Mastodawn

David Smith Jun 7, 2024

For my Craftsmanship & Consideration post today I unpack something I noticed in my own career.

Back when I first heard the phrase "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish" I used to think of it as a positive, motivational affirmation. But I discovered that I now think it is more of a cautionary admonition. That the natural posture after attaining any level of success is to instead become “Defensive and Skeptical”.

It is a warning against that tendency.

https://www.david-smith.org/blog/2024/06/07/defensive-and-skeptical/

Defensive and Skeptical - David Smith, Independent iOS Developer

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Joseph Humfrey

@_Davidsmith woah this rings very true. I’ve definitely become far too defensive and skeptical, and think I do need to fight back.

For me in the cyclic world of indie game dev, I usually get burnout and cynicism right after releasing a game (I’m currently in that phase). In my mind I frame it as needing to regain my naivety, which is a very similar notion to wanting to stay foolish.