Project Focus

[Ady]

Morning All.

So, I've always had problems focusing on a project to completion - I've a workshop and leadpile overflowing with part finished projects.

Turns out that part of the reason may be untreated ADHD.... So, there's at least a reason for it.

But.. here's the thing - I'm wondering what others do to maintain focus on a project once started......

Ttfn
Ady

[Dice Roller]

Start small.
You may have big plans, but within that I would break it down I to sections. That way, if you lose your mojo you still have something you can game with. Which, in itself, may give you your second wind.
An example. Your planning a Gettysburg game.
Rather than go all in and paint all the Union troops, then all the Confederates, then all the terrain, break it down into chunks.
So you might, for instance, focus on what's needed for refitting the Round Tops. So if you lose motivation you still have some terrain and troops for a game.
And so on.
Tell you what I do though. I don't punish myself if it doesn't get done. Leisure is about enjoyment. And if I'm not enjoying painting this figure or that figure, no matter how desperately it's needed then...so what? Hardly the end of the world.
I'll do what I'm in the mood for and when. You'll always come back to it at some point.
But, in general, I break projects down into self-contained chunks so you always have something to show for effort.

[Basementboy]

Honestly, I often get distracted mid-project as well- I'm fairly sure that most of the folks on the forum will say the same!
That aside, reading books or watching films relevant to the project helps me to stay engaged with the project over a longer period of time. Right now I'm working on some Teutonic Knights for Lion Rampant, and I've stayed engaged by reading books about the crusades, listening to In Our Time and The Rest Is History's episodes on the crusades, and watching films like Alexander Nevsky and Valley of the Bees.
Of course, depending on what you're working on, this kind of immersion might be harder or easier, but hopefully this is in some way helpful
And congrats on realising you have ADHD by the way!

[Sunjester]

Morning All.

So, I've always had problems focusing on a project to completion - I've a workshop and leadpile overflowing with part finished projects.

Turns out that part of the reason may be untreated ADHD.... So, there's at least a reason for it.

But.. here's the thing - I'm wondering what others do to maintain focus on a project once started......

Ttfn
Ady

Quite simply....I don't!

[ithoriel]

I have long since accepted I am no longer a wargamer, I am a planner of and purchaser for projects I will not live long enough to complete .... or possibly even start.

The wargaming equivalent of Tsundoku!

[Tom Dulski]

 Dice Roller is right -start small and if necessary stay small. I try to paint 2 mini's every dat after work on the weekends I might work on basing, terrain or vehicles. Make it part of your daily routine, after a while you will find you have amassed a huge army

[Panzer21]

I have long since accepted I am no longer a wargamer, I am a planner of and purchaser for projects I will not live long enough to complete .... or possibly even start.

The wargaming equivalent of Tsundoku!

That was a new one to add to the dictionary.......sadly all too true!
As a counter to Ithoriel's rather depressing self-realisation, which may be true of me as well (just refuse to accept it!) I find the answer is to limit the number of CURRENT projects.....

By all means plan and daydream about the future ones, but try and focus on two or three....

I used to alternate painting a DBA ancients army (15mm) with a SCW unit (15mm about 18-24 figs) and 30mm plastic Spencer Smiths (unit 8 inf or 4 cav). Prior to that, when I had limited finances, I concentrated on one army, one period, painting unit at a time.

My alternate painting stalled due to real life and it was a long time before I picked up a paint brush. Sad reminders of mortality made me realise that if I wanted to finish projects I needed to get on with it.

I have spent the last few years focussed on finishing the Spencer Smiths, alternating with converting 1:87 vehicles for Arab-Israeli 1967. I have found my attention wandering (25mm F&IW, 15mm SCW) in search of "quick wins". Accept it is difficult to maintain that focus - treat yourself to a reward now and then...

I have also experimented with faster painting methods, such as Contrast paint combined with washes and highlights, which led to a left field project of Italian Wars flats.....

I'd also suggest keeping a log or blog to record progress; it's great for reviewing what you have accomplished and motivating to carry on with projects.....

