#demotivational vader

[thecoffeelorian]

[airmofresh]

[iverna]

I've been in a creative slump lately, and I think I finally figured out why, and I want to share because maybe I'm not the only one.

So AI is here. And fandom engagement is wayyy down. And it feels like there are a dozen different ways that you're devalued as an artist/writer/any kind of creative person who makes and shares stuff. I've seen people talk about the lack of engagement and positive feedback, and that's definitely a trend as well and doesn't help. But there's something else at work as well.

I thought I was just burned out, maybe a little depressed, but I actually do have creative energy. I do stuff all the time. I'm full of ideas. It's only when it comes to fanart and fanfic and basically anything I'd share online that I sit down to do it and immediately want to give up and fall asleep.

I think I finally know why. What happens is, I make a thing, I share a thing... and it's met not with hate, or silence, but with demands for more. Every fic writer has probably run into this, the comments that just say "more please" or "when will you update". We all hate it. It makes you want to never update again. But when it's only the occasional comment, you shrug it off, maybe complain to your friends, done.

But I feel like it happens way more nowadays. It's a general shift in attitude. People do it with everything now. I like this thing, give me more of it. And I kind of get it, but also, I don't. Not to the extent it's happening at the moment.

The textbook example for me is still Rogue One. People loved it... and demanded a sequel. For Rogue One. A movie in which every single main character dies at the end, and which leads literally directly into A New Hope. What would a sequel even be about? The five minutes Leia spent running from Vader? It makes zero sense. The sequel to Rogue One already exists, it's called A New Hope and it came out over forty years ago.

But they didn't think about that. They didn't give a moment's thought to what a sequel could be, they just wanted more.

And as the person who made it, that reaction tells me a) you didn't pay a single ounce of attention to what I made because you're asking for something that makes no sense and b) nothing I make is or will ever be enough. The reaction is always "make more".

And that is just demotivating as hell. If nothing I do is ever enough, why even try? I might as well give up. If posting something means I'll have people demanding more, it's better I don't post anything. There's also, I think, a part of me that has her arms crossed and is refusing to make any more stuff for those people. But that's a small part of it. Most of it is honestly just an overwhelming feeling of wanting to give up. Which explains why it feels so much like depression.

So we've got this environment where people just demand more and can never get enough, and don't even really appreciate what they have because they're too busy demanding the next new thing. And it's not flat-out hate, I know some people will even insist it's a positive - after all, would I ask for more if I didn't like the thing? - and that's what's made it so hard to notice what's happening. It's like the attitude just sneaks into your brain and poisons you from the inside.

So I think this how I got to where I'm at currently. I hate it here. I hate sitting down to draw or write and immediately going "meh". I'm going to work out getting out of it. I can't change people, so I'll have to find a better way to deal with the situation, a way to keep it from doing this to me. I don't know how yet, but that's the next step.

I just wanted to share to see if it resonates with anyone, if anyone else feels like this? I only started figuring it out yesterday when it sort of hit me, so maybe it doesn't entirely make sense yet, but yeah. That's where I'm at.

[mnmovdoom]

DAY 28 - Anger Born of Worry (SW: Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader)

Piett had spent a few years under Lord Vader’s command, and he was familiar with his commanding methods. Lord Vader not only commanded from the front, most times he was the front. Some thought Lord Vader was protecting his troops; others thought Lord Vader was simply demonstrating his power and that he didn’t need anyone to help him win battles - whatever Lord Vader’s reasons might be, it was highly effective for troop morale and enemy demotivation. Besides being a successful commander, Lord Vader was also a rather reckless fighter, especially when it came to flying. His stunts and bold manoeuvres that would kill most men never failed to bring awe to his troops and terror to his enemies.  

As such, for the Imperial forces of the 501st, it was perfectly normal to see Lord Vader fly out in his TIE, or see him in a battlefield. It was perfectly normal to see Lord Vader perform impossible deeds and survive what killed mere mortals.

But young Luke had only been with his father for a few months now, and understandably, he was not used to Lord Vader’s methods. And recklessness.

Consequently, it was only natural that Luke was beyond himself. Which, in Piett’s opinion, was absolutely terrifying. Luke had such a sunny disposition, Luke always had a kind smile and friendly words to give, that seeing him angry was like something out of a nightmare. Luke’s voice thundered through the hangar, and though his target was Lord Vader alone, everyone else unlucky enough to be in the hangar at that moment was absolutely petrified -  Veers was actually discreetly shielding his troopers.

And all because, during the brief skirmish against opposing forces, Lord Vader was injured doing what he did best: charging against the enemy at the head of his troops.

