why do people have to motivate themselves to hobby?

[roryokane]

17 hours ago, MARK0SIAN said:

I’d second what Marshal Rohr says about not all aspects of the hobby being enjoyable. I have grown to really dislike the actual building of models. Kit bashing stuff is fun but clipping, cleaning and gluing regular dudes or vehicles I just find boring. So if my project or part of it is at the stage where I need to build things I have to motivate myself to do it so I can get onto the bit I do enjoy like painting and playing. 

Interesting, since I find that immensely therapeutic. It's the only bit of the "hobby" (outside the lore) that I take part in these days. And yes, that means I have legions of grey dudes on my shelf. One day I shall begin painting... but it is not this day.

I'll echo what's been said above, though - it's contingent on the other goings-on in my life.

[Bouargh]

36 minutes ago, NovemberIX said:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Sometimes my hands hurt from clipping stuff, or holding a paint brush for too long, my eyes strain from trying to pick out the details, my back hurts from sitting in a chair that's not quite comfortable. That's not even getting into stuff like your main army being slowly phased out, corporate shenanigans that make you lose trust, and models and kits you love being sent to "legends", or just straight up forgotten (eg Land Raider Ares, Razorback Rikarius, Titanhammer formation, Siege Dreadnought). I still love my army, and my completed models, it's just a point of getting "there", so maybe sometimes instead of finally working on my AdMech army, I play Mechanicus instead, or I spend a few minutes staring at my Ares and think, "ya know, I wish Chapter Approved 2017 was still useful". I want to be motivated, but sometimes, that's easier said than done.

 

I, too, am 40+ (and 30+ in the hobby)... So I can only share my understanding and compassion...

[Arikel]

A lot of this depends on personality and one’s own personal situations.  Since having kids I went from someone who would have a hobby session on average 3-4 times a month to maybe 3-4 times per year. 
 

At the end of the day, it’s just much easier to throw on a movie or video game then spend the hour or two of I might snatch from sleep for my own enjoyment, instead of setting up and painting, after the little ones are settled down for the night.

 

A second big factor would be mental state. Apart from normal life stresses there are quite a number of political, environmental, and martial issues in the world today that can add to stress and depression, especially if you are brooding type like myself. Added to pre-exisiting depression and ADHD issues this can make it difficult to want to get up in the morning, let alone get creative and paint.

 

I have been trying to motivate myself with vows the past few times they have come up, but I haven’t been able to fully complete one yet. I still plan to soldier on and keep trying though. If the Imperial Guard taught me anything, it’s that if you just keep throwing enough men at something you will win eventually.

[lhg033]

to add my 2 pence.....

 

+1 for an older hobbiest.
I've been "warhammering" for 30ish years. Not as long as some, longer than some others.  These days I have arthritis, thankfully managed, that can affect my hobby time.

 

During this I have had breaks either enforced (Uni/moving house and no space etc) or just my interest has waned for a while. At the moment I am back into it and enjoying painting again. Contrast paints have made a big difference for my horde models and I've tried to become more forgiving of myself / my painting to let me finishing things. I enjoy painting a lot more now.

 

But,... whilst I enjoy it i will have procrastinated over even starting building the 5 Knights/4 armigers  army I purchased the models for as I cannot decide how to make them (magents, I know) and what scheme to go with. Similar with some other higher value or centerpiece models.

Also, I bet I still have models from when I first started still on their sprues if I go digging through the mountain of shame. The scale of this is a bit intimidating. Not to mention, if I ever succeeed, where the Gork am I going to put eveything. Add to that the 'new/Shiney' stuff that comes out that I want to add.....

 

Finally, the good old fashioned - I have a limited amount of time and have more hobbies.... Just started Final Fantasy Rebirth so my slow painting output it now dented even more.

[MARK0SIAN]

3 hours ago, roryokane said:

Interesting, since I find that immensely therapeutic. It's the only bit of the "hobby" (outside the lore) that I take part in these days. And yes, that means I have legions of grey dudes on my shelf. One day I shall begin painting... but it is not this day.

I'll echo what's been said above, though - it's contingent on the other goings-on in my life.

It’s a shame we’re not neighbours, you could build mine for me and I could paint yours for you 

[Hfran Morkai]

A great mix of things.