Neil

[Ady]

[quote author=Panzer21
I have also experimented with faster painting methods, such as Contrast paint combined with washes and highlights, which led to a left field project of Italian Wars flats.....

I'd also suggest keeping a log or blog to record progress; it's great for reviewing what you have accomplished and motivating to carry on with projects.....

Neil
[/quote]

I will say that I recently did just that - switched to heavy use of Vallejo xpress in April, and my painting output has increased... Focus hasn't though as it's been all over the place...

And I used to have a blog going, and probably do need to get back to it

[FifteensAway]

First, it might not 'be a problem' if you switch back and forth but are making regular forward progress.  Too much time on the same project can grow dull and switching to a different project can reignite interest - and eventually you'll decide that 'temporarily abandoned' project is the one you need to work on to get that re-ignition going.

Personally, I am in the midst of massive prep and priming of many of the far too many periods I have: right now I have fully ready for painting: French and Indian War (much painted), Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, French Foreign Legion (much painted), and almost there with my Banana Wars pulp game - just a small number of figures to prep and prime.  Major amounts primed for AWI with some painted but still lots more to prime.  Large parts of ACW painted with some primed - and the whole collection being reconsidered, just doesn't give me any 'juice' to want to play anymore, perhaps because it was my mainstay for so long.  On the table and with bases prepared are my jousting figures that need to be washed and prepped and glued to those bases for priming.  And then it will be the Stone Age figures turn.  With all of that (less the entire of the AWI and who knows with the ACW) primed and ready for paint, I can turn my attention to painting whatever I feel like - or need for a game - knowing that it is just paint, seal, texture base, re-seal and play.  I certainly hope that helps because the numbers of figures are considerable, thousands not hundreds. 

So, maybe you can do something similar - when not in a painting mood, switch over to prepping figures for future work.

Oh, my latest 'distraction' is getting as many figures as possible into magnetic sheet lined containers (I use steel bases almost exclusively) and, as much as I can, getting them into same colored boxes for a given collection, like my musketeers in blue boxes:



That is one of three blue boxes, this one being the King's forces, another for Cardinal's forces, and another for civilians and such.

And if all of that isn't enough - I have lots more collections to work on!  What I don't have ANY PLANS for is to add more collections, I think 20 is considerably MORE than enough! From Stone Age to Star Wars.  My almost fully painted multi-figures per base Pirates collection has been calling for a rework to smaller numbers and individual basing.  So, I expect that distraction to pull me away.

There are many ways to be productive with your hobby time that isn't painting.  Hope that helps.

And as said above, it is a hobby to be enjoyed in the moments we have to give to it - and we shouldn't worry too much about it getting finished.  Like in so much of life, it shouldn't be so much about 'the destination' but about 'the journey'.  I'll bet almost all of us - there are exceptions, of course - will kick off with unfinished stuff.  Perfectly fine if we enjoyed ourselves along the way.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Think most people have said all that I'm about to... But not letting that stop me

I, too, butterfly away from projects regularly. Most of the time I eventually come back. Sometimes I don't.
I find that if I am not enjoying an aspect of painting one night (maybe webbing, or faces, or whatever), I'll pivot across to something easier (e.g. blocking in base colours) or start working on something that I really wanted to for the project (that lastest Copplestone/Hicks/Perry sculpt, new kit, or whatever you were excited to start on most recently).

Sometimes a small spot of retail therapy through the project can help keep moment (buy in installments rather than in bulk at the beginning; although issues like shipping costs may preclude this); although always cagey about doing this whilst in the process of losing interest less the project dies.

Definitely finding inspiration - movies, books, audiobooks, reenactments (if available), documentaries,  battle reports, eye candy threads on the LAF can all help. Even stuff like painting to period appropriate music/film sound tracks.

Starting small and trying to get games in can definitely keep the juices flowing. But if new to the rules, and they don't flow smoothly/get bogged down in the learning, then I find this can also be a detractor.

