The plan

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TL;DR

  • I want to write a book about esports performance but have a track record that says I won’t accomplish it.
  • I explain in detail my failproof 5 step plan.
  • I’ll publish a piece of content every Friday at 19:00 CEST. If I don’t do it I’ll donate money and double the amount per day.

I must admit that I have a love-hate relationship with creating content. I don’t enjoy the process but I love helping others accomplish their goals. Creating educational content allows me to reach more people.

I’ve never been consistent either. During my professional poker career I created 3 poker blogs, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and abandoned them all. I also attempted to write a book, but after one month of research and drafting some chapters I abandoned it too. And again, I find myself in the situation where I want to write a book and I’m starting another blog.

In my previous attempts I didn’t really have a precise goal or a plan. This time creating the blog and writing posts is a means to an end. The book is the destination, the blog is my path and this post is my first official step.

I’ve also created a fail-proof plan. Or at least that’s what I hope. If I fail this time the consequences will be much worse than all the previous times (later we’ll come back to the consequences of failing).

The book I want to write is about esports performance. There’s barely any quality content about this topic, while esports is becoming a massive industry. Anyone in charge of helping pros grow and perform has a really tough time learning how to do it. Esports is too young and has no formal academic path or barely performance experts.

The 5 step failproof plan

Having the goal and clear path is not enough. I’ve created the most “undodgeable” content creation scenario I could come up with. I want to reduce to 0% the chances of abandoning this blog and not writing the book.

Most times creating the plan it’s the toughest part but it’s needed to take the first step. I’m sharing it with you so you can hold me accountable and to inspire you to move towards your own goals.

Step 1: Tell your goal to everyone

Science shows that you shouldn’t share your goals but I prefer to do it the other way around. I prefer to talk about it and benefit from peer pressure. The potential shame of not accomplishing what I’ve said I will do boost forces me to act. I hate letting people down and failing to keep my word.

Creating content is outside my comfort zone and exposing myself forces me to head towards my goal. The vast majority of times what scares us is made up by our minds. By forcing yourself to do it over a long enough period you end up mastering it and becomes easy. Peer pressure will come in handy when I’m not feeling like writing. Even though it will be stressful (especially at the beginning) I think in the future I’ll be really glad I did it this way.

Step 2: Remove as many barriers as possible

I’ve had my Twitter account for many years but never really felt like sharing my status. I couldn’t fit what I really wanted to say in 140 characters, tried chaining multiple tweets and didn’t convince me. I like the recent upgrade to 240 characters but it still feels too constraining.

After realizing the Twitter limit was holding me back I created my facebook page to make longer opinion posts. For interviews, podcasts or super long opinion pieces I have my Youtube channel (1h long interview coming soon!) and for educational articles I now have this blog. Not having a platform that fit my content creation needs is not an excuse anymore!

Step 3: establish a post format

I’m going to experiment with this one:

  1. Quote – Tiny snippets of wisdom. I love them.
  2. TL;DR – In a few seconds you know what’s in the article. This way you can decide if it’s worth reading before getting deep into the post. Time is the most precious resource we have.
  3. Text article or video – if I want to write a book, I must create content!
  4. Key takeaways and lessons – Reminder of important lessons in the post.

This is just an experimental format, I’m pretty sure I’ll change it but it can’t be an excuse anymore. If you have any suggestions about a different or better format please drop me a comment.

4. Have a schedule and a deadline

A schedule helps with my inconsistency problem. I don’t enjoy writing so when I sit to write my brain does all it can to make me stop. Having a hard deadline forces me to finish and post, I can’t hide behind being too lazy or perfectionist. So, I’ll be posting a content piece (written, video or audio) every Friday at 19:00 CEST.

Another reason why I think I quitted my previous blogging attempts was that there was no end. Thinking that I’ll never finish what I started makes me feel uneasy and increases the chances of failure. This time I commit to creating content for one year. At the end of the 12 months I’ll spend one month writing the book and I’ll publish it.

5. If I fail, there’s a punishment

Even though the shame of not doing what I promised probably is enough, I want to be 100% sure I won’t fail. If I haven’t posted by Friday at 19:00 CEST I’ll donate $10 to a charity or to someone that impacts esports in a special way. And for every extra day that passes without me posting I’ll double the donation.

With this 5 step plan there’s an extremely high percentage of me succeding. If I create content on weekly basis I’ll be closer to writing the esports performance book. If I fail someone will get my money. It’s a clear win-win situation! 😀

By next Friday at 19:00 CEST I should have upload my next article. If I haven’t, come to spam my socials with links to your favourite charity or esports person to donate.