 

I don't really have an opportunity to play, reducing my desire to actually hobby.

 

The state of limbo, we've seen scale updates and plastics for some of the Horus Heresy stuff (which is my primary interest) and MkIV is my favourite mark, which isn't updated yet. 

 

I seem to struggle assembling these days, I used to be able to assemble like a production line (painting was more of a challenge for me but I loved assembly) but now even putting together ten guys feels like a slog.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

A lot of really great answers in this thread. Just because something is a hobby or fun doesn't mean one can be motivated to do it on the fly. 

 

Having a good community around you is important too. I only get five or six games in a year abd that's split between 40k and AoS. 

 

I'll also add mental health. While Warhammer has been great for helping me deal with anxiety & depression it isn't a cure. Sometimes you just can't. I mean I am huge Imperial Fists fanatic, much more so than even someone like Valrak, but I can't always find it in me to build or paint something. I have a huge Firstborn project I've been going gung ho on since August last year but haven't worked on anything the past few days as my mental health has taken a big step backwards. 

[Axineton]

Loads of great answers here but I think OP should offer more context on the original post. 

[Halandaar]

Echoing others, it's a combination of not enough time in the day / burnout / competing activites.

 

By the time I could realistically dedicate some effort to hobbying, I've just come off a 15-hour day of prepping meals, getting kids sorted and out to preschool (and back again), household chores on top of my actual job. At that point the idea of then sitting for the couple of hours i have left before i then have to sleep to do it all again tomorrow, and focusing on painting or whatever is often not that appealing because I'd rather just slump into the sofa and watch a movie with my wife or sit and play video games or something which requires no setup time at all and significantly less detail focus.

 

I do keep up with the hobby every day to some extent, but sometimes that is as little as texturing a single base. Something is better than nothing after all. But yeah, it's not just about having the time, it's about having the energy (both physical and mental)

[Lupercals chosen]

To echo what some of us 'older' hobbyists have already stated, real life is a big factor. By the time either myself or my wife have put our in-house nurgling to bed, it leaves little time for much else other than sorting dinner most weeknights. I don't have a dedicated hobby space either; pulling everything out,  getting setup, then putting it all away again often takes longer than hobbying itself.

 

I also agree that it seems to take longer to build models these days, whether that's age or just the nature of the models I'm not sure, but on the odd evening I have hobbied it's taken me several hours just to build a squad of 5 primaris sternguard.  Since Christmas, that's all I've managed to achieve, along with a 10 man squad of head, backpack and shoulder-less world eaters. I might have them painted by next Christmas!

 

Yet, despite all this, I still manage to add to my grey pile of shame on a monthly basis...

[Aarik]

22 hours ago, terminator ultra said:

maybe I'm missing something?

 

My tongue in cheek response would be, "an understanding of human nature."   This question is like asking why people have to motivate themselves to go exercise or make a home cooked, healthy meal after work.  Or saying, "you like basketball, why you do have to motivate yourself to run sprints or shoot a hundred free throws?"  If only life were so easy haha.  My very unscientific understanding is that our lizard brains prioritize short term pleasure/pain over long term, so its harder for us to do things that take an effort in the short term and will only/primarily pay off in the long term.  So, in addition to the explanations that other Fraters have given, I think one of the more underrated considerations is developing a workflow that both removes impediments to hobbying and creates short term "rewards" that help motivate us along the way. 

 

For example, remove impediments by:

