Working in the Hard Stuff

All right, I don't have time to write a proper post, so instead let's try some homework.

1.  Name five skills you wish you possessed that would make you a better DM.

Be specific.  Be very specific.  If you can express the skill - as it applies to YOU, personally - in a sentence or less, then you're not thinking hard enough about the question!  You're tossing off a trite phrase that you've tossed off a hundred times without it meaning anything.  You are a complicated person, with complicated needs and complicated motives.  Describe five skills you want that apply to those motives.

2.  Name five sacrifices you'd be willing to make to gain any of those skills.

Again, be specific.  Think about the sacrifice.  Be honest about it.  Name something you actually think you'd be able to do . . . even if it is a very small sacrifice.  A tiny sacrifice that has the potential of actually happening is a million times better than a great, fake sacrifice you'll never make.

That's it.  That's more work than you'll do this year - if you'll apply yourself.

As for me?

I can do express this easily.

Read this blog.  There are at least five skills I've named.  In insane levels of detail.  There are at least five sacrifices I've made and described myself willing to make.  In insane levels of detail.

But I'll work on it and have five more of each . . . as soon as I can.

The title of this post: this is something I used to say when gearing up to talk over something that truly mattered with someone that mattered to me.