You know the shit. Into a project, "ooooh, shiny!" attention gone and thrown into a different project.

Mine isn't quite "off in the opposite direction" right now - I built a bunch of troopers for Stargrave OpFor, and was having some trouble coming up with a color scheme, then saw an "Able, Brotherhood Leader" from Anvil Industries.

Thought 1: "hey he looks cool."
Thought 2: "huh he looks familiar."
Thought 3: "Brotherhood leader Abel...waaaait a second...oh shit that's Caine!"

And boom, "Mechanical Man" is running loop in my mind. And now I need to do a Brotherhood of Nod paint scheme on the troopers.

This is not the first time it has happened and by no means shall not be the last - what do you do to help FOCUS on what you have in front of you and FINISH it. This specific incident was low impact because I only have to buy one model and now have a definite paint scheme in mind. But something else will come.

That's a good question and probably why I have too many hobbies.

Honestly? Commitments and deadlines. There's some truth to the adage that if you want to see a person with ADD/ADHD fail, put them in a situation with no consequences. I get my session prep done every time, because I have a session on Friday and if I don't, I'm going to look like an asshole. Meanwhile, I've got a substantial stack of writing/design projects that I'll probably never finish because I'm working on them purely for myself.

How you apply that to a "just for me" hobby like painting? I don't know. Historically, I've never been very successful in hobbies that don't involve other people, for exactly like that. If your brain works like mine does, self-imposed deadlines aren't going to cut it, because you'll always know the deadline is arbitrary and you lose nothing by missing it.

Quote from: ForgottenF on May 29, 2024, 02:48:42 PMThere's some truth to the adage that if you want to see a person with ADD/ADHD fail, put them in a situation with no consequences.

That's me and my basement is proof of it. Too many new minis have come out and too much money available.  What broke my compulsion was organizing it all when looking for a friend's old GW minis I thought I gave away!  I got a good hard look at the piles and saw the light and the money spent on them.    My major project is painting them, I have enough done already to game most games I own.  I prime a good variety and a lot of minis so when I get bored I have something new to do but it's still painting so I'm still on my goal. 
With RPGs it goes the other way, I dive head first in and over analyze.  I'm currently stuck between Harn and Chivalry & Sorcery to run and it's a constant back-forth.