• Setting up a dedicated hobby space where you can leave your supplies out, so its easier to just sit down and get to work rather than having to unpack everything first, then repack it when you're done. 
• Fully developing a paint scheme with test models (as necessary) first, to avoid decision paralysis down the line about what shade of gold to use, or which highlight color.  I've learned that analysis paralysis between various shades of similar colors is a big sticking point for me, so it helps to establish everything I need up front. 
  • And keep a list of your recipes and schemes on your phone or in a notebook so you can come back to them later.  It's easier than one might think to forget exactly which colors you used (especially if you have a bunch of similar shades in your arsenal) during hobby gaps.
• Keeping a list of all the steps I need to complete for the models I'm working on.  In conjunction with keeping a dedicated, organized hobby space, this makes it easier to make use of small amounts of hobby time in an otherwise busy schedule.  Instead of having to get over the hump of setting up your hobby station and figuring out what you want to paint, you can just sit down, look at your list and say "okay, I need to basecoat all the gold bits now," grab your paint and get to work.  And being able to cross things off your list as you finish is a small hobby win that helps maintain motivation.  
  • For example, my list for HH word bearers tactical marines looks like:
    • Airbrush red
    • Airbrush black
    • Gloss varnish
    • Panel line
    • Decals
    • Gloss varnish
    • Matte varnish
    • Gold (backpack top vent)
      • Basecoat
      • Shade
      • Highlight
    • Silver (boltgun, backpack, facemask)
      • Basecoat
      • Shade
      • Highlight
    • Black (boltgun case, armor joints, tubes)
      • Basecoat
      • Shade
      • Highlight
    • Eyes
    • Base
• Keep a good ratio of unfinished to finished models in view: One of the other most helpful things to me that I haven't seen discussed much is (to the extent your storage situation allows) to avoid leaving large numbers of unpainted or partially painted models out.  Instead, do your best to only display finished models (at least to battle ready/table top standard) and the next squad/model you're working on.  Don't leave your entire grey plastic army on the shelf, or half finished projects out.  I've personally found that doing so leaves me feeling unconsciously overwhelmed by how much I have to do, which can discourage me from starting at all.  Whereas if I have a good ratio of "finished" to "in-progress"/"to-do" models out, that helps motivate me.  I.e., "you've finished 30 guys already, these five that you're working on now are easy in comparison!"  Rather than, "man, I've still got 1000 points of grey space marines, a half finished death guard army, an AOS squad I started but lost motivation on -- all staring up sadly at me from the shelf." 
  • And that leads to the other side of the coin, creating little wins along the way to keep motivation up.  Every time you look at your shelf, you'll see a "good" thing: completed models -- rather than a bad thing: unpainted/unfinished models. 
• Painting models in an order that helps rather than hurts motivation is also important, but under-discussed IMO.  One "trap" that I've noticed is starting a new project with all your troop choices, with maybe an HQ too.  This is often the common advice for new players or new armies, and it makes sense from the perspective of being able to field a game-legal force the soonest (and is a holdover from when we had stricter force organization charts/detachments).  But that has a couple potential knock-on effects that I think can hurt motivation.  The first is that it front loads a lot of the most tedious work.  Troop choices are often the most basic, least expensive (points-wise) models in the army, so getting through them first can be a slog that you won't have many points to show for it afterwards.  Painting up 20 guardsmen or skitarii and realizing that you're only completed 10-15% of your 2000 points can be demoralizing.  And it's easy to get bogged down painting these models to a much higher standard than they need to be, causing you to burn out before you even get to the "fun," more elite models.  Troops are also often less important and more fungible than other models that will be the backbone of a list.  We list build around more important units, and then sprinkle in troops at the end.  And it's easy to realize after a few games that you should have painted infiltrators rather than intercessors, for example, or that you don't need 20 CSM legionaries (all that trim was for nothing!) -- so then even the minimal progress you've made doesn't really count for much.  

 

So instead -- turning to helping create wins along the way -- I think it's better to:

