[unofficial weekender] Time pressure and crunch

Supported by (Turn Off)

This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 3 hours, 38 minutes ago by limburger.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

Author

Posts
September 20, 2026 at 7:03 pm #1985547
sundancer
44849xp

1
### Start of shameless copy and paste ###

First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

https://www.ontabletop.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourselves-new-member-thread/

https://www.ontabletop.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil. This includes no philosophy, no home computer culture wars.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is The Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

If you fancy to see some nice WIP pictures go to the WAYPN thread https://www.ontabletop.com/forums/topic/what-are-you-painting-now-2025-edition/

### End of shameless copy and paste ###

Question of the week:
- Getting stuff done in time. We all know the feeling: there is a game planned and your army is still in boxes, there is a deadline for a contest and your mini hasn’t even arrived yet. How to deal with it?
And now back to the show.
September 20, 2026 at 7:08 pm #1985549

sundancer
44849xp

1

Pledge: finish the MAWM box (hopefully)

Answer: I deal very bad with that. I hate time pressure and crunch. On the other hand I need it to get stuff done. Which sometimes leads to very good results and sometimes to very bad experiences. It’s hard to balance. I never found a working middle ground.

Some music:

September 20, 2026 at 7:26 pm #1985551
danlee
22950xp

1
This weeks’ pledge is to enter into the painting competition. I have one model ready to submit, and a second about half done.
- Getting stuff done in time. We all know the feeling: there is a game planned and your army is still in boxes, there is a deadline for a contest and your mini hasn’t even arrived yet. How to deal with it? – When I used to do tournaments and the like I always played with the army I’d been using for years, so it was never an issue there. Now I just partake in the monthly painting competition here on OTT, and for that I’ve generally adapted a model I already planned to paint to the theme, so again, it doesn’t apply.
September 20, 2026 at 8:52 pm #1985553

zoidpinhead
13059xp

0

Pledge: Following Danlee’s example I also need to get this month’s PaintComp entry done and in by Friday.

Answer: In your specific circumstances @sundancer there isn’t anything you can do except work out your paint scheme while you are waiting for the miniature to arrive. Have you decided what colour scheme you are going with? Black undercoat or slapcock? Do tell.
As for myself I’m a planner and lover of schedules and timetables. Anathema to many when they do their hobby as it sounds too much like things they hate at work and that’s fair enough. I didn’t hate them at work and I don’t hate them for organising my hobby time either. I’ve got a few bits that need doing to change up my KoW army before the next tournament (i.e. assemble and paint 54 orcs this week) and having a plan for getting this done is an important reason why I can get things finished when I need them.

September 20, 2026 at 11:10 pm #1985568

limburger
22620xp

1

To quote someone famous: “I love deadlines … especially the sound they make as they go wooshing by” 😉

I don’t like time pressure, which is why I avoid anything with deadlines. There is too much of that at work already, so I don’t want it in my hobby.

I do need checklists when I need to do something with a time limit (like a convention), because I am afraid I will forget stuff and need a reliable source that tells me which things I have done and what I need to do (so that information booklet the team made for the beasts of war bootcamp was very useful to me at that time).

Maybe I should organise my hobby a bit better, but organising stuff makes me think about so many things that I sort of freeze.
So ideally I need something that gets me to stop thinking and just do stuff.

I’m still working on my Quotinator ‘app’ on Github and it is kind of fun, but also very annoying how my lists of things I (want/need) to do keeps growing and growing. It literally is the last 20% that needs 80% of the time. At least I got Claude to do the boring stuff …
link: https://github.com/DutchJaFO/Quotinator

September 21, 2026 at 6:28 am #1985569

pagan8th
15346xp

1

That is a famous Douglas Adams quote @limburger

I find that a deadline encourages me get stuff done. If the game is a month a way then I feel no urge to do anything. At a week I start to feel the pressure. When it’s a day away I cut corners to be ready. If it’s not all done… it doesn’t matter if you can still play.

The important thing is that hobby should be something that you want to do. If it’s not then you got the wrong hobby.

September 21, 2026 at 6:35 am #1985570

sundancer
44849xp

0

Do tell.

I was planning on doing some kind of conversion but that seems to be out of the question if the runner does not arrive today.

That is a famous Douglas Adams

And it was “rephrased” in Pirates Of The Caribbean” when Jack Sparrow said something along the lines “I like opportunities. I like the wooshing sound they make when they pass by”

The important thing is that hobby should be something that you want to do.

Exactly. But what if you *want* to do something but still can’t get your back in gear?

Monday Morning. Meh.

September 21, 2026 at 8:40 am #1985571

zoidpinhead
13059xp

0

But what if you *want* to do something but still can’t get your back in gear?

Just do something, anything, no matter how small. However excited we may feel about a task it can sometimes feel like such a big thing in our minds. The temptation is therefore to stay in the safety of contemplation or pre-contemplation. That way you convince yourself you are doing something directly related to it and at the same time not actually do any of the task itself.
Once you get going on the task it is never as difficult or big as it seemed. We are all familiar with thinking “Oh, this isn’t taking as long as I thought” when we finally get started. This is usually followed by thinking, “Why didn’t I start this sooner?” Harness that energy and just get something done.

September 21, 2026 at 3:51 pm #1985696

pagan8th
15346xp

3

I got for a walk everyday. Some days I don’t like going out, but once I’m out and my legs are moving, I’m fine.

Getting started is always the hardest part.

September 21, 2026 at 8:33 pm #1985727

limburger
22620xp

1

I wasn’t sure if it was Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett … could have been either.

Speaking of hobby burnout and similar feelings.
It’s getting close to ol’ Hallows’ Eve and I’ve been doing some *eh* ‘research’ on stuff.
I came across an article that mentioned something similar:
https://www.spookylittlehalloween.com/blog/halloween-burnout-survival-guide

Maybe we loose our hobby mojo because we are trying too hard to do hobby ?

I definitely felt more than a little depressed when I just couldn’t find the energy to do some hobby during my holiday.
I’m still trying to not obsess too much about that, but it is hard as it felt like I let myself down as there have been days when I just couldn’t be arsed to do anything except lie in bed. 🙁

Did some ‘gardening’ (or rather: I finally tried to tame the wilderness that my garden had become) on Sunday (and boy do I still feel that). And while it reminded me that I needed to get some tools it was nice to shut off my brain and simply do stuff without worrying too much. It does suck that nature continues to grow while I’m still figuring out what the heck I want to do with my garden LOL

oh … and I really need to figure out an efficient way to trim my magnolia tree. It is soo pretty when it has flowers, but boy does it grow like *eh* something that grows real good 😀 That’s the life of a home owner I guess 😀
Author

Posts

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.