GO HARD, and other stories.

30 June 2015 - This one was big this year for me, and goes hand in hand with "making decisions out of hope instead of fear." I've heard people call it "act as if", or just being optimistic. Whatever the name, it came down to me looking at my situation from a position of power, and deciding to live a life of hope, not fear. Now, when I want something, I go for it because for me, in my past experience, most fears have been unfounded, or worse than anything that could have really happened.

Ex. I had a pretty good gig with a startup that I helped my a colleague get off the ground. Things were going incredibly well and we got lots of traction quickly (Funding, pre-orders, product). I had always thought that the 'startup life' was for me. Though my goal was just to help a friend get one of his many ideas off the ground, it was weird to think that the 'startup life' was actually happening.

Then Microsoft came calling with an interesting offer; designing services for the future of gaming at Xbox sounded like a pretty good gig, too. My wife an I agonized over the decision for months. Literally, months. Basically, I was letting the fear of missing out stop me from pursuing a new opportunity. I handed the ropes back to my friend, explained the situation to my investors and went on my way.

Though I think about that startup often, I know I chose well, and it really is all because I decided I wanted the 'new' more than I was afraid of it.

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29 Nov 2015 - Ever had a project that never went anywhere? I have. I have notebooks full of those kinds of projects. But why? Because I never used the same discipline with personal projects that I did at work. You know project requirements like milestones, specifications and such. This year I tried it. This year I came up with specs and dates for even the smallest self led projects and I gotta say, it works just like you would imagine--pretty great. The other thing I do now is trim the fat to make sure the project finishes succinctly. I have a lot of ideas, so I have to be strict about how long I can work on each one. With a spec I can plan out my time and move from project to project, completing them in turn. I'm really happy I finally got this one down.

Ex. I like writing. But it can take a lot of time so I don't do it as often as I would like. So even for this article, I kinda made an outline to follow, and criteria to let me know when I was done. I then approached it in steps.

1. Find the tweets
2. Make some pictures
3. Explain the tweets
4. Give an example for each

Each step represented 25% completion. Once I had written my 5th example I knew I would be done. Any new ideas that come up (which about 3 things have), are going in a different article, not this one. After focusing on requirements I have finished a lot more of my smaller projects that kept slipping through the cracks.

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6 Oct 2015 - This one changed the way I look at leadership and relationships. It occurred to me that people are really good at optimizing their actions to get to the outcome they want. I wanted people to take risks, but wasn't rewarding them when they did. The 'result,' in this case was taking the risk, not the outcome of that decision. If you want results, reward people better when they produce better results. Reward unevenly, but reward fairly. 

Ex. I have worked with a lot of great engineers in my startup career. When they deliver results, I have noticed that, along with more money, taking them to lunch and working with them to make sure they are working on the things they want to, is very appreciated. By letting them adjust their responsibility and scope of influence you will get even better performance.

I now reward results by letting them work on the things they love most, which will almost always be what they are best at.

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7 May 2015 - 'Then' is just so much more convenient than 'now.' At least that's how I saw things. But doing things that way is a good way to fill your mind with projects (most of which will just waste storage) that will never be. I reached a point where I needed to clean out some of the old and make way for the new. I wanted to get the 'kill' or 'build' as soon as possible, it is very painful, and I am not sure I'll get through my backlog this decade. 'Now' is better for me now. When I have a new idea, I start it now and try and get to the 'kill' or 'build' point before moving on. Once it's vetted, it can go to the backlog, that way my backlog stays current with relevant ideas worth pursuing. I vet it, and forget it. 

Ex. I recently started at Xbox, and had an idea. What if there was a small team that made projects which used gaming as a vehicle to connect, teach and create? I pitched the idea (I didn't wait to have the perfect pitch, or anything more than a string of thoughts) to the head PMs of Xbox Live and Xbox in my first meeting with them. I figured, why wait? So I explained how it would be a place to experiment with gaming on projects with small scope, that could make gaming relevant for millions more people. They liked it. If I had waited, I definitely wouldn't love my job as much as I do right now.

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4 Jul 2015 - This one has changed my life. My wife blew my mind with her wisdom when she said it. It doesn't matter where you find yourself, or what you happen to be working on. I perform better at every task, project, and goal with this mindset. GO HARD. 100% effort until you fall asleep.

Nothing is so trivial that you should not give your all.

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What are some of the valuable lessons you learned this year? Let me know below! I always tweet the lessons as I learn them, if that is interesting to you, follow me on Twitter @MasonWooley.