How do you keep motivated to finish?

Orange candy slices, rock and roll music and pride in your work. This recipe has gotten me through 14 ground up builds.

 

I support the theory of moving around the car. With all I have to do this week I stripped sanded prepped and finish painted the glove box door!!! So tomorrow I'll get back to blocking the hood.....and if I don't it'll wait for me...

 

shoot some primer on it. maybe your closer to done than you think. at least it will look better one color. then you might see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Reading HAMB.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

beer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sold one project this month, now I can focus on the '30 Roadster. Cleaned off the table the body is on, bought some needed hardware and will get something done this weekend, if not next weekend. If you have never had a finished car, it isn't something you can miss. Bob

 

it is sometimes humble that for most car guys its a financial struggle to be a player-remind yourself of this- as the effort is hard - the rewards are greater. If not you- then who-get your ass moving.

 

As I have gone through projects I've noticed more and more that I get more detailed. With that in mind, every time I look at my car there is something more there than the last time that I need to do. However, in my mind I always look at the bare minimum of what needs to be done first before I can move on to the next project. I definitely get burnt out, but my key is switching between my three different hobbies so that it I can keep myself interested. It has also helped to have other people giving me inspiration in different forms. So far, for about a good seven months, my mind has been totally on restoring my car.

 

Just don't be like a friend of mine. When I meet him in 1980 he had a 30 ford coupe sitting on a progressive frame. About five years later he buys a 51 Merc. Here it is 2013 and neither one is finished or driveable, and it isn't because of lack of funds or free time.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Comforting to know its not just me.


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Been building a long time, some days I go like hell, other days I fire up the wood stove and ponder....sometimes for weeks. Then one day I'll tackle the "problem" and solve it in a couple hours, its supposed to be a hobby, try to keep it that way. It happens to most of us, but I do have a friend who will go at it outside in - temperatures, never gets tired of cars. We're all different, take your time, learn to love it.

 

Hah...you're not alone. Read 31's recent thread, "Block Sanding Sucks". Some funny stuff and good advice too.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=763652&highlight=block+sanding+sucks

A little motivational speech for you Swiss, as well as the rest of the young guys here.

There's an order of monks who remind each other every day of one important fact:
"All men must die one day." Kind of puts stuff into perspective.

You're a young guy, who I assume doesn't have any major physical problems. You're strong and you've got plenty of stamina. Be grateful for that, enjoy it, and take advantage of it. In other words, move yer ass!...lol. And enjoy the fact that you can bust ass without having to take the next two days off to recuperate. In a very few years, your body will begin to slow down. You'll realize just how damn fast time is flyin' by. You'll start to wanna go faster to make up time.
But........you.........won't.......be........able....................to.

So whatever you wanna do with hot rods...or anything in life...get it done. Follow your dreams and try to reach your goals sooner than later. Nothin' wrong with taking a break, but over the long run, keep movin'.

Also, "stepping stone" projects can help to reach a goal, but sometimes they can be a hindrance too. If a particular project is keeping you from focusing on what you really want, then make a change. Time's-a-wastin', and you can't do it all...so pick and choose as best you can.

 

Take a couple weeks off.

 

Taking a 3-6 month break works for me but probably not for everybody. Maybe try focusing on the shop (tools and organization) while that may not seem like you're working on the project, it would probably benefit your project in the long run.

I also put it in my mind when I started my frame up '54 project that it is a Five Year Project. So that way unless I was really slacking it did not seem like I was behind and that I needed to hurry to get it done. I'm now at about 95% done at 3.7 years so I am actually ahead of schedule.

Whatever you do, Do Not Start Another Project! Chances of your current project getting done will fall drastically.

 

Nailed it!.I went to the roadster show yesterday and now im totally hot on it again.

 

When I lose motivation I put my shit up for sale......so I can buy something thats further along...
Cause $$$ is usually the only reason I can't continue on with something....PWT man....
If no one buys it....then I kinda gotta keep going on it.....at least long enough to get it to a point where someone else would be "comfortable" in finishing it...

 

Even though I don't feel like it at times, I go to the garage, start to work on my project and the motivation kicks in!

 

Get another project at a different stage of completion! Get sick of sanding and all that, go cut and weld on a different one.. Works for me but I never get anything "finished" it seems..

Really though, when I get sick of car work I go do something completely different.

 

I like the way my shop smells with a project in it. Besides that I really don't have anything else I like to do,,err well, there is one other thing but you can't do that all the time.

 

I agree with everyone that says to take small bites and eventually you can eat the elephant. If you set small goals, it feels like you are making progress. Progress is motivating. If you say: "my goal this week is to get the hood done" you feel like you've accomplished something when you get the hood done and it feels good. You want more. If your only goal is to finish the car, you could work on it for years and never feel like you've "accomplished" anything.

 

Slowly slowly wins the race, I do a little bit here and there and before you know it you're actually achieved quite a lot. If you stop it is hard to get motivated again.

 

Lots of good advice here. It helps some times to review the overall plan and what your goals are. If the final plan for the car is still the same, find some other things that will need to be done and them get back to the body work. I'm in that place right now so i feel your pain. It seems there is always some more areas that need to be worked "a little more". Everyone has there own point where they have to say, that will do for now and move on.

 

When I got my 31 sedan I sat down and started looking at what I wanted to do which was very overwhelming,so what I decided to do get it on the road. I want to be riding this year,which is very possible and go to some shows or just ride. And do small jobs,like ride for a few weeks then work on a few weekends or just one. That's what I'm trying so it won't be so overwhelming,just my two cents.

 

Spend quality time with the little women and do chores around the house for a day, That will get your ass back in the garage in no time....

 

Its easy to say just shut the shop doors and walk away for a while but what if the enthusiasm never comes back?

I've got rid of more than one project over the years due to just walking away from them and never feeling like touching them again.
One of my current projects (OK, so its just an old VW bug ) has not turned a wheel in 12 years now.

Working without a shop or any form of undercover work area hasn't helped either and theres only so much work you can do in the kitchen before you end up as just another mariticide statistic.

 

at 52, i look back at how fast the last 20 years flew by, then i look ahead 20. stuff needs to keep getting done. even small things. most of us have more than one project going too. sometimes i wish i was like most men. not addicted to old cars. life would be abit easer, although not as fun.

 

Sometimes cleaning the garage up, organizing, just fiddling around with another part and mocking it up are a good way to get away from what is bothering you. I wasn't kidding about that beer either. I like to crack one and sit back and stare at certain section of my truck and contemplate what I'm going to do. Remember...it's a hobby, not a chore.

 

go-twichy, I find myself wondering a lot what the fuck other guys do who aren't into old cars. I can't think of anything else I would rather do with my time or money.

 

I Stay motivated buy having multiple cars to work on. I get bord or frustrated with one, I will just start on another. Or I will start building tools, or clean the garage cause it's 1k of shit in a 5lb bucket, so it can always use some lovin.

 

Unfortunately I have a ton of other hobbies. This is really my main problem, there's just never enough time and money to devote to each of them, so they all suffer. Drag racing costs money, tattoos cost money, old cars, hot rods, bikes, off topic cars, the house, the chick, etc all takes away from each other. So because of this, I have unfinished cars, a dragster with no paint on it that's not ready for this season, a body full of unfinished tattoos, 2 bikes torn apart, etc.

I will say, I never got so much work done as I did when I was single and lived in my shop. Hmmm....