...which I still think is a really bizarre concept (what, are we gonna start calling smiles "skin emojis"?), but in this particular case I think it sort of works?
So, as some may know, I am a game-designer-in-training. A few months ago I managed to convince my college to let me return for the second half of the school year. A very unfortunate onslaught of depression had forced me to take a year and a half off, and although I'm still recovering, I am at least now capable of tricking people into thinking I'm a self-sufficient human being who knows what he's doing.
Anyway, one of the game design courses I take is about writing for games, an area I've always had an interest in but never really knew whether it was something I could do. Although I enjoy writing, my workspeed is severely hampered by my miscelaneous pile of bad working habits and mental disabilities. If I were a hero, my nemesis would be Deadline. Turning in work in varying degrees of lateness is par for the course. This particular course I'd been more or less keeping up in, until a bad week left me with a writing assignment I didn't hand in until over a week past its due date. However, something unexpected happened.
Even though it was handed in well past the date it could even receive partial credit, the teacher gave my screenplay a 10.05 out of 15 because it was so well-written. And told me I'd still get full credit on the revisions if I finished them by Thursday. My task for the revisions? Shorten each scene to the 3-page maximum I previously ignored.
It feels like I'm cheating in some way, but apparently sincere effort goes a much longer way towards being forgiven for other shortcomings than I thought. At least, with certain kinds of people. So that's the life hack. Put genuiine, honest effort into the things you do, even if getting rewarded for them seems hopeless. Chances are, it will be worth something, in some way you might not see.