Project Planning 101 - Preparation, Procrastination, Productivity, Perseverance and Peer Pressure.

One of my #hobbyresolution2019 goals was to write an extra blog post each month. I've scribbled down a few ideas, but, having been on such a painting kick, I didn't really have anything concrete to write about, so, ironically, my first extra post is about planning and motivation (it was on the list, honest).

Before I start, I'll put up a general disclaimer. This is by no means the only way to go about planning and following through on hobby projects, but it generally works for me, and also, I'm aware that I have the luxury of a lot of space to leave my gaming stuff about. Pick out the bits that work for you, add more from other sources, the key is to finding something that you are comfortable with and capable of following through with.

Make a plan and 'stick' with it!

Having been involved in this hobby for around 30 years, I've started many, many projects and even managed to finish some, but the reality is that there are many more unfinished ones and I'm sure I am not alone in suffering from bouts of analysis paralysis. It is way too easy to amass hordes of miniatures, and avoid doing anything meaningful with them. Yet, here are many things that can kick off a new hobby project, new miniatures or rules being released, a resurgence of an old favourite game, new faces at the game store or club, the start of a new year (guilty) or just a hankering to do something new or different, but how can you keep on top of it?

The Humble Army List

It might not occur to some people, but writing out an army list can be the first step in documenting a new project, OK, so these days, it might not actually be written out, you can type it up, or use a variety of army building programs or apps. Sometimes, mainly with historical games, although Lord of the Rings also has/had it, is the actual forces present at a battle, which makes the job even easier, as it is literally just copying information.

Normally I'll scribble down an army list on paper so that I can fiddle about with it to get the points right. Once I've settled on something, I put it all into a spreadsheet, that allows me to track the progress easily.

There is no greater joy than colouring in little boxes.

I include columns to track which models I own, whether or not I have resin bases for them (generally I'll use resin bases if possible on 28mm stuff, and mdf for 15mm) and then how far they are along the various stages of completeness. I have the formulae in so that I can see how close I am to finishing each stage. As well as keeping track like this, I'll also print out a blank version of the sheet to keep close to my painting area so that I can update it immediately when I finish stuff.

The Project Checklist

This is a new one for me, essentially just a collection of boxes to track my #hobbyresolution2019 projects.

All it is, is all my projects broken down into the target number for me to check off upon completion. Again, simple stuff, and I've printed a copy out for this too.

An extension of this is to return to the spreadsheets and keep a tally there too.

#hobbyresolution2019 projects.

As you can see, I've gone an extra step here and colour coded the various projects, aiming to complete 4 every 3 months. Some, like blogging every week, I can't score up until the end of the year, so they are easy to drop into the October - December bracket, and others, like running April Fuel Daze, happen a lot sooner in the year, so can be ticked off quicker. I try to spread out the 8 painting projects over the year, and get some easy victories early on, plus it helps to not focus solely on one aspect of the hobby.

A Hobby Diary

So, now that you have your army list and project tally sheet printed out, what do you do with them? Stick them in a hobby diary obviously, so that you can track your daily progress.

Need more stickers for that authentic homework jotter look.

I track loads of information in mine, from when I should be making blog posts, to various shows and tournaments. I also track my #hobbystreak score with it. The #hobbystreak thing is good because I'm now at the stage where I want to be doing something hobby related every day just to keep that number creeping up. There is a facebook group for it, but it doesn't get much traffic, but the folk there are supportive.

A daily dose of hobby goodness.

I choose a larger diary for this year with the specific plan of glueing in all the sheets I was printing out for my #hobbyresolution2019 goals. It also gives me a bit more space for filling out what I get up to on a daily basis.

God I love colouring in boxes.

With all the paperwork out of the way, the next step in planning out my projects is to go through my leadpile and see what models I already have. These are sorted out into assembled and unassembled piles.

The Shelf of Shame (aka Project Holding Area)

I've seen many posts over the years about Shelves of Shame, and I totally get how demotivating it can be to constantly look at a bunch of half done figures. So, I'm going to do something about that. I've dedicated 2 shelves of an Ikea bookcase to this, one for the assembled miniatures for my current projects, and one for the random dark age/fantasy miniatures I want to work on randomly. These are cunningly placed out of direct eyesight when I'm at my painting desk, so that I don't have to look at them constantly, but, they are close enough that I can grab what I need when I finish working on other stuff. There is no shame here, just a selection of models that are pretty much ready to go. Weather permitting, I try to get them primed well in advance of needing them, and recently, I've also been doing the drybrushing stages of the bases, and repainting the rims so that it is one less job to do before I actually start. It definitely helps, as nothing kills enthusiasm for a new project than doing a load of tedious basing work. As long as I keep on top of the painting, the shelf shouldn't get too busy, and it is good to have stuff ready to go.