• Focus earlier on the more important units that you know you want to build your list around.  Paint up a troop squad (or at least five guys from one) first to finalize your color scheme and have completed example models to work towards, and sit on your shelf and look pretty.  But then go paint your elite units and leaders after that.  They will likely be fewer models, more interesting, and more likely to stay in your list long term.  And once you're done with those, you'll realize that you're much closer points-wise to a completed army than if you have painted an equivalent number of troop models.  Then, you'll likely be in a better position to know which and how many troops you really need, and where you can cut corners to get them done while still looking good on the table. 
• Maximize YOUR efficiency, rather than ideal efficiency (i.e., paint in smaller batches).  This is a corollary to the point about having minimal unfinished models out at once.  It can be more personal, but I've found that I get the jolt of "reward" mostly for finishing a model.  And to keep motivation going, we want those reward jolts to happen as often as possible.  It's easy to get caught up in the idea that huge assembly lines of batch painting are more efficient in an ideal world, while ignoring the human psychology aspect.  It might be technically more efficient to paint your entire army assembly line fashion, color by color, highlight by highlight, but only if you can actually, consistently paint like that.  Most people can't.  So, its better to paint five (or three or ten, at most) models at once, get them finished, get the psychological reward, then move on to the next small batch.  You won't notice progress as much between basecoating shoulder pad rims for 40 space marines, and then after basecoating 40 pouches when everything is staring at you from the shelf.  Instead you'll notice it more by completing a handful of models at a time.
• Get out of the"ugly stage" as quickly as possible.  Miniatures often really only come together at the very end, so try to get to that stage as soon as possible.  And try to finish the most impactful parts first.  For space marines, for example, I've found that finishing the eye lenses and bases makes a disproportionate impact on how much I like the model.  So before I worry about edge highlighting armor, I'll do those earlier rather than as the final steps.  A fully based model with the details painted but the armor/cloth, etc. flat looks more complete to me on the shelf than one with the armor/cloth fully done, but without the eyes and base done.  So by prioritizing the more impactful parts first, you can get a more psychologically satisfying result in the same amount of time.  (This point is also a corollary to painting in smaller batches, which helps you do this.)  
• Focus painting on impact vs. time spent.  Another trap that I've struggled with, and seen others (especially newer painters) struggle with, is finding a style that maximizes impact on the table top as a function of time and effort.  Partly, I think this is a result of the prevalence of GW 'Eavy Metal style painting that emphasizes edge highlights.  That can be both incredibly tedious and hard for newer painters because it requires careful brush control.  So it's easy to get discouraged after spending a ton of time only to get a mediocre, sloppy result.  And on the table, armies can just look flat.  So instead, I've found that there are a bunch of things one can do that help an army pop on the table while also requiring a lower level of pure painting skill. 
  • Maximize contrast: for space marines especially, use an airbrush to lay down zenithal highlights.  Once you get over the hump of using an airbrush, this will DRASTICALLY cut down the time spent on basecoating.  And zenithal highlights are a great way to easily add contrast and visual interest to your models.
  • Panel lining: gloss varnish your models and use oils/enamels to panel line them.  The gloss helps the oil flow into the recesses, which adds additional contrast and is way faster than washing the whole model with nuln oil and then reapplying the basecoat over that.
  • Focus your efforts on the most important part of the model, rather than every detail equally.  Spend your time on space marine armor or ork skin (the biggest parts of the model), and spend less time on purity seals, pouches, etc.
  • Be strategic with edge highlights and weathering.  Instead of highlighting every edge with multiple highlights, focus only on the most impactful (upwards facing) edges, and then only the highest points for further highlights.   And you can often use chipping, either with a sponge or quickly painted on, as a substitute for edge highlighting -- which requires less brush control.
  • Layer multiple, easy effects rather than one harder effect.  This is a corollary to avoiding multiple layers of edge highlights on everything.  I've found that applying several different effects are more impactful for the time spent than spending more time on a single effect.  So in the time it takes to fully edge highlight a space marine, I could instead sponge chip the armor with a highlight color and paint a few scratches/important edge highlights, fill in some of those chips and scratches with a brown to emphasize the chipping, and do a couple rust streaks with oils.  Those multiple layers of effects are way easier to do individually, and have a disproportionate effect on how good the model looks.  

[Dr. Clock]

Why do people have to motivate themselves to do anything at all?

 

Assuming we're talking about 'how to make use of otherwise free time', building and painting is the most laborious and solitary of the hobby pillars, and some people (I've heard) just don't get much enjoyment out of... being alone at a desk lol. While the task remains fun, we don't need motivation... but,

 

Everyone really is different. This tends to make similarity MORE surprising than difference, at least to me. At bottom, I find this kind of discussion is alot more productive if we focus on what adds or creates rather than removes motivation.

 

So for me:

 

1: Habit - the more a pursuit is structured into a daily routine, the more likely I am to do it almost accidentally, and to seek it out if I 'miss' it. I paint in the hour between afternoon walk and dinner prep pretty much every day, but I know that's a privilege based on no kids. I can get an hour in weekend mornings as well, but that's generally a replacement for the hour I miss out and about later in the day... But if it's not part of my daily routine, I am not usually motivated to break routine to fit it lol.

 

2: Baby steps - all progress is incremental, and all progress is rewarding. I work on like 5 miniatures maximum at a time so that progress is neither too slow nor too fast. At that cadence I'm basically adding a new unit to an army every 1 or 2 weeks... Or probably like 75 points of 40k per week.

