I just can't seem to finish a project….

[teddymademedoitParticipant 5159xp 2]

As the title suggests for the last year I just can’t seem to complete a project.

Whether it be my renewed Chaos Dwarfs, Malign Portent Ironjawz army, Spiderfang, Star Wars Legion or even a little Airfix tank project I always loose the ‘mojo’ that got me into it often replaced by mojo for another project instead

Does anyone else have the same problem or have any good hints or tips on how to knuckle down and finish something when really you just want to move onto something else?

 

Its got to the point where I’m contemplating to BAN myself from all websites and hobby blogs in an attempt not to get distracted! 😀 😀

[amachan 25677xp 3]

Self-discipline would help. What I do is I work on many projects at the same time. When I was busy with my Space Wolves, I painted a couple of wolves and then did some other miniatures, then back to some wolves. Keeping variety is key to long projects. Don’t try to do a long project in one go, you will burn out on them. So I’d recommend doing like a couple of dwarfs, then some Ironjawz, some legion and so on and so on for example. Or even just one miniature from the range if a couple doesn’t seem viable. And don’t do one type of unit in a row for example; the first time you might do 5 stormtroopers, then the next time legion comes around you do 5 rebels, just to keep up variety.

[brennonKeymaster 31029xp 3]

Setting yourself a goal can be important. If you focus your attention towards painting something with an end goal – be it a tournament, a game with a friend, something like that; it can really help focus your attention towards painting the miniatures you need.

If you can get a few friends into the same game (for example Age Of Sigmar) you can then use the support of your peers to get you through.

BUT, it happens to everyone…I know it too well!

[noyjatatParticipant 16155xp 1]

Had the same problem for a while now within our community but we have managed to find a way around it. Every couple of weeks a few of us get together to paint and hobby. We have bring the same ones each time until they are done and then move on.

We are also thinking of doing a bit of a Boot Camp for the club in the same vein as the BoW ones of the past. Saturday being a hobby day using the Boot Camps theme to build and paint.  Even if you already have stuff done this would allow you to add more stuff or finish parts off. Then Sunday we will play. With everyone having busy family lives we are looking at doing this every 3 months or so. People can just pop in briefly, do a day or do the whole weekend.

 

[timchubbKeymaster 3166xp 1]

Perpetual hobby moth here, so no help in solving the problem but you are very much not alone 🙂

[a27cromwell 3188xp 1]

Same here, get part way through a kit and then lose interest . I found myself some small stacking bins that can hold full sprues of the BA plastics I build . So when I tire of my KV II build , into the bin it goes , and I open the 251 half track or German FJ  figure  bin . I also have a couple of those Meng ” egg ” style tanks and a few Bones Sci Fi Space Mice & Were creatures as just fun fall back  kits if needed . And of course I still have a few Garden Gnomes to paint . Variety is the spice and all that …..

[thedace 9993xp 1]

My current projects are –

Half painted Malifaux gang

Half Painted Khorne AoS army

3/4 Painted Necromunda Orlock Gang

Human Runewars army with just one model painted

WWX Posse with nobody painted

I know your pain!

I think that one of my problems is that I perhaps spend too long on my rank and file troops where I quick paint job would do the trick. I am trying to spend a bit more time on my character models and less on my troops going forward.

I try and keep my models at various levels of completion to vary things a bit but new shinies come along far to often.

[captainventanusParticipant 4936xp 2]

I don’t think that there is a magic solution, ultimately you have to have the discipline to see things through. I am not one to talk either as I have years’ worth of projects to get through. It’s easy to like the idea of something over actually doing it.

Despite having a huge back log the way I deal with it is have realistic goals and focus on a maximum of two game systems in a given year and aim to have a single army finished a year. Realistically most people aren’t going to be playing more regularly either.

My approach is to finish one unit at a time and alternate between two army projects so that things don’t become to repetitive.

[spud75Member 715xp 3]

Nearly all my projects are half completed, even the ‘finished’ ones are technically on hold, there is always something to add or weapons to change when editions change or new bases to do.

Don’t sweat it, for me things sometimes get put away because I can’t get the look right only to come back out when I’m ready to try again.

It is MUCH better to do things that you are enjoying, slogging through to finish a ‘project’ is the best/easiest way for me to burn out, better to put it aside and switch it up with something else like a different game or terrain.

At some point you’ll simply want to get that first thing finished and it won’t be such a slog.

[davehawes 7768xp 2]

I have to say I prefer the “loop” approach some people have suggested for solving this problem (doesn’t always work). Like have 4/5 projects on the go, and as I get bored with one, move to the next one. Usually, by the time I am on project 5, I am longing to get back to work on project 1 and start the loop again!

[angelicdespot 4689xp 3]

If you’re not already famiar with Uncle Atom at Tabletop Minions, you might find some of his videos helpful.   Here are some you might find worth checking out:

Deadlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAV_mRZPl8o
Procrastination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzP3waE-nT4
Goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVBJqYFsRmc
Just Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXroy25tREQ
Gamer A.D.D.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0tgsHkDXho
Finish It: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o_U747PkCc

Here on Beasts of War there was a series of posts by Dave Taylor on how to start and finish big army projects, which you might get some inspiration from too.

http://www.beastsofwar.com/painting-wargaming-collections/

Edit: the link to the Dave Taylor series seems to be broken, but you can still search for the articles individually.   I can’t remember how many there were, but here’s the fifth one:

Painting Wargaming Collections Part Five: Motivation

[teddymademedoitParticipant 5159xp 2]

Thank you to everyone who’s had an input with this, there is some comfort in knowing your not alone in things being the social creatures we are. It let me feel not so much like I’m failing but just affected by something that hits us all at some point.

I’m going to take alot of your advice on board going forward, I’ve made a little list to work through with some varied projects on it so that I can stick to a qoject to complete but also have variation amongst it and stick with things that I am enjoying from it.

Add in a bit of self discipline and a rule that I shan’t add to the list until something is crossed of it and hopefully that’ll be enough motivation to get through it all.

I’ve decided also that some of the things that I don’t play so much I’m going to try and sell painted to fund the things that I do play (told the Mrs I wouldn’t spend any money on more things until I sold things to fund it, after I amassed I pile of boxes taller than us both I thought it only fair to reign it in a little 😀 )

So the only question I currently I have is with AoS 2.0 on the way do I round the list up to 5 things and put a Death army in there too…..

Thanks again everyone for all your awesome input!!

[limburger 21704xp 0]

I can’t seem to keep focused on a single project/game either.
It’s as if there is always something new/interesting …

It probably would help if I could decide which game/theme I really like, but that would mean having to tell myself that [game]/[theme] isn’t interesting.

I think that having a fixed hobby space + storage will help a lot, but that’s a long term goal for me at the moment.

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