My First Mastermind

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Hello fuzzbutts!

So I’ve been streaming for a while now and I feel like I might have plateaued a little bit. I’m not trying to turn my streams into a full-time gig and replace my career (I like my career) but I do want to continue to improve and grow the channel. One of the things I’ve been curious about this entire time is the concept of masterminds. I normally see them for people who run businesses and want to advance to the next level but I figured “Why not for streaming too?” So I invited a couple of streamer friends who come from different backgrounds and content creation to sit together and talk out our feelings and get/give some advice.

I’ve never hosted (or attended) a mastermind before so I wanted to just keep it simple. I wrote up my own prompts of questions I needed to ask myself and get thinking. I wrote up my own answers for each of them and sent them to the invitees as examples of questions to think about and how to approach the ideas. Did I notice anything in the analytics about how many people were watching and was there a reason the numbers were high or low? What is something I struggle with and would like to improve? What’s something I would like to add into my streams? Is there anything in the back end (tech, tools, etc) that I could use to improve the way the streams go? Questions like those.

It was tricky to schedule us all together (Different timezones) but we did finally meet up. We hopped into a voice call and I led the way, discussing my stream first along with the questions and ideas I had. I received a ton of wonderful feedback and even better ideas that I could try to implement.

We then picked the next person and discussed their work and it was so enlightening to hear about the things they struggle with that I would never have guessed to be a problem for them. We talked it out and came up with more ideas on how to address their issues and even went on discussions and tangents that also led to more interesting insights.

By the time we had to wrap up (I was about to go live when we ended), we had clocked in almost 4 hours and probably could have gone another 4 hours talking shop. I did my best to lead the group through the prompts and discussions but also let ourselves go on tangents since they also led to nuggets of gold. There were maybe only a couple of times I had to reel in the conversation.

Everyone, at the end, was very pleased with what we had all talked about and came away with some valuable ideas on how to move up to the next level. I wrote down all the notes and action items for each of us and posted it so they could keep it handy and try to implement something in the coming month. As much as I loved it and would adore having another discussion this coming weekend again, I think it’s important to let the ideas digest and give ourselves a chance to actually try them out so that’s why we won’t do it again for a month.

That being said, I did leave the door open that if we ever wanted a non-mastermind chat, it’d be a fun time to just talk, rant, and just have a more formless talk.

Overall, I’m really happy with the group and it wasn’t even too hard to get started (Scheduling a time for us to get together was probably the hardest part). The important thing is to make sure you prepare ahead of time and be ready with follow up questions to pin down the tasks that need to be accomplished. Contributing to others and receiving their advice is a major part of any mastermind group.

I think 3 of us was plenty for a meeting like this as we get the balls rolling and I learn a bit more about how to host these. It was still about 4 hours of good discussion and it would have been much longer if I had 1 or 2 more people. I’m happy with the size of our group and time will see if anything changes.

So yeah! If you have something you want to take to the next level and could use some advice, it wouldn’t hurt to gather a couple more people, set a framework for the discussion, and see what you all have to say!

Discovering the conditions that work for you!

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Good evening fuzzbutts!

So I’ve been getting much better with my art, especially my digital work, for the past year. I’ve been able to schedule 2-hour blocks at a time and sit down with just the focus being on the art and some chit chat. How did this happen? I didn’t realize it until after doing it for the first couple of weeks how I was able to sit down and focus like that.

The short answer is I streamed my work. I would get myself and my avatar live, share my screen on clip studio paint, and get to work. Sharing the work with an audience and being able to talk to people while I worked (via the chat) was amazingly helpful for me to stay in my chair and easily squeak out 2 hours of work on an art piece. I spent the month of February this year just doing art instead of my usual gaming and I improved a ton. Incorporated art streams between games also helped me stay regular with regards to performing digital art. I no longer count the hours involved in a piece (My last one came out somewhere between 8-10 hours) and am more focused on the finished product.