 

Note that this means I don't even assemble let alone paint a box of 10 in one go, mostly because it takes me more than an hour to actually get through a full pass on 10 reg. infantry models. With 10 it's always a bit of a slog from the beginning and it FEELS like you spend too long before seeing good progress. But working on only 3-5 things you might be able to do 2 good steps forward on them in a sitting, which gives visible progress faster... It's also just way easier to keep track of steps and needed corrections on 3-5 instead of 10 things at a time (at least for me).

 

3: Variety - I rarely work on the same army/project immediately again after I've finished a given week-long, 3-5 model tranche. I have plenty of armies, and sometimes I'll spend the 2 weeks solid on the front and back half of a chonkin unit, but most of the time once you start alternating between armies you'll find that you still have something to add somewhere in a list every 2 weeks maximum, which is pretty good! If I were just starting out in the hobby I'd truly recommend adding in 'just for fun' projects between 'main army' projects just to keep things fresh... And the same is true of just games overall! I paint for 40k mostly, but Necromunda and DnD are all pretty frequently on my table, and more AoS soon as well with new edition I imagine.

 

4: Expectation - I like/love gaming, but I love/love gaming with a newly painted unit. I am motivated positively to get new things on the table look fresh and contributing positively to the visual quality of the game. This means after 20+ years I just won't play it if it's not painted, in no small part because I know that playing with bare or half-finished stuff will actively harm my motivation to complete a thing.

 

Interesting discussion all - a classic topic!

 

Cheers,

 

E

 

 

[Scribe]

3 hours ago, Hfran Morkai said:

I seem to struggle assembling these days, I used to be able to assemble like a production line (painting was more of a challenge for me but I loved assembly) but now even putting together ten guys feels like a slog.

 

The jigsaw puzzle kits are horrible for this. I used to happily build kits for fun, now it's a bloody chore.

33 minutes ago, Dr. Clock said:

Why do people have to motivate themselves to do anything at all?

 

Because we are miserable and just want to sleep it off before the grind continues tomorrow. 

 

Duh. :p

[MithrilForge]

4 hours ago, Aarik said:

 

 

For example, remove impediments by:

• Setting up a dedicated hobby space where you can leave your supplies out, so its easier to just sit down and get to work rather than having to unpack everything first, then repack it when you're done. 
• Fully developing a paint scheme with test models (as necessary) first, to avoid decision paralysis down the line about what shade of gold to use, or which highlight color.  I've learned that analysis paralysis between various shades of similar colors is a big sticking point for me, so it helps to establish everything I need up front. 
  • And keep a list of your recipes and schemes on your phone or in a notebook so you can come back to them later.  It's easier than one might think to forget exactly which colors you used (especially if you have a bunch of similar shades in your arsenal) during hobby gaps.
•  

 

So instead -- turning to helping create wins along the way -- I think it's better to:

• Focus earlier on the more important units that you know you want to build your list around.  Paint up a troop squad (or at least five guys from one) first to finalize your color scheme and have completed example models to work towards, and sit on your shelf and look pretty.  But then go paint your elite units and leaders after that.  They will likely be fewer models, more interesting, and more likely to stay in your list long term.  And once you're done with those, you'll realize that you're much closer points-wise to a completed army than if you have painted an equivalent number of troop models.  Then, you'll likely be in a better position to know which and how many troops you really need, and where you can cut corners to get them done while still looking good on the table. 
• Maximize YOUR efficiency, rather than ideal efficiency (i.e., paint in smaller batches).  This is a corollary to the point about having minimal unfinished models out at once.  It can be more personal, but I've found that I get the jolt of "reward" mostly for finishing a model.  And to keep motivation going, we want those reward jolts to happen as often as possible.  It's easy to get caught up in the idea that huge assembly lines of batch painting are more efficient in an ideal world, while ignoring the human psychology aspect.  It might be technically more efficient to paint your entire army assembly line fashion, color by color, highlight by highlight, but only if you can actually, consistently paint like that.  Most people can't.  So, its better to paint five (or three or ten, at most) models at once, get them finished, get the psychological reward, then move on to the next small batch.  You won't notice progress as much between basecoating shoulder pad rims for 40 space marines, and then after basecoating 40 pouches when everything is staring at you from the shelf.  Instead you'll notice it more by completing a handful of models at a time.
• Get out of the"ugly stage" as quickly as possible.  Miniatures often really only come together at the very end, so try to get to that stage as soon as possible.  And try to finish the most impactful parts first.  For space marines, for example, I've found that finishing the eye lenses and bases makes a disproportionate impact on how much I like the model.  So before I worry about edge highlighting armor, I'll do those earlier rather than as the final steps.  A fully based model with the details painted but the armor/cloth, etc. flat looks more complete to me on the shelf than one with the armor/cloth fully done, but without the eyes and base done.  So by prioritizing the more impactful parts first, you can get a more psychologically satisfying result in the same amount of time.  (This point is also a corollary to painting in smaller batches, which helps you do this.)  

