Every hobbyist seems capable of knocking out a ‘to-do’ list in the beginning of the New Year… sometimes close on the heals of a ‘didn’t-quite-manage-to-do’ list that sums up the almost-happenings and near-completions of the previous twelve months. Knowing my own flirtatious and fanciful nature it seems utterly ridiculous that I would present my own version of such a list - in fact, surely the whole point of a hobby is that one can indulge in diversions, spontaneity, and flights of desire? Every time I’ve set myself a challenge before I’ve always fallen at the first hurdle because it all began to feel a little too much like… work. And I have enough of that to do in my parallel life for it not to infect ‘hobbyland’.
I don’t need to read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Hobbyists.
A year is far too long to commit to something that is supposed to amount to a leisurely distraction: albeit one that amounts to a great pile of hours spent lovingly completing the utterly insignificant. This very post in an act of escapism as I drift away from planning the next few weeks of graft in ‘workland’.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually admire people who can concoct a list and then work through it to completion, even near-completion. My ire is simply at my own failings of character. But, somewhat reluctantly, I must accept who I am. Through a combination of self-reflection, quasi-personality analysis and the kindly yet unbaiting chastisement supplied by my wife, I realize that I’m hopeless at planning even a few minutes beyond the present.
I’m bloody annoying (apparently).
Deadlines and commitments mean that I have to uphold the pretense of being organized in workland, so I’m damned if I’m going to do it in hobbyland too. I’m not going to feel guilty about indulging myself. After all, that’s the entire point of the 95% of time I spend modeling and painting bits of plastic, metal and resin, and the 5% I spend rolling dice as I move them around a table. (I’m aware that this makes me a dream customer for the evil GW marketing people, but hey-ho…).
Therefore there will be nothing more list-shaped from me than a Monthly Pipe Dream - something I might commit to but in all likelihood will abandon when diverted by fancy. And to inaugurate this non-system of disorganization I hereby announce that the January Pipe Dream is… Monsters!
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| Bring. It. On. |
If you're not trying to get an army ready for an event or something, I see no particular reason why you should hold yourself to any form of schedule. Do what you feel like - as you say, it's your hobby and you don't need your hobby feeling like it's a burden.
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: This advice will not help you with your inability to plan daily life or how annoying that may be for your wife.