Another thing that helps is just that sometimes I have trouble figuring out what’s wrong in the piece. Something around the hips looks off or maybe the face had something going on that I can’t quite identify. Amazingly, what’s not apparent to me has often becoming apparent to the people watching and they will sometimes chime in with helpful advice or remind me about something I may have forgotten (A detail on the character or whether or not I need to flip the piece due to something else like the character being right-handed but I drew them left-handed).

In a way, it’s like being surrounded by friends who are supportive of you in your work. You feel motivated to perform for them and also happy that there’s somebody who wants to see it. Usually that feedback shows up AFTER the piece is done, when you post it online and the Likes/Faves start to come in.

If not on a stream, you can still achieve the same by streaming it virtually in Discord to friends or, if possible, spend time with friends where the focus is working on art. Getting together for an art jam is so satisfying sometimes.

That being said, I understand it’s not for everyone. Sometimes you don’t want to be around others and just need to stay in perfect peace with maybe a little music or just pure quiet. It’s up to you to experiment what works best.

What about the time of day? Maybe you need to start in the morning before your energy is sucked away by your work or just life in general. Maybe you need it at night in order to help unwind from the stress of the day. There’s all kinds of factors to try out and eventually you’ll get it figured out.

For me, streaming has become a fun second job, whether it’s working out on stream, drawing, or gaming, I keep a regular schedule and it’s become super helpful for my productivity, as hilarious as that sounds. Hopefully you can find your way to discovering what conditions work for you!

Welcome back, me. Thanks!

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It’s been a long time, friends. I keep this page on my startup for my browser and it’s been interesting to watch as I let it lie fallow for all this time. The last time I posted, I was going to BLFC. It was a good time with friends. After all this time, though, I held off on going to cons due to all the COVID stuff and rules and changes.

That being said, I did hit a rough spot in this blog when I felt like I was mostly regurgitating things that I had seen in other articles or books. It didn’t feel particularly original and creative so I fell off the wagon pretty hard. I wasn’t even sure how to monetize a blog so it became tougher to find the motivation to work on here.

The good news is I’m still around, still looking for things to do and still putting a lot of my own advice to use in various areas so that I can continue to be productive as I also embarked on a new adventure in streaming video games, fitness, and VR stuff and building up a cool cast of friends.

I’ve been carrying out all kinds of experiments and fun. I hope to be able to continue to post things on here with what I learn, especially when it comes to streaming content on Twitch and developing new skills.

Keep an eye out while I dust this place off and get back to work around here.

BLFC Bound and Planning

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Hello fuzzbutts!

It’s been a bit since my last post but I’m going to Reno and will be at BLFC this weekend. Given that, I wanted to go ahead and write a little more about planning and being ready for anything!

First thing is that my FurCon Checklist has been serving me well. I haven’t needed to update it except maybe to add Face masks to the list but I’m not sure how much longer that will be (plus I need it for the plane anyway) so I just play that part by ear. Other than that, I’m able to use the checklist to remember all the important things I’m going to need. I do keep sharing it with friends and they find it helpful.

The checklist made me think about how many other things we could plan with something so simple. Whether it’s a morning routine, a little event for the day like a beach day or going to an amusement park. By setting yourself up in advance with a plan and a checklist to tick off, you can get more done in your day. This could even be something you jot down on a notepad at work for the various things you want to get done when you get home. You generate the list of things you need or just need to get done, and you’re already set rather than hope you remember everything later. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I forget something important for a trip or a con until I started packing a little bit early and following a list of everything I needed.

So get to do some planning, check out the con list, and start to ponder your daily life for ways to optimize and re-plan your work. If you go to the beach every week or some excursion and usually forget SOMETHING, keep a handy dandy list of everything you should take!

Hope to see you at BLFC! Feel free to say Hi!

DenFur ’21 Review!

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Hello fuzzbutts!

I had a few days to stew and relax since DenFur. I wanted to think over some of the things that happened, what was offered, the con space, all that good stuff. So now it’s time to run through it.

