2020

Some notes of my 2020.

What a year, right..

What went right

• Managed to stay relatively healthy despite Covid & WFH situation.
• Don’t get to do Muay Thai training since WFH but started to regularly do short yoga work out at least 2–3 times per week thanks to my GF’s encouragement.
• Promoted as acting Head of Technical Art and acting Head of Art (day to day), yes.. 2 acting position but mostly I just take the cap of Head of Art because there’s where the necessary & important work is then and now. Get to learn how to be a manager.
• Had the chance to do a lot of small experiments for hypercasual product this year. Even if none of our prototypes make it to the market, I still count this one as a good one because of the tremendous experience we gained. I think we worked on ~15 different game ideas. And each have unique gameplay and at least 2 minutes demo worth of game time (for ad test recording), some even get to have 15–30 minutes of gameplay. As close to a truly crash course of game-making experience for me — from ideation, prototyping, to early market interest testing.
• Still managed to save ~15% of my yearly income to gold.
• On top of that, started saving on mutual fund (7% of yearly income) with low to moderate risk.
• Cover illustration side gig for Kami (Bukan) Generasi Bacot Novel done quite smoothly and also a bit faster than 2 title before in the series. I guess I’m getting more efficient and have build enough trust with the writer and editor by this time.

What didn’t go so well

• Didn’t do much painting practices.
• Didn’t do much coding practices.
• I.e: not improving much in term of technical skills.
• Busted a freelance project with an acquaintance. He hired me to create a prototype for a mobile game but I failed to deliver the prototype within agreed upon deadline. With reasons might be : not motivated enough on the idea. 1st time doing a freelance gig for a complete game project so I underestimate how much time is required for me to finish the project. Even after consulting with some friends, my early estimation is way off.
• Don’t get to meet my family in Padang face to face at all in 2020.
• Also don’t get to see GF a lot this year. I planned to at least visit her once a month, once we started LDR but Covid and me being a rational person ruined my plan.
• My wage was cut for varied percentage since May, but things are getting better since August for the company.
• Don’t eat enough fruits, I think.
• Gone through 2 flood in current rented house. Hope it will not happen again in 2021.
• Need to go to hospital for emergency treatment once, just because I ate late and drink coffee for dinner. Coffee → avoid.

What I learned

• Anything you didn’t prepare for or half-ass it will take way longer time to finish than if you just spend some time being thoughtful at the beginning
• Create systems, not just goals & schedules → build & nurture good habit, reduce bad habit. How to know if something is bad or good? Spend some time for contemplation, ask around if you yourself don’t know the answer.
• Cooking at home is definitely healthier and cost-effective than buying ready-to-eat food. But it can be time consuming if done carelessly, make time to prepare the ingredients asap after we buy it.
• Preparing schedules ahead of time for doing important tasks is very important when working in managerial position.
• I should just admit it and be strict with myself about coffee, I should always avoid coffee. And cheese, I don’t like cheese.
• It’s ok to fail and make mistakes. Don’t “plan” on making mistakes, but be fully aware that you don’t have to always be correct, successful, etc. If we failed, at least we tried. If we get stuck because fear of failure, it’s worse.
• For freelance gig, the way I am now, I should avoid taking project which concept does not interest me. With the novel cover project I am very invested in the story right from the first pitch so I don’t have hard time working on it. But with the failed game prototype, it’s very hard for me to even put my ass in front of the desk and schedule my time to work on it. I’m already trying to maximize my potential all the time at my day job. Maybe for side gig I want to be more relaxed.

How was yours?

Here’s hoping 2021 is not just a 2020 Ti 😂