The Power of the Force is an older post about Anthony Salter’s specific experience with great opportunities resulting from his actions. He’s a game developer, too, so that’s a bonus.
It’s always inspirational to read about what someone else did, especially when you know that you can do it, too. It was probably this time last year that I was worried about my programming abilities. I was basically telling everyone, including myself, that I was out of practice and needed to work on it. Except I never did much to work on it for some time. Reading programming books wasn’t enough. I needed to actually DO something. When I started working on chapter exercises from different books, I realized that I was programming again. And when I did my first GiD, BOOM, I was making games! All I had to do was stop worrying and start doing. Taking action resulted in taking more action. I was no longer just thinking vague thoughts about what I would like to do. I was doing.
I’ve had self-confidence problems my entire life. In the past I have managed to overcome my fears and self-doubts long enough to do some great things, but afterwards I always reverted back to type, thinking “Whew! Glad I got away with that, now let’s never do that again.†This has kept me from seeing the truth – that everything I’ve really tried to do, I’ve succeeded at. And every time in the past that I have conquered my fear and moved resolutely towards my goals, the results have always been positive. But now I know. This most recent experience is simply the icing on the cake. I’m not going to be afraid any more. In a few years I’ll be speaking at the GDC. Just you wait.
Perhaps by then I’ll be attending myself. I’ll keep an eye out.