The Hotel:

The convention took place at the downtown Sheraton in Denver, CO. It was about 40 minutes away from the airport. The rooms were comfortably sized since I had a single king bed and friends had double-queen bedrooms. The room could have benefitted from a dresser to organize things rather than a single drawer in the room. Still, they provided water, coffee, and all the standards for a hotel. The bathroom was lovely but used a sliding door without any lock. So if you want privacy from your roommates, it might be a thing. The hotel did have a pool on the 5th floor and the view was alright from my spot on the 6th floor. That being said, the hotel is in the downtown area and Denver seems to be suffering from a rather significant homeless problem in the area even around the hotel. The hotel has no food with room service but the street level did have 2 great restaurants and bars which were reasonably priced, especially given the fact it was in a hotel.

The Con Size:

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this convention. This is one of the first furry conventions since the end of the COVID lockdowns so I felt furries might still be staying away or might be stir crazy to get out and see old friends (like me). Also I never heard of DenFur being an especially large con and only chose to go because I had friends going as well. The con attendance was a bit under 2700 furries so it was pretty darn big. The convention floor was just below the lobby and had plenty of space. There were numerous panel rooms and the nightly dances had plenty of space for everyone to have fun.

The Con Setup:

So, being one of the first furry cons since the pandemic, the management at DenFur took extra care. Despite the county stating that masks were only required indoors if unvaccinated, the con required attendants to wear masks in the con space. If you were in the hotel, you didn’t have to. On top of the masks, DenFur required all attendees to verify their vaccination status through official channels like the state registries or by having the actual cards with you. There was a very unfortunate trade-off by requiring this extra layer of verification, however. The registration lines were absolutely horrendous! I arrived the night before the con and got into line at 8PM and didn’t get my registration until 11PM. It was even worse for those who showed up on Friday, the first day of the con. Posts on Twitter revealed complaints of people waiting anywhere from 4.5-6.5 hours in the single registration line! I assume some of this is due to people reaching the front of the line and not having the correct paperwork but when I had gotten to the front, I had everything immediately ready. I’ll err a little generously and say it only took 2 minutes once I reached the volunteer at the front desk. With five desks open, that’s 5 people every 2 minutes if everything is smooth. With 2700 people in total, that’s 540 minutes or a total of 9 hours IF EVERYONE HAS EVERYTHING IN ORDER. I could easily see a single attendee taking longer than 10 minutes if they didn’t have the proper record (i.e. copies or pictures of it were not allowed). If any other conventions are going to be performing these screenings, I hope they learn from the errors made here as there was plenty of talk about people missing panels on the first day because they couldn’t get through registration.

The Con Stuff:

They did provide free printed face masks which was a really nice touch. I did notice the con space did seem to be colder than the rest of the hotel and that made it much easier to fursuit around and have fun! I’m already not much of furry who goes to panels but the selection that was being offered didn’t really interest me at all. Every night, it was nice to try out the variety of DJs playing sets in the dance hall. The main con space is an open area which has an artist alley. The tables in the alley were mostly open and it didn’t seem terribly convenient. I would have preferred tighter spacing for the artist alley but I understand why they spaced them out. The dealer’s den wasn’t particularly huge but it did have a lot of vendors. If you’re interested in the 18+ area, it was only 3 tables in a small room so it took all of 2 minutes to browse the wares.

Overall:

I enjoyed DenFur. Tons of fursuits and quality time with friends in a lovely hotel. It was nice to get out and about and the convention space was great for a convention of this size. That being said, I would be singing a different tune if I had waited until Friday to get my registration because 6 hours in line is absolutely insane. If it wasn’t for that, I think a lot more furries would have much more positive things to say about the convention but I saw plenty who ended up spending the entire first day grumbling and irritated. I’m hopeful the screening next year will be lighter so I’m willing to be more forgiving and assume this was a one-time thing. I’m leaning toward going again next year!

Off at DenFur!

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Hello fuzzbutts!

Having a great time right now at DenFur. Fancy hotel and meeting with lots of friends I haven’t seen since the lockdown!

