The Quest For Completion

My name is Jared and I suffer from Leonardo Da Vinci Syndrome. (Now where are the free drinks?) You might ask how this could be. I completed High School and College like many people. Sounds like I completed something doesn't it. In reality you just wait long enough and school throws you out with a piece of paper. I'm not quite sure why you hear about so many dropouts. Perhaps they only see the expectations and not the reality. Back to my point.

Half-completed projects and unfinished designs are everywhere. (I can no longer make out my desktop wallpaper because of all the icons.) This is a problem no employer will look kindly upon. So, I have designed a personalized solution.

Note: This solution will not work for everyone. "Leonardo Da Vinci
Syndrome" is a psychological issue whose solution must be tailored to the person and
problem, to build on his or her personal strengths. If your issue was not
completing sex, programming may not be your answer.

My solution is simple. I will take my inspiration from the one thing I can consistently finish, video games. It's ingenious how a video game can pit one man versus an entire planet of identical monsters and have you still wanting to play after 10 mins. By breaking down a large task into smaller levels or tasks with finite completion points, anyone can conquer the world. (Actually, this is a proven technique for problem solving, but, like all things, it requires laborious practice.)

Step One
Major Goal: Complete Projects.
Programming projects lend themselves to my talents, interests, and future job, so I will choose programming projects.

Step Two
Arbitrary Breakdown: 5 military style ranks, right out of a game, consisting of 2 projects each.
I use five ranks instead of ten for the same reasons different pricing levels increase profits.

Step Three
Start Programming.

My first success was the program I use to track my progress. Boy was I wrong when I laughed at myself.

Private Jared