fighting procrastination fifteen minutes at a time

Move to the left, move to the right

As the picture shows life is somewhat frenetic at the moment and although this looks like a complete mess it really is. Why post a picture then? Well not only is it a snapshot of time but also a rather graphic reminder to “Get things done!” I really struggle with all this time management malarky and seemingly to some I have all the time in the world but it never pans out that way in this little corner of the world. Search the internet and there is noooo shortage of gurus and experts telling you how to maximise ones time, get up at 3am and do your best work and a whole host of other mantras that breed success in life, but as you can see I am struggling to fight my way out of a pile of plastic boxes. Is this a cop-out, where’s the modelling you’ve been promising? Good point! Yes where is it? I look at prolific modellers and wonder how they manage to produce all these wonderful models and layouts…. but there is no secret and ultimately I am not following my own mantra, rather allowing lethargy to rule. In fact this the whole reason why I set up this blog and here I am a number of months in poodle faking my way through the internet lands of railway modelling. There’s always an excuse, family came to stay, hard day volunteering, didn’t have the right stuff to start or finish a project and so on.

However on a positive note writing about this inactivity consistently it is helping me be consistent about at least one thing. One can skip reading this but the act of sitting down once a week and typing away is some kind of discipline that is needed to carry forward any project. With on average 25 views a week and quite frankly I’m staggered that there are that many people visiting my record of inactivity it is however really about keeping momentum going in the face lethargy and hopefully inspire others suffering mojo motivation to consider giving a small bit of time a week to their modelling.

As the weather slowly starts to turn over into autumn and the nights start drawing in and the modelling season really gets into full swing there should be no excuses for me not making progress. I really need to start practicing what I preach.

With that in mind I am going to carry out an experiment of writing one post per day for a week to see if I can get the myself doing just 15 minutes a night and see what I can achieve. Putting things off and procrastinating was why I decided to start this and that’s pretty much what I have done since moving to this new house. So many plans on paper and in my head but that’s where there’ll stay unless I can at put aside fifteen minutes. These minutes may be used in different projects as I have quite a few builds to either complete or start for myself and others.

Until next time..

I will leave you with a little mockup

Kato Allegra 3 car unit

Kato RhB ABe 8/12 Allegra 3 Car EMU

4 Comments

  1. Tom

    I find that I’m lethargic in modelling terms throughout the summer when other hobbies take up my ‘spare’ time, then in winter I’m slightly less lethargic. Similarly I reinvigorated blog to try and give some structure and renewed enthusiasm for modelling to help keep on track (hopefully) this winter. Encouraging to read that I’m not alone 🙂

    • 15minutemodeller

      Yes I’m exactly the same I want to be wandering around outdoors all summer up here and then now as the nights draw in I get back to the workbench.

  2. Andy in Germany

    Looks like a giant game of Tetris.

    I hear you:I’ve found that the best approach is to think through a step over the day and have a rough plan when I get back to the modelling desk, then try it out.If it woks that’s the next few evenings model making sessions sorted. If not, then back to thinking things over during the day…

    • 15minutemodeller

      Yes it feels like a giant game of something.. Part of the problem is that I’m like a Magpie and I see shiny thins and go ooo look shiny thing and distract myself. But I like your method.

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