There’s a good chance, if you’re new here, that you found one of my business cards to this site! I update occasionally with productivity and lifestyle tips that help me and I hope will also help you! Feel free to say hi if you spot me suiting around.

I tell you, this con and just getting away from the usual daily grind has me motivated to do more again. I’ll have to come up with a plan and some ideas and I’ll be sure to share them here with you!

Have fun fuzzbutts!

Friends will keep you moving!

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Good morning!

It’s been about 3 weeks now since adopting a new workout routine and it’s been awesome to be doing it with friends again. For those who don’t know (which might be all of you), I used to follow a strict and rigorous workout routine with my best friend. We’d meet up at 6AM at the gym, Monday thru Friday, and crank out a muscle group for an hour with a bit of cardio to begin with. I gained about 30 pounds over a year and I was in the best shape ever. However, he eventually moved out of state and I suddenly found it much harder to get to the gym and keep it up. You’d think doing it for a couple of years would’ve locked it in as a habit! The best I could do was light maintenance just so I dont fall apart. However, like plenty of others for other types of tasks, I sometimes need that extra motivator of having a friend handy to boost me further.

Friends motivate each other by keeping each other accountable! You all decide to work out? Great! One of you doesn’t feel like it one day? Those other two will get you into the gym! Plus, nobody wants to look like the flake so you’ll keep yourself moving in order to keep from being the weak link. On top of that, your friends know how you’ve been doing lately so they’ll also keep you from taking things too easy. You probably aren’t going to get away with doing a session of light stretching when your friends are right there hitting the weights and panting up a storm!

It’s not just the gym. Develop an art jam schedule with friends and show up to draw or write or whatever. As long as your group, whether it’s 2 people or 4 (I’ll explain that a little further down), contains a person or two who is feeling dedicated that day, you stand a greater chance of continuing and succeeding. At the very least, it gets you to show up and spend the time on the topic, skill, or whatever it is you need to work on.

So why do I mention 2 or 4 people? Well, unless you’re leading the group and they’re all depending on you, it will become easy to fade into the background with a larger group. You stop showing up and the group carries on without you and, because they may not miss you as much, any guilt about the situation is reduced and the entire point of you joining the group fades away. Sometimes a fuzzbutt requires a little more intimacy rather than just feeling like a face in a crowd.

I’ll end with how my new workout habit is performed with friends who live as far as Europe! Does not apply to everyone but we have VR! We log into VRChat together, find a certain place called the Squat Gym, and do a bunch of squats togethers! It’s gamified and I spend a little time coaching my friends! They’re so eager to get into better shape that I can’t get away with taking a day off. The squats have expanded to other calisthenics (since working with weights in VR is hard) like pushups or sit-ups and we drive each other to perform better. Reminders in the morning on our workout days also mentally prepare us to get together! It’s just fun and we spend time lounging and chilling out afterward, getting in some good social time after the workout. I hope to keep this going longer and I hope you can find a way to get your friends together and motivate each other to develop yourself!

Good luck, fuzzbutts!

Resuming the work

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Good morning!

It’s been a while and I’ve been neglecting this. You’d think I’d be stronger since I open up my blog every single time I open up my web browser (which is a lot). The reason I started this blog is to perform research and learn more about productivity habits and lifestyles to build a better life for myself. My life wasn’t going the way I wanted it to and I knew I had to make a change. I started going through the work, putting together this project, and things have been on a steady, if not rapid, increase ever since. I’d say this year has been the best for my art than it has ever been. Since starting the work, I’ve moved way further in my career, got my own place and have been leading a life I enjoy much more.

Regarding here, I do feel like it’s important to pick this back up and resume writing. Four months is too long not to write and keep this going. I do see people still liking and following this blog so I know it’s still providing value out there. I also do enjoy writing and just because it’s been a long while, I shouldn’t feel weird about starting up again if it’s something positive for me and others. There are some new things I’ve been learning and plenty more left to learn.