These key points are what will help greatly - Thanks for listing them @Aarik 

 

M. 

[Aarik]

@MithrilForge I’m glad they were helpful! I’ve spent too much time thinking about this stuff myself haha 

[armarnis]

i can spent hours a day building models, building lists, playing the game, talking and reading about the universe but painting? thats the single thing i just dont find any joy in

[Kastor Krieg]

On 3/4/2024 at 8:33 PM, terminator ultra said:

maybe I'm missing something?

Some of us have stress-related depression, making achieving any kind of motivation a severe challenge in of itself, not to mention going through with things, seeing a point to a long-term project, not getting discouraged by failure, or seeing past the "ugly stage".

Some other of us have ADHD and focus is a myth to us, we start thousands of projects and never end them, get discouraged and demotivated by our inability to follow through in even one of them, while there's always a new FOMO thing coming at us, demanding our money and attention...

And some yet others are autistic in a multitude of ways, some which manifest by us only being able to work in a very regimented, structured fashion, following through from A to Z and if any step becomes impossible or impassable (due to lack of tools, appropriate paint, enough skill, energy, inspiration, satisfaction from results, etc.), the entire project is "ruined" and motivation to generally do the hobby goes down the drain.

Then again, there are AuDHD folks like myself, stressed and depressed by coping with the AuDHD brain, demands of the general neuronormative society, and the overall realities of the surrounding world, who work against all of those above challenges at once, every single day. In every single facet of our lives.

And it's exhausting. Yet, we forge onwards. With everything, the hobby as well.

[roryokane]

On 3/5/2024 at 6:43 PM, MARK0SIAN said:

It’s a shame we’re not neighbours, you could build mine for me and I could paint yours for you 

I never said I was any *good* at building them. :P I use far too much glue.
But yes, shame.
Of course, I only find stuff I grew up with therapeutic, so am struggling a bit with a lot of the newer kits (and of course, every single primaris marine is getting an older helmet and backpack so I can convince myself they're just truescale Mk VIIIs).

As a busy Apothecary (read: doctor), I find myself wondering whether it might be a good use of my evenings after my shorter days on call to help calm my brain down, or after finishing a run of nights, in order to stay awake long enough to help reset my sleep cycle... time to experiment, I think.

Edited March 7 by roryokane
Just added extra context

[2PlusEasy]

Tabletop Wargaming is 5 hobbies in 1: collecting, building / converting, painting, gaming and selling. If you want to stretch it to 6 hobbies, reading the lore is there too. Not everyone enjoys all 5. And because it's 5 hobbies in 1, there is a large time & effort vs result cost: some people love this, others don't.

 

Some people (myself included) need motivation to get through some of the hobby stages to achieve what we want (fun with our mates). The means in how we get through these stages also changes with time: 15 years ago my mates and I built and painted our armies in GW and independent hobby stores as a group, bouncing off each other's enthusiasm and ideas to attend events. We can't do that anymore for a multitude of reasons, so motivation needs to come from different sources.

 

Two friends of mine also shared their reasons for leaving the hobby and both were around time & effort vs result that killed their motivation. The first went back to RPGs because it took 10 minutes to write up a character and play at home compared to hours +++ to build, paint, weather and base an army and terrain to then transport to play a game. The second went back to tabletop card gaming for the same reason: he buys a deck of cards that are ready to go from purchase and could start playing in 10 minutes.

 

The nature of the game and lore frequently changing (not always for the better) and GW's business practices also contributes to hobby burnout. To keep up with it, Warhammer is slowly becoming an all in or nothing hobby that's easy to get left behind in.