(A head at the end of a very long neck, that is.)

Piett and everyone in that hangar had seen Lord Vader in much worse condition. Right now, Lord Vader was lacking an arm, the durasteel of his legs was on display through his ripped suit, his breathing was louder and ragged, and the control panel on his chest was sparking ominously, with a few wires hanging loose. And yet, Lord Vader was standing, having just jumped out of his battered TIE fighter and seemingly as shocked as everyone else by Luke’s anger. Maybe, part of that anger stemmed from Lord Vader’s strict orders for Luke to remain in the Executor as the ship’s commanding officer.

(Luke had very humbly asked for Piett’s help because he had never been in command of a proper ship and of so many people.)

For five minutes, Luke kept shouting about how Lord Vader was insanely reckless. The more exalted he became about the state Lord Vader was in, and about how the fuselage of his TIE fighter looked like a sieve, and about how Lord Vader had an Empire to pacify so he couldn’t get himself killed, the heavier the atmosphere in the hangar became. Crates trembled, lights flickered, and Piett noticed a scared pilot and a terrified trooper holding each other’s hands tightly.

And as abruptly as Luke had marched into the hangar with Piett to welcome the troops - and to shout at Lord Vader - Luke turned around and stormed off. Immediately, the lights stabilised, the crates stopped shaking, and the atmosphere became breathable again.

Everyone tried very hard not to stare at Lord Vader - Piett tried very hard, but he just couldn’t take his eyes off the new Emperor, who stood there, petrified and stunned by his son’s uncharacteristic outburst. For a moment, it was almost like Piett could see confusion flashing on the dusty surface of Lord Vader’s expressionless mask.

Like he really couldn’t understand what had prompted such a reception from his son.

“If… If I may, Lord Vader?” Veers asked, stepping away from the troopers he had been discreetly shielding. All attention - especially Lord Vader’s - was now on Veers, who cleared his throat and maintained an impeccable posture. “I believe Commander Skywalker is exceedingly worried about you.”

A wave of agreeing murmurs arose among those at the hangar who were parents. And while Piett didn’t have children, he had to agree that worry explained young Luke’s actions. Even though he and Lord Vader had been apart all of Luke’s life and had been on opposite sides of the war, it was well-known that Luke loved his father very much - just like Lord Vader loved his son more than life.

Without acknowledging Veers, Lord Vader left the hangar, heading the same direction as Luke. His rhythmical breathing was off and he was walking with a limp, yet that took away none of his imposing presence. His departure broke the trance, and soon the hangar erupted to life, with pilots and technicians coming to and fro and troopers leaving and droids and engineers rolling in to fix whatever there was to fix. With everything back on track, Piett exchanged a greeting with Veers and turned his back to return to the bridge.

In the meantime, Vader was making his way as fast as he could to his personal quarters, following the turmoil in the Force caused by Luke. The anger clogging their bond was actually making Vader sick, not just because it came from Luke - which in itself was wrong - but especially because of how raw it was. He had forgotten that Luke had that anger in himself, and while Vader wanted his son to learn how to use it, he didn’t want it to consume him.

In the back of his mind, he kept Veers’ explanation in a loop, but wasn’t particularly focused in analysing it yet. His main concern was to find Luke and calm him down.

As soon as he walked in his quarters, he found Luke standing by the viewport of the hall where Vader usually received his officers. Luke didn’t turn around when the door swished open, nor when Vader approached him. His arms were crossed over his chest, and when Vader stopped next to him and looked at his face, even through the tinted lenses he could see that Luke’s eyes were moist. Not only that, his jaw was clenched and his lips were pressed tightly, with a downward turn that reminded Vader of their fight on Bespin.

“You are still angry,” Vader pointed out, finally getting Luke to slowly look up at him, scowling. “General Veers pointed out that you are worried, and the Force confirms his words.”

And again, Luke snapped, angry and fuming and baring his teeth in a way that would’ve made Vader proud some time ago, but that now simply saddened him.

“Of course I’m worried, father!! You’re my father, you’re the Emperor, and you just… look at yourself!!!”

“Your worry is misplaced, my son. I have the Force, and no weapon can-”

“And you told me to stay here!!! What if something had happened, father??” Luke was shouting again, and for a moment, liquid gold swirled in the blue of Luke’s irises. “What if-”

Gently, Vader rested his only hand on Luke’s shoulder, flooding their bond with calm. Tension lingered in the air between them for a couple of seconds, but then Luke exhaled and looked down, seemingly shrinking.