I already know the next post which involves friends and keeping each other accountable. I’ll be keeping this going again soon. I’m going to be duplicating a lot of this work on substack at

https://productivewuff.substack.com/p/coming-soon

Glad I could check in with you fuzzbutts. Keep an eye out as I get the ball rolling again!

The TAIL Principle

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Hello fuzzbutts!

We’re well into February now and I hope you’ve all been able to keep up with your SMART goals! Now would be a great time to check in on your progress and review how you’re doing! If you’re not accomplishing or at least making progress on the things you set out to do, you need to look at the reasons why. Is it your fault? Is it something else? Did somebody else do something? I have good and bad news for you. The bad news is that you’re ultimately responsible for how you end up. The good news is you can fix it! You can fix it by adopting the TAIL principle.

TAIL stands for Taking Accountability In Life. That makes taking on the mindset that you are ultimately the one who is responsible for what you want. If your life isn’t where you want it, you have the power to adjust and choose what to do with it. The pandemic throw off your plans last year which is why you didn’t do anything? Well if you make yourself accountable for your own life, there’s probably all sorts of ways to adapt your plans or pivot into something that would be more productive rather than locking yourself down with nothing to do but catch up on your game library or Netflix queue.

Unfortunately, this mindset isn’t easy. “Well I would study but my roommate makes too much noise! I was going to exercise but I can’t go outside now. I just don’t have time.” are all thoughts that make it easy for us to stop doing anything. You can overcome these issues but you have to find the solutions by sitting down and thinking about it. Solutions like “I’ll wear headphones and listen to something helpful while I study. I’ll look up some indoor exercises just so I can get a workout in. I should look at what I do after work and see if there’s anything I can cut so I can work on my goal.”

This doesn’t just apply to your goals, this applies to everything in life. Are you going to be in charge of how you feel or are you going to let others affect your mood? Something big happens that ruins the goal you were trying to accomplish like an accident or health issue. Are you going to suddenly stagnate or are you going to find a new way to live? Is there more you can do at work to avoid the obvious problems you can see coming down the line?

You’ll notice your life feels much more in control when you increase your responsibility for yourself and become accountable for your actions and how you’re leading your life. Start with small things and you’ll soon find yourself taking ownership of larger things within your control. You can’t control everything outside but you can control how you respond to those things.

Good luck, fuzzbutts!

New Year Again!

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Hello fuzzbutts!

After some amazing time from Thanksgiving thru the new year, it’s time to get back to work. It’s a new year and everyone is talking about resolutions again. Isn’t it amusing to hear all of these grand goals by others, inwardly knowing that they’re not going to accomplish them? Those who’ve been following along here or have gone through the old posts know the secrets to reaching our goals. To begin, we start with setting good goals. That means SMART goals!

First, it’s Specific. It must be Measurable so you can track progress or when you’ve actually accomplished the goal. It must be Attainable which means you can actually reach the goal. The goal must actually be Relevant to your life. Finally, it must be Time-based to keep the pressure on you and keep you moving.

Once you have your SMART goals, it helps to break them down into smaller and smaller goals which are each steps toward your big goal. If you wanted to learn a language by the end of the year at a conversational level, you’d probably want to finish an early, beginner course by the end of the first quarter. Even that, finishing that early course could get broken down into smaller goals. You don’t have to be crazy about designing all these sub-goals but keep them in mind.

So you have your SMART goals and the smaller goals. Now, it’s time to assess yourself. When do you work best? Is it in the morning before work? Is it after work? Late hours before bed? Middle of the day when you have a good break? If you don’t know, experiment with this and find out and try to find your peak hours. For me, I do best in the morning so I get up at 5AM and work for about an hour before getting ready for work.

From that point on, it’s about keeping yourself accountable for your work, remaining adaptable in case you need to change anything, and grinding away at your goals. Remember to pace yourself, keep an appropriate schedule, and continue to work toward being the fuzzbutt you really want to be!

Love you and good luck, Fuzzbutts!