It's bound to have happened to you at some point. After sticking with something for long enough, you unexpectedly hit a major milestone that leaves you with a deep sense of satisfaction and pride. One technique that really stands out toward arriving at moments like this is generating momentum, and you can harness it to keep yourself consistent for long enough to make hitting that next milestone a matter of when and not if.
Awesome example Mitchell! I think the concept of modularity and effort tracking go hand in hand for sure. The big deliverable of "going live" at the end was the result people will think to measure you by, but the interim efforts and milestones along the way is how you actually get there. Tracking effort via milestone is a fantastic way of keeping momentum up and feeling good about progress, especially if the end result is a long ways off. Thanks for sharing. I always find the lived experiences you share here really insightful!
This is an interesting perspective, tracking effort instead of results. I haven't specifically tried this, except in the loosest interpretation. 😁
As a non-professional programmer, I knew just enough about getting computers to do my bidding that I could design, and implement non-trivial systems. They were good enough for the real work to get done more efficiently.
The way I built these systems was modularly. Get one piece running, even if the output is simulated, then plug in the next module. While I was doing this, I called those milestones "results". But, I can see how I might reframe those as "efforts", since the entire system needed to be completed before taking it live.
As an aside, the modular approach allowed the systems that I built to be expanded at will (Like, when the boss says, "Now I need a report on the Fitzhammer Account!")
Is that a stretch to call those effort-tracking as opposed to results-tracking?
Struggling with consistency? Use momentum to fuel progress
Awesome example Mitchell! I think the concept of modularity and effort tracking go hand in hand for sure. The big deliverable of "going live" at the end was the result people will think to measure you by, but the interim efforts and milestones along the way is how you actually get there. Tracking effort via milestone is a fantastic way of keeping momentum up and feeling good about progress, especially if the end result is a long ways off. Thanks for sharing. I always find the lived experiences you share here really insightful!
This is an interesting perspective, tracking effort instead of results. I haven't specifically tried this, except in the loosest interpretation. 😁
As a non-professional programmer, I knew just enough about getting computers to do my bidding that I could design, and implement non-trivial systems. They were good enough for the real work to get done more efficiently.
The way I built these systems was modularly. Get one piece running, even if the output is simulated, then plug in the next module. While I was doing this, I called those milestones "results". But, I can see how I might reframe those as "efforts", since the entire system needed to be completed before taking it live.
As an aside, the modular approach allowed the systems that I built to be expanded at will (Like, when the boss says, "Now I need a report on the Fitzhammer Account!")
Is that a stretch to call those effort-tracking as opposed to results-tracking?