Not-Pandora's Box

Because I know what is in it.

The unassembled models all go here. It means I don't have to go hunting through cupboards and boxes and drawers to find something, and it breaks down the backlog into a much easier chunk to deal with. Any good sized box will work, I'm using a Privateer Press 2 player starter box, but you could easily use a large shoebox or Really Useful Box depending on how much stuff you have to assemble. Pulling this stuff out from the backlog is instrumental in not feeling overwhelmed looking at the sheer amount of stuff to be done. Again, helps motivation to see the contents go down after every assembly session. Obviously the aim is to empty is at soon as possible getting everything built up for the shelf, but at least it is all in one place.

Cabinet Space

There's really no point in spending all this time building and painting stuff if you aren't going to show it off, even if it is just to yourself. I'm lucky enough to have a full wall of display cabinets, and I spent some time arranging them at the start of the year to make space for all my current projects. They are the Ikea Detolf ones, with 4 shelves per cabinet. On entering my games room you only really see the top 2 shelves, so I'm constantly working towards having all 16 of those filled with painted miniatures. One day I'll get the kit to double the shelf space, which I'll eventually need for the infantry heavy forces, not to mention the 6mm and 15mm stuff.

I try my best not to have any unfinished minis in the cabinets, or, if unavoidable, hidden on the bottom shelf, and similar to colouring in boxes on spreadsheets, filling up each shelf with painted miniatures is good motivation to keep going. I know loads of people have cases for all their painted stuff so they can just grab it and head out for a game, but I think the hassle of packing and unpacking them is justified by the spectacle of full cabinets.

Deadlines

One of the biggest motivational factors for me is a hard deadline. It was true in my University days, and hasn't changed today. A hard deadline is one that I have no control over, say, the end of a month, or a tournament date. You just have to knuckle down for these, and have planned out what you need to do well in advance. Conversely, it is also good to have soft deadlines. A soft deadline is a self imposed one, like, I'll have this unit painted by the end of the week, or, I'll transfer my flip top paints to dropper bottles at some point in the future. It doesn't really matter if you hit these, they are flexible by nature, it could be getting stuff painted for an arranged game, and suddenly something comes up and you have to reschedule, Okay, you might have to deal with a minor crisis, but you might just have wangled a week's extension on stuff too.

The Internet

Getting towards the end now. The final part of keeping motivated is to join in with various groups and challenges on the internet. A word of warning though, salt is everywhere, and you are guaranteed to butt heads with people from time to time, so, use the various groups selfishly. By that, I mean switch off notifications, don't get involved in arguments and use them to join in with challenges, show off your stuff, and get inspired by other people. Post your stuff up there as a way of giving back to the community, but don't get lost in spending all your time trawling the net rather than getting stuff done. I'm currently doing the #talesofinstahammer challenge between facebook and instagram, which is 6 months of building up an Age of Sigmar army, with monthly goals and secret challenges, the #hobbyresolution2019 challenge on instagram, which is my 16 projects for the year, and the #hobbystreak challenge, again on Facebook and Instagram. Last November I got involved in the Paint for 30 minutes a day challenge, and that really got me back into painting regularly again, I just made up a 30 minute playlist on YouTube and set it off when I started. Some days I'd do the bare minimum, others I'd easily paint for 3 or 4 hours. I'm also in a lot of great groups for hobbying, (Gaming Addicts & Miniature Enthusiasts, Sculpting,Painting & Gaming, and my 15mm Fantasy Gaming group to name a few) The support and encouragement of your peers will do wonders for your motivation, and everyone loves a bit of ego stroking from time to time, right? Seriously though, one of the key things for me, is the boost that I get from either positive comments or amazed reactions to the stuff I'm doing, even when I feel like it's a bit crap. I'm also pretty thick skinned and good at deflecting criticism, because, barring commissions, my stuff is painted for me, so, ultimately, it doesn't really matter if people don't like it.

Recap time then - write your plan down, keep it to hand, sort out the stuff you need to be working on, keep at it, and keep keeping at it. If it isn't working for you, don't be afraid to change it up a bit, you are only accountable to yourself.

Hopefully my ramblings will be of some use to some people out there, even if it's just a guide for what not to do :p and I'd love to hear any more suggestions for other ways of planning out projects and keeping motivated with them.

Cheers,

John