Grish **

Whenever you feel like giving up,
Think About all the people who would love to see you fail.

98132-never-give-up.jpg

No matter how much zeal we have for Game Development, at a particular point of time we tend to feel anxiety. It happens with everyone.
I think you’re frustrated. So follow up some links I’m providing you.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf9_s9ii6BZ-klpgmtIi3WQ

Please do visit these links. I Hope this will help you in not giving up.

Remember! The Strongest trees doesn’t grow in the best soil, They grow in the strongest winds.