Gaming · by Rohan Mehta · 2026-09-20

The surprising joy of doing the playlist badly at first from a neighborhood park

The detail that surprised me was how much the library changed the outcome. Same plan, different setting, completely different energy.

Part of me wanted the fancy version with all the tools. The better version was boring: one notebook, one reminder, and a willingness to be clumsy with the prototype for a while.

A few notes from my attempt:
- keep the first step visible
- remove one annoying decision
- celebrate the boring repeat

33 sparks · 5 comments

Comments

Ethan Brooks · 6 likes

Glad you shared it; small wins count. My friend tried it in Lagos and had the opposite result.

Budi Santoso · 3 likes

Did anyone else read this and immediately make a tiny checklist? The awkward constraint is probably the real story.

Paper Coder · 1 likes

I wish more posts had this much context. This is more useful on a tired busy month than on a perfect day.

Jiho Lee · 1 likes

I would not call it wrong, just incomplete. My only addition is to make the first step visible.

Isha Menon · 1 likes

What would you change if you started over? For me it came down to the tiny repair. I can already hear the menu music.