We all love painting minis. We all love buying them as well. So with a mountain of minis slowly growing in the comfort of your home, how can you be consistent with painting on a regular basis?
In this article I’ll go through my thought process on how to be consistent and I will show you what I have found that works for me. So strap in, grab a warm beverage and enjoy. I’m about to change your life.*
* Please note this blog may not change your life.
How to be consistent – my mindset
It’s true, it is hard work sometimes. I consistently failed at being consistent with painting my minis. Year on year I would tell myself “ok, this is it, 2 hours of painting a day”. And then fail. Ok let’s try something else: “30 minutes a day then!”. Guess what. I would keep that up for a week at best and then quickly end up in a slump and not touch the brush for months. Then January would come around, and with that new resolutions and dreams.
You get the gist. What I’m saying is that I would go down too deep too early. Most importantly I was expecting too much of myself.
There are lots of videos on youtube on the matter… but not many struck a cord with me. One which did, and is one of my favourites, is Eons of Battle one where they talk about dealing with burnout.
So where do I stand now?
Motivation is not enough.
You heard that right folks. Motivation is a myth. I have lost track of all the times I said to myself “I’m not feeling it today, maybe tomorrow”.
The result being that I wouldn’t do any hobby for months. Last time I stopped, I didn’t do anything for almost six months. And don’t get me started on how hard it was to get back into it! Why is that? Because my motivation was b*llsh*t, pardon my French.
Bottom line: don’t wait for motivation to come to you. It might never do.
But passion, man
The hobby is always full of people with passion. Passion equals motivation for many, but not everybody. Sometimes passion is also thought essential in places like your workplace and your job:
“AAA looking for passionate ice cream scoopers!” “Are you passionate about photocopying books all day?” “Join our most passionate packaging peas team!” “Are passionate about making other people passionate?” Give me a break.
Ok, rant over. What I’m saying is that passion is not enough for everyone, not even in our hobby. I have spent months waiting for passion to kick in. Fair to say it didn’t work. If anything, the more I was waiting the less inclined I was about doing anything.
How to be consistent – The “Do Something” law
Nike says it all the time: “Just do it”. And I kind of hate it. It’s such a superficial way to force someone to keep it up, whatever that is. But as much as I hate the advert, it’s kind of true. After you have planned how to paint a whole army, it’s time to get cracking, but how to be consistent at it?
In his “Subtle art of not Giving a F*ck” book (I highly recommend a read!) the author Mark Manson comes up with the Do Something law.
The idea behind the Do Something Law is that when you feel stuck, or don’t know where to start, at least do something. So for instance if you don’t quite know how to paint this ork boy, perhaps start looking at some basing material for example.
Activation comes before Motivation
Therefore, if it’s something you enjoy, just start even if you are not feeling it. Paint a boot, build one mini. Just spill a bunch of argrax wash on the table if you have to!
You’ll see that even just the act of setting up your painting station will stir something up in your belly, filling you up with that fuzzy warm feeling of being back. You got this.
And so here comes the ultimate truth:
Activation comes before motivation.
How does it work? Here is a real life example:
- Me: “meh, not feeling it today, it’s been a long day in work and I’m tired”
- Other me: “ok cool, that’s fair enough mate”
- Me: “let me sit on my ass all evening”
- Other Me again: “yea sure, but we could do a little bit of painting right?” *Goes upstairs*
- Me: *sits at hobby desk*
- Me: “alright Other Me, well played. I’m here now, might as well grab a brush”
- Other Me: “yea I know, right? Let’s paint the teeth on this Squig, why don’t we?”
- Me: “sure why not, I’m here after all”
- Few hours later
- Me: “dude that’s awesome, the teeth are looking dope. Might try the base next!”
- Other Me: “yea mate, well done”
- Fin.
So essentially, as much as possible try to get the ball rolling even with the smallest of tasks, and it’ll kickstart motivation – just try it out!
Don’t skip twice
Yep, try not to skip a session twice. And with it I mean don’t let too much time pass between hobby sessions.
I don’t know about you, but if I go for a big chunk of time without hobbying, then the “idea” of it becomes a burden, and I get stressed. It’s almost like it becomes this scary thing that is impossible to do. The more time that passes, the more difficult an activity it becomes.
For this reason, I try not to let too much time pass between sessions. This way the “hobby monster” stops growing in my head and it is simpler to get started each time. Hence the don’t skip twice rule.
It is obvious that life will get in the way, so of course don’t beat yourself up if something comes up and you can’t hobby. Just remember this and come back to it whenever you get the chance – maybe paint a tooth?
So as much as possible, don’t let too much time pass between your painting sessions. But don’t be harsh on yourself if you skip for whatever reason. Next time go sit down, grab a brush and off you go.
How to be consistent in the hobby – Conclusion
And so there you have it. That’s my secret method. If you are asking yourself how to be consistent, just remember this:
Activation comes before motivation.
Just Do Something.
Don’t skip twice.
This entails to just get going even when you are not feeling it, because the drive will kick in as soon as you start 🙂 as a matter of fact I just did some painting before sitting down to write this and I really wasn’t in the mood for it.
Please let me know in the comments how you are consistent with your hobby, I’d be thrilled to read your thoughts and process!
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