Someone else commented that hobbying can also include research and figure prep; and that is very true. You don't need to be at a desk with a paint brush to be productive... but sadly it is a key part of actually getting painting done . External factors like stress or other hobbys/available time can impact too, and I find I tend to flit between projects more at these times than when things calm down a bit. It's natural, so don't beat yourself up over it!

[Belligerentparrot]

I have two rules, only one of which I've managed to follow so far 

First, set a budget. To be honest, I've followed this out of necessity for the most part. I've never had a lot of disposable income, and in my younger days I had a somewhat nomadic existence, including living in punk squats and the like. Not having the money or space for a giant leadpile has proven remarkably effective at making me focussed in my project choices. I imagine a self-imposed constraint might work just as much as my more indirectly self-imposed constraint 

Second, paint as you go. Axiom on this forum told me this years ago, and I should have listened then (I'm starting to now). I have my one project, but I am a hopeless tinkerer with it - I have all the factions and how big they should be mapped out, but keep thinking of little tweaks that'd make them better. My original plan was only to start painting once I had all the minis I needed (painting is not a joy to me). But that's just meant I'm forever reorganising the factions. If I'd just bloody painted the factions as I went, I'd be much less inclined to tinker with their composition.

Good luck with it!

[Easy E]

I have a few tips:

1. Only keep one project on the table, keep the rest stored away. 

2. The hardest part is starting to paint, once you start it is hard to stop.  Start. 

3. Focus on having finished, painted models to use, rather than perfectly-painted models.  However, I never put an unpainted model on the field of battle. 

4.  Do not start a new project until your first project is done.  If you get bored?  Too bad, finish it.  Move to a different part of the project, but keep on the same project. 

5. Use painting as your go-to options to fill your time.  Do not watch TV, do not read the paper, do not doom-scroll online, instead sit down and paint.   

6. After finishing a big project, your follow-up project should be smaller and a palette cleanser.  I.e. I painted an entire Macedonian Successor force with something like 50+ bases of 6mm models.  The follow-up project was a band of 5 unique 28mm adventurers for our RPG group.

7. Paint things that you have a reason to use, i.e. an upcoming game, a campaign, a tournament, an RPG session, a book, blogposts, etc. 

Those are some techniques that help me. 

I generally am working on a project, buy a new project when I am about half-way done with the first project to prepare for when the first one is done.  If I am particularly crazed, I might have a second project on deck.  Typically, I don't ever have more than what I know I can paint in a year.  Therefore, I have an assembly line of projects, but never a pile of shame.         

[Mr. White]

Easy E has it right. I pretty much follow the same steps. Only have a narrow focus to begin with, but also locking away anything I'm not going to actively drive to finish.

One thing I might add, and maybe this is more just my situation, is that I kinda have two tracks of hobby projects. One is community focused the other is personal.

What I mean is by "community" projects or games, I'm thinking of titles like Warhammer, Blood Bowl, or BattleTech. Games where there tend to be other gamers around also engaged in the title, so my lift there is light. I can just show up with my BB team and play in a league. If any of these more popular titles interest you in any way, paint up one side of these. This gets you into games on a regular basis that you can allow others to organize and run so you can focus on...

"Personal" projects. These are the sort of projects that I'm more passionate about and were I'll probably end up needed to paint a few sides as well as the terrain and what not. They require a lot more work, but that's ok because I'm more enthused to work on them. And with these start small. Have a few rulebooks using various model count size, so you can game with what you have along the way while your painted collection grows. For example, let's say post apoc. Start with something like Gaslands. you just need a handful of cars. Then add some models on foot and play low count model games like Zona Alfa. Add some more and move the forces into Xenos Rampant. You see the idea, this way you are pretty much "done" in quicker intervals.

I hope these two ideas made sense. They've worked for me to keep my sanity and the projects down.

[syrinx0]

I bounce between multiple collections all the time.  As others have mentioned, it keeps it fun.  If I am trying to put on a specific game I will create a painting schedule to track progress but final dates are subject to change. 

[Harry Faversham]

Just gotta accept that one day, we'll all go...
'A Project Too Far'!