Edited March 7 by 2PlusEasy

[Rogue]

For me, this is spot on.

 

My primary enjoyment within the hobby umbrella is playing games (mostly 40k these days, but almost everything at some point). I very rarely need to generate any motivation  for a games night.

 

As I've gotten older, I've increasingly appreciated playing with painted forces on painted terrain - it improves the overall game. But it's not my primary focus. I've come to find painting relaxing, and it's now the thing I spend most time doing (because I don't need to arrange an opponent or set aside a whole evening). But it's still secondary.

 

I play because I enjoy it. I paint because I want my army to look nice while I play. And sometimes I need to motivate myself to do that.

[lhg033]

14 hours ago, Kastor Krieg said:

Some of us have stress-related depression, making achieving any kind of motivation a severe challenge in of itself, not to mention going through with things, seeing a point to a long-term project, not getting discouraged by failure, or seeing past the "ugly stage".

Some other of us have ADHD and focus is a myth to us, we start thousands of projects and never end them, get discouraged and demotivated by our inability to follow through in even one of them, while there's always a new FOMO thing coming at us, demanding our money and attention...

And some yet others are autistic in a multitude of ways, some which manifest by us only being able to work in a very regimented, structured fashion, following through from A to Z and if any step becomes impossible or impassable (due to lack of tools, appropriate paint, enough skill, energy, inspiration, satisfaction from results, etc.), the entire project is "ruined" and motivation to generally do the hobby goes down the drain.

Then again, there are AuDHD folks like myself, stressed and depressed by coping with the AuDHD brain, demands of the general neuronormative society, and the overall realities of the surrounding world, who work against all of those above challenges at once, every single day. In every single facet of our lives.

And it's exhausting. Yet, we forge onwards. With everything, the hobby as well.

 

Not enough likes/the right options to to flag on this!

 

As a parent to neurodiverse children  - this resonates.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

For me personally motivation comes from completed units. The longer a unit remains not finished on the painting table the harder it becomes to attack them later on with a painting brush.  But sometimes I am just too tired in the evening to lift a finger for hobby projects. The saying goes of doing a little bit every day so you have a steady progress although the willpower to pull it off is not always present.

[Brother Carpenter]

On 3/7/2024 at 10:39 AM, lhg033 said:

 

As a parent to neurodiverse children  - this resonates.

I just got mine into orcs.

But i do echo a lot of the older posters. When I was starting (+- 25 yrs ago) i was a painting and assembly machine. But now rl, wife kids house, work, i can't seem to find time and motivation to hobby. Also slowly deteriorating eyesight sucks. I can't focus well anymore when painting faces and that is also a big letdown.

 

But joining challenges such as the 12 months hobby challenge and etl helped me get going again.

 

Also the lack of local players diminishes the chance for an inspiring game.

[Evil Eye]

Aside from just general IRL crap getting in the way of hobbying, for me it's:

>ADHD prompting me to start way more projects than I actually have any chance of finishing

>Quickly getting burned out by painting for long periods of time

>My shambolic tidying skills meaning my workspace is always a complete mess, making it hard to work

>The actual game being such a total and utter disaster at the moment that any motivation to make a playable army with the modern system basically evaporated over the past year or so

It's funny, because when I actually sit myself down and build/paint I really enjoy myself and say "Why don't I do this more often?" but I feel so demotivated lately that I find myself actually doing that less and less.

[Jamafore]

Another thing to think about is the mentality of "There are more important uses off that time." This is my issue. I have a tactical squad that has been sitting for over a year now, but I look at them and as much as I want to work paint on them, the thought of 'Doing this or that would be a much more productive use of that time. Get it donedid.' Or if I wander off and do something not related to that 'this or that' I then feel guilty for "wasting" the time, even though I know logically that I need that break or whatever it was that I did was also important

 

It's not helping that I'm trying to shift several rooms of the house around, one of which being my hobby room and that involves a lot of rearranging furniture, that with my work schedule is only able to be done 1 or 2 days a week if I'm lucky and nothing else worms it's way into that time.

 

I've perty much decided that the next time I'm going to be able to work on them is when that's done, which who knows when that will be.

 

Edit - Spelling. Stupid keyboard

Edited March 13 by Jamafore