2023 - Gaining Focus and Bringing Ideas to Life

The lies I tell myself, are just utter bollocks. Having written them down, it’s embarrassing to admit that these have been regular excuses. I think the physical barriers have fed those lies to an extent, and those barriers are genuine, so if I focus on that I can kick the lies to the kerb.

Also, I am not sure why I still persist on thinking I need to finish projects before starting others. I never do, and I know that my personality isn’t wired that way. In other areas of my life (particularly work) I have accepted this ‘multipotentialite’ approach and have engineered ways to ‘trap’ myself in a job which gives me regular new challenges without needing to wholesale change jobs every 18 months (which I used to). Indeed, the reason that I have stuck with the hobby for so long is all of the variety and new shiny things that it offers. I can explore loads of different things within the one hobby – I don’t need as many hobbies now.

So ‘hobby butterfly’ for me is not just a whimsical dance through la-la-land – it is a much needed remedy for a genuine personality trait that I need to account for.

I was reminded of three books I read which helped me to understand this and really change my life for the better: How to Be Everything: A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up by Emilie Wapnick; Refuse to Choose!: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything that You Love by Barbara Sher; and The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine

In Renaissance Soul, there is a section on the “Ice Cream Sampler” approach, which basically means intentionally having a selection of pursuits – readily to hand – which you can easily switch between.

Reminding myself of this holds the key to the answers I need:

1. Get a usable hobby space in a common room in the house
2. Have multiple projects readily accessible – pick up and play – with little to no set up time
3. Have what I need, and just what I need, to hand
4. ALWAYS have a project ready to sit down and make progress. Critical success factor is that even a 15 min session will create progress.