♟️ The Metagame #017: What’s Your Game Plan?

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving! I know I talk a lot about productivity, efficiency, and “life hacks,” but it’s all for nothing if you don’t take the time to relax and reflect.

Make sure you spend some time with your loved ones, enjoy the little things in life, and stuff your face with some food this week.

Anyway, here’s what’s in store for today:

• Creating a plan

• Turning ideas into actions

• Building an app

Read time: 3.5 minutes

When was the last time you sat down and wrote down a plan?

And I mean actually taking the time to write out the problem, goals, steps, etc.

Maybe it was for a project at work, a personal hobby, or even a ten-year life roadmap.

Many of my failed coding projects fizzled out because I started with an idea but had no clear roadmap. Sometimes, I’d get a rough prototype working. Other times, I’d fail miserably.

But lately, I've started doing things a little differently. I took a page out of my analytical engineering brain and started writing things down.

I set up a project board for everything I’m working on and split up my tasks by what project they’re for and how much effort they’ll take. Every week, I check in on these boards to figure out my next steps.

Sounds like a lot of work, right?

It’s not as much as you’d think.

Building a system is kind of like putting together a computer. (I know not everyone has done this, but bear with me.)

You have to:

1. Figure out what parts you need: List out all the requirements.

2. Learn how to assemble them: Watch YouTube tutorials, read guides, and get familiar with how the parts all fit together.

3. Put it all together: Carefully connect everything and hope you don't fry the whole system (something I have experience with).

4. Turn it on and use it: Once it's running, you can enjoy your new setup.

Sure, there's some extra cost and upfront work. But once it's up and running, maintenance is minimal.

You just use it.

That's how my projects feel now. I've got a big list of ideas—some more detailed than others—and I know the basic steps to bring them to life.

It's how I built sequence.games just in a few days.

It’s how I automated tracking insider and congressional trades (@BeatOfTheMarket on 𝕏)

It's how I'm developing my NBA stats prediction app.

And it’s how I can quickly get any of my new ideas from zero to one.

How I Turn My Ideas Into Actions

These days, most of my new projects start the same way: an idea hits me at a random moment—maybe while I’m running, hanging out with friends, or reading a book. My first instinct is to write it down immediately.

(Our memory isn’t as great as we think. Learn how to write things down, whether it’s in a physical notebook or a digital database. Trust me.)

From there, it’s a simple 3-step process:

1. Write Down the “Why”

Once the idea is in my database (or on paper), I figure out the why. Why do I want to build this?

Most of the time, it’s because it solves a problem I have. And if I have this problem, chances are someone else does too.

(Side note: This is also the part where a lot of ideas die. After reviewing my list, some ideas don’t seem as exciting or practical as they did in the moment. And that’s okay.)

2. Find Your End Goal

Next, I clarify the project’s end goal. Whether it’s a coding app, an AI-powered automation tool, or something totally unrelated, I ask myself: What’s the minimum I need to do to call this project “complete”?

And no, this isn’t me being lazy and wanting to do as little work as possible (although that is me other times…)

This is what we call the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—the barebones version that still achieves your goal.

Focusing on the MVP is an important (and often ignored) step. If you try to build something too fancy from the start, you’ll never finish.

3. Break Down The Steps

After identifying the MVP, I split it into smaller, digestible tasks. Let’s use a hypothetical app as an example:

Say I have an idea to build an app that helps people remember names (because let’s face it, most of us are pretty bad at it). The core concept: Use AI to generate names and faces, then gamify the process of memorizing them.

The app should have login screens, backend databases, AI integration, user interactions, maybe a scoreboard—the list of features can go on and on.

Sounds overwhelming, right?

But if I focus on the MVP, it’s much simpler: Build an app that generates names and faces and lets users practice remembering them. That’s it.

The rest can (and often will) come later.

Here’s how I’d break it down:

• Write code to generate names and faces using AI.

• Build a basic user interface to display them.

• Create logic for users to input and match names.

• Deploy it to a platform like Google Cloud.

Each task can be broken down further (if necessary) and given an estimated time to completion.

Now, instead of the intimidating mountain of “build an app from scratch,” I have a list of manageable to-dos.

(I plan on building this at some point, but if you take my idea and beat me to it, just give me a shoutout.)

If you've got ideas, dreams, or goals—whether it's a coding project, a personal hobby, something for work, or anything else—remember that preparation is half the battle.

As they say, "A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Writing down your plan doesn't just clarify what you need to do—it makes the whole thing feel more achievable.

So grab a notebook, open a doc, or fire up your favorite app.

Start jotting down your ideas.

Break them into manageable tasks.

Review them often.

You'll be surprised how much progress you can make when you actually have a plan.

Quote of the week

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions, hit me up on LinkedIn or on 𝕏 at @sam_starkman, or feel free to reply to this email!

— Sam