Key takeaways / lessons

  1. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Create a plan and take the first step.
  2. If something scares you it’s outside of your comfort zone. Move towards that direction to grow.
  3. Peer pressure can help to accomplish your goals, though so can keeping your goals secret!
  4. Having a structure reduces the amount of decisions you have to make before starting. It facilitates doing what you don’t want to do.
  5. Deadlines force you to deliver. It limits the chance of being lazy or too perfectionist.

 

 

 

9 responses to “The plan”

  1. Cosmin Luca says:

    Nice read, best of luck with your book! I’ll be watching you!

  2. David Hernandez Mingorance says:

    Hola Luis! Te sigo desde que entraste en Fnatic porque me parecía muy interesante lo poco que leía de tus métodos de trabajo con los jugadores y los tweets con un poco de tu sabiduría que escribes de vez en cuando.

    Soy un chaval de Granada que ha decidido dedicarse un tiempo a intentar competir profesionalmente en league of legends, y estoy muy interesado en la parte psicologica de los jugadores y todo lo que afecta a su rendimiento (estoy acabandome “The Leading Brain”, recomendado en twitter por CLG Darshan).

    Asi que solo quería decirte que mucho ánimo en tu trayectoria de escribir estos posts y finalmente tu libro, entiendo de primera mano lo dificil que es ser constante en un proyecto así y me alegra ver que has tomado medidas para no dejarlo. Estoy seguro de que tu paso por los esports va a marcar un antes y un despues en la metodologia de trabajo de los clubs y jugadores

    • Luis Deilor says:

      Hola David!

      Saber que tienes gente siguiendote desde hace tiempo y que valora lo que haces ayuda a seguir hacia adelante. Muchas gracias por tu apoyo!

      No conocía el libro. Gracias por mencionarlo, tiene muy buena pinta. Viendo que estás acabándotelo te recomendaría que le echases un vistazo a “The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence” de Josh Waitzkin y “Thinking, Fast and Slow” de Daniel Kahneman. Creo que te gustarán.

  3. 0vve says:

    Hi Luis!

    First of all, I want to thank you for the success you made with the Fnatic squad in 2015.
    Secondary, I really appreciate this with the way that you inspire other people to move into the esport scene. I’ve been watching Esport since 2010 with games like Starcraft, League of Legends and Hearthstone to CS:GO and Overwatch and all these games that I’ve watched have been analysed from start to finish to not finish. Not only because I want to improve my game sense but also try to learn other people that aren’t that in to the Esport scene and give my knowledge to them. Im only 15 right now but I want to work with Esport in some way. I will follow this blog and your journey on this to learn more from you as an experienced coach and analyst which Im really looking forward to.

    Thanks for making this as barely anyone has been taking the same step as you’ve done right now and I’ll support this blog from start to finish!

    Looking forward to tonights interview!

    Best regards!

    0vve/@MainManMesut on twitter

  4. Hola Deilor, te sigo desde que te anunciaron como coach de fnatic. Honestamente hubo una temporada que me dedique a investigar quién eres y de donde habías salido. Revisé tus estrategias del macro game en YouTube y a lo largo del tiempo que estuviste en fnatic me di cuenta que tienes algo diferente los coaches que actualmente existen. Espero continúes con tu proyecto del libro así mismo con Dygma. Se que el éxito del equipo en la temporada 18-0 muy en parte fue gracias a ti pragmatismo que es algo que actualmente no se encuentra ya en otros equipos. Trato de segur tu ejemplo por qué en parte me identifico con lo que escribes en este post con respecto a lo de publicar contenido. Soy fan de los periféricos Gaming y e desarrollado proyectos igual de hardware así que estoy ansioso por este último proyecto tuyo.

    Sigue así, nos inspiras a muchos.

    Espero tener la oportunidad de conocerte en persona algún día.

    ¡Saludos desde México!

    • Luis Deilor says:

      Hola Daniel, muchas gracias por tu mensaje y tu apoyo. Me alegra mucho saber que lo que hago inspira a gente como tú.

      Suerte con tu proyecto de hardware! Hemos elegido una industria muy dura.

      Quizá algún día coincidamos :).

      Un saludo!

  5. […] Ostatnio w taki sposób „oszukałem system” żeby napisać książkę esportową. Bardziej szczegółowo wyjaśniam ten proces w pierwszym poście na swoim blogu. […]