“Do not hold onto something that did not happen, my son,” Vader said, his voice gentle despite the broken vocoder and the static. He cupped Luke’s cheek and tilted his head up, to see that Luke’s eyes were moister now:

“I just found you, father. I can’t lose you…” Luke muttered in a small voice. “When you climbed off your TIE, I… I was so worried - I still am, that you’re seriously injured, and that something like this will happen and I won’t be there and-”

Luke didn’t finish, instead throwing himself into Vader’s chest and hugging him around the middle of his back. With a sigh, Vader rested his hand on Luke’s head.

“Your worry is misplaced, my son. We will be fine,” he promised.

[cola-canine]

So I finished Jedi: Survivor (still plan on 100%'ing it) and I think it goes in my "Amazing" tier list at the moment.

My tier list goes Masterpiece, Amazing, Very Good, Good, OK, Bad, Very Bad, Awful, Unplayable.

I enjoyed this game a LOT but (spoilers ahead)

the Vader boss fight as Cere was a MESS. Like, I get he's supposed to be a difficult boss fight - it's fucking Darth Vader - but this shit was so unbalanced. VERY rarely do I have to change the difficulty of a game to finish it but this had to be one of those occasions.

Vader has this force grab attack that knocks out 75% of your health and mind you, you play with nerfed stims as Cere (4 stims compared to the 13 I had collected so far as Cal). There were times where Vader spammed this grab attack four/five times in a row and just made the fight impossible. And instead of just moving the fight along after you've already seen any cutscenes that play during the fight, you're forced to manually skip them each time.

And all that just for Cere to die anyways. Like I would've just preferred a scripted death. It was pointless, demotivating, and just outright not a good boss fight. It took me TWO HOURS to beat Oggdo Boggdo and Spawn of Oggdo Boggdo and I would still rather do that again than face Vader once more. And this is on NORMAL (Jedi Knight) difficultly.

Fallen Order had the right amount of difficulty and learning curve. Some of the boss fights and rift platforming sections hit that "You need to be pixel perfect to complete this" level which just becomes annoying rather than something to prove to yourself.

Had this not been such an anger-inducing fight that really just ruined the moment for me in the story, it would have hit my Masterpiece tier again. This game does nothing but improve upon Fallen Order. Koboh is a fantastic planet and outranks every other planet from both games combined. Beautiful, fun, and just chock full of content. I'm very excited to check out the rest of the goodies and finish upgrading everything.

The fact that we might see Cal tap more into the dark side of the Force is something I'm very interested to see gameplay-wise.

Who knows, maybe I will change my ranking down the line but as of now I like where it stands.

[floridaboiler]

[writingdotcoffee]

#13(3)7: How to Create a Writing Routine for Life

It’s that time of the year. The time of the year when I don’t feel like doing anything. It happens every year – usually late January or early Feb. This time it’s a little later than usual. I used to think these episodes were a mild form of burnout, but I’ve changed my mind about that. I don’t feel depressed or demotivated. I want to get things done, but I don’t seem to be able to get very far.

It may be exhaustion or perhaps boredom of doing the same things over and over again. Most likely, it’s a combination of the two. The world being on fire probably doesn’t help either.

In the past, I’d be ready – a todo list and Pomodoro timer in hand, forcing my way to productivity, often failing miserably anyway. This year, I decided to do something different. Let me explain.

As soon as I finish this article, I’m going to put the keyboard away and dust off on my Oculus Quest. It’s time to shred some disobedient robots in Robo Recall. Later on, I might challenge Darth Vader for a lightsaber duel and finish up with a casual swim with a bunch of whales. (Off-topic: I’m blown away by how good the games are. So good. I’m a casual gamer, but I’m sold on VR as the future.)

I bought the Quest when it came out a year ago. I barely even used it because I was working all the time. I love work. Making things and writing things brings me joy, but I’ve also learned that falling asleep on my keyboard doesn’t actually help me get more done (who knew?).

This ebb and flow of creativity can be unnerving. When you’ve worked so hard to create the right habits and build momentum over months and years, it’s devastating to watch them disintegrate. You’ve been hitting your word goal consistently day after day, then something happens and you haven’t written anything for two weeks! It feels like going back to square one, like everything that you’ve worked for was for nothing.

Writing routines are nuanced and very personal rituals. You don’t just set it up and forget about it. It requires constant evaluation and adjustment to keep it going. What worked last month may no longer apply. Sometimes, that means leaping into the unknown. Other times, it means taking a few steps back.

