Focus - And How To get It

Having just managed to delete my most popular recent post from the 14th, I thought I'd better re-post it. Sorry if you have already read it. I am hoping that this doesn't invalidate my stream of blog posting.

Today is probably a crazy day for me as a miniature painter to talk about focus. I have been dragged every which way since early morning. I have made a gaming related purchased today but for someone else. They were looking for some really useful box storage trays over the weekend and I found some. Seems like common sense.

Focus...Today I have flitted from thing to thing. Snatching a few minutes here and there. I have one eye on the future and another on the past. So when it comes to the present, I am looking the opposite of cross eyed. It's a hard look to hold without getting eye strain. Focus should be easy as I have set out a plan which involves doing figures for X-Com and Titansgrave, not to mention the Viking Game.

Focus...Is about deeds not words. That is doing something active rather than walking about it or worse still watching someone else talking about it. I blame Google and especially YouTube for this, in the nicest possible way. Despite how it appears to most of us most of the time, the natural position for the human body is vertical. It's only supposed to be horizontal when it is asleep. For me this means that there should be a significant part of my body in the vertical plane. Specifically, it should be in a chair in front of a work bench.

Focus...It should be about having a plan and working to it. It should not be about mentally wandering off and taking the easy choice. For me the blog is actually a distraction at the moment. It's doing well but I am sure that this is not down to people actually reading it, sadly if I am being honest it's probably down to kids in Russia and China doing god knows what. Most importantly, I am blogging not painting.

Focus...I am going to quote Patton. Probably a stupid thing to do and bound to upset Martin, who is a big fan. Or was that Rimmer dressed up as Patton? But I digress. The quote is "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week". Now this might be a bit obscure but it's important. I have a plan but I keep playing about with the plan. I, like many others, get distracted by whatever appears to be shiny. In the past when I have been short of money I just wouldn't go near shops. It's not that I couldn't resist things at the time, it's more that the idea would sit and fester in my mind and I would dwell on it too much. YouTube, as good as it is, is making this problem reoccur in a new and interesting way. The See It, Want It, Buy It thing is common to most of us. An old trope for mini gamers is the lead mountain. This is because we easily get distracted by what is going on here and now instead of violently executing what we have already started.

Focus...For gamers at least, the process should be See It, Want It, Buy It, Prime It, Base It, Put It In  A Box Until Needed. Rinse, repeat. Thinking about it wastes time. By the time you have your plan, something else will have come along and taken over.

Every year I start with The Plan. I write it down and publish it. I use it to shame myself, and only when no one is looking but it has helped me keep on track in the past..