I’m a big fan of building streaks and timing writing sessions and other productivity hacks. But there are periods when the right answer is to slow down and take it easy. Read a book. Watch a film. Retire a bunch of malfunctioning robots on the Oculus. Catch some bugs in Animal Crossing.

The trick is to believe that it isn’t the end. That you’ll be able to pick up where you left off. It’s easier said than done.

Thanks for reading!

A quick reminder: Writing Analytics is FREE until the end of May 2020

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Past Editions

#136: The Words Will Add Up, March 2020

#135: Quarantine Survival for Writers, March 2020

#134: Focusing on the Right Metrics, March 2020

#133: Forget the noun, be the verb, March 2020

#132: Is Literature As We Know It Doomed?, March 2020

[naniwear]

A little motivation for your Daily Fandom Funny, courtesy of Darth Vader. And I’m posting this from home cos I have some killer bug that’s making being productive very difficult. So, go me that I got this done today! #starwars #darthvader #dailyfandomfunny #motivationalquotes #demotivational

[wewerliefertwasstuff-blog]

Good leadership does not criticize

Learning can be learned. This requires only four instruments and the necessary will. How this works, explains company coaching Volker Skibbe. Mr. Skibbe, you say running is basically simple. Is that really true? Volker Skibbe: You only need a tool kit with four instruments: praise, criticism, professional training and personal coaching. However, I must use it correctly. Suppose the employee does not work as he should. What am I doing? It always depends on his "willing", "can" or "may". First, I have to ask myself whether my employee does not want or can not. I do not have any influence on the "willing" of my employee, he decides. I can, of course, influence through rewarding, bribing or threatening. But I can not motivate him intrinsically. "Can" is an area that affects both. The employee brings a part, but I as a management is just as much asked to carry it. I have a lot of influence on the "may", because I set the boundaries, what it may and can not. This is the model: no influence, little or very much. Are the instruments now used? I agree. I can praise the employee for example. This is alien to some executives. Praise is thanks and confirmation alike. The danger is that the executive is using the praise manipulatively. If she realizes he does not want, then she praises him and his abilities. This sharp guiding tool quickly blunts. This praise is not honest, the employee notes quickly. Does not praise the motivation? No, praise is not an instrument to increase motivation. I would have to motivate because he is demotivated. But then he needs a personal coaching to find out why he is demotivated. Praise is for thanks and recognition. How does personal coaching work? It basically serves to get to know the employees in order to build up trust. Many bosses mean to know their employees, but they know little about them. From my point of view, it is the most important instrument at all, but it is least applied. The management should also open up, and this is unpleasant for many.

Is it also possible without? I call it "lead on the bright or on the dark side of power". Understanding and understanding is exhausting, but successful in the long run. A leadership of the dark side of power seems to be more efficient. It manipulates, threatens, captivates - and that is also successful. But who wants to work in Darth Vader's space ship? On the bright side of the Jedi knights, on the other hand, all work voluntarily. If I now however rausgefunden, that the employee simply makes too many mistakes ... Mistakes are there to be made. Every employee wants to work well. Therefore, for example, a question like "What are you doing for a crap?" Has nothing to do with leadership. How should I behave then? Ask him if he noticed the mistake. So I have to find out if it was a mistake at all. I am not at all in his world. He claims, 4 - 2 = 6, you probably think he spins. But do you bend two of a piece of paper with four corners, how much do you have? Right: six. I will say, it always depends on the point of view. Criticism would be completely inappropriate. You could say a good executive does not criticize. But the discussion is also on your list of management tools. Right, such a conversation I do but only if I notice the employee does not want, he denied me performance. This has nothing to do with the "skill". I no longer have a chance to lead him, because he does not "want" anymore. This is the last exit before the termination and often ends with a warning. If good leadership is so simple, why many fail, or vice versa, why do many employees think they have a bad boss? It is often only spoken about numbers and not about people. On the other hand, it also depends on the personal character. If I have grown up with such "if-you-not-then" threats, I also project them onto my employees. We are back on the dark side of power. It also works, and under time pressure it is easier to bribe or threaten with praise. Can any guide learn? To 90 percent everything is learnable. The right attitude, the "willing", however, is important. Depending on how talented one is, how often one leads consciously, the better one can become. The most important thing is to meet people's interest. How do I recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each individual? Pleas e ask your question! Ask the staff what is good and what is not so good. And here we are again the most important leadership instrument in personal coaching. Because this is also the task of a leadership: See what your people do well, discover their talents and promote them!

[floridaboiler]

[floridaboiler]

[floridaboiler]

[floridaboiler]

[floridaboiler]