Projects MOTIVATION....... How do you find it?

Let's see.. I'm 60 years old. I have no energy and no muscle mass... Somehow, I still get up in the morning to go too work... Don't know how I do it... Maybe I should go see a doctor about this...

 

^^^^^^^^^^^ I stay away from doctors, they attract sick people.

 

I am almost 48, and should be kicking ass. But, I accepted a supervisor position a little over a year ago, with salary based on a 40 hour week. Have yet to see one, mostly 55+, usually over 60. I am mentally fried at day's end, and it's hard to get much done. The weird things get me going. I started reversing a set of wheels tonight for my 49 Merc. I really am not in the right priority to do that, but it is something different, and therefore, fun. And hobbies are supposed to be fun...

 

Motivation ? It seems to always come from something I haven't done yet but want to get done. Sure money and energy has a lot to do with it - so I do when I can afford it(money) it gets done or when I don't have the money I do it with what energy I have.
Tackling the trees/bushes along my shop we chopped down about 4 yrs ago when I got the new place. Should have killed them with some chemicals - something I'll try and do this time around. That space I plan to put my 8N Ford tractors I use all the time - hopefully with a cover/shed over them.
Use to brake down most of my tires and wheels - just paid the local guys $40 to break down - get the tires off and dispose of - about 6 of them.....I was happy about getting that done !

 

If you can figure out how to motivate, you can write a book and speak at seminars and maybe have a radio show. What did you do on the Ferrari. Body work or mechanic`s.

 

The best form of motivation i get to work on my own car is from you hoodlums. This joint has helped to keep me on track better than anything. Everybody gets tired and needs to step away, helps freshen your enthusiasm

 

well, i like all the answers so far. my problem is, i have been a manic depressive my whole life. i have been a hard worker and self motivated until my depressive side would kick in. i am 72 now and been retired for 16 years and have got a lot done in that time. i was a aerospace engineer for 36 years and hated it every day. all i ever wanted to do was build things, cars, bikes, model cars, and still do. i usually have 3 or more cars going at the same time and sometimes it gets to me and i stop working on them. i know then to just quit for a while find something else to do. my mood comes back and off i go. once i quit for about a year and built models. that was fun but i couldn't drive them and then i got going on my cars again. for instance, right now i am working on a '52 chevy bobber truck a '63 plymouth s/s and a '23 t c cab flatbed truck. my friend said to me when i was down once that my priorities were all fucked up. that was all the motivation i needed and off i went. i'll never stop i guess. tomorrow will be a better day.

 

procrastination is my specialty. I always say, do what you are good at.

 

The Ferrari arrived in bare aluminum, I got it as smooth as I could and painted it red. It got a second at Pebble Beach, pretty car that I think about often. Bob

 

I retired at 60 only because it was mandatory for me. I still miss full time employment however maintaining focus is sometimes tough on me with motivation coming in spurts. With so many things to do around here, cars and house, I compile to-Do list(s). The black dog drags me down however I do what I can do with both good and bad days, some easier and tougher than others however by doing little things along the way when motivated it's one less thing that needs to be done later.
Due to a few physical injuries (Carpel tunnel) I had to farm out some body work as I couldn't undertake them. Now these repairs require lots of rework to be satisfactory, another stumbling block to overcome. Once done I can paint the floorpan and put the body back onto the frame for final paint. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer to completion so some motivation is needed; down to the Drug store and/or liquor store for some meds.

 

Motivation is in the mind!
I see things the way I want them to be in my mind first! This true for cars or creating new images for my business.
I have many projects going on at any given time from my business to working in my yard, and also with my 7
grandchildren.
The only thing that separates any of us is our desire to complete these projects.
For me, it always seemed simple all I had to do was make the project happen.
Picture whatever it is you want to do in your mind first and then do it.
If you do not have the needed funds for a project do the parts that you can do that don't involve spending money on first.
At 73 years young I get up each morning and cannot wait to start working on my projects.

Jimbo

 

Hello,
Motivation is what keeps us going. To build on what we have all learned in life and relationships. As teenagers, we were motivated to build a fast hot rod and race at Lions Dragstrip. We wanted to be in the hot rod/drag race industry and business. if that isn’t enough motivation, what is? Money also helps, but small steps will lead to big ones in the future.

Yes, it does take a lot of discipline to stay on track on anything about our lives. If done to expectations, it all falls into place. Household projects, motivation to keep your life on track gets things done. Garage projects, it does take discipline to finish a project, but there is the motivation to get started in the first place. It was a goal for your ideas that made you start in the first place.

We have always been a couple since we met in the spring of 1966. It was not written in stone, but both of knew that we needed to stick together with similar ideas and lifestyles. Well, I happen to pick a winner. (she has mentioned that she has picked her forever boyfriend…) Through thick and thin, adventures all over the world and being involved in various home bound industries, a nice hot rod or two, a nice family and now a great granddaughter made it all worthwhile. Motivation started it and discipline continued the drive.

When the pandemic hit with the full force in out So Cal area, it was crazy for several months. Think back to the hoarding and greed by a lot of other people made us just sit back and do what we always did, evaluate what was happening and make adjustments to get along with others. Despite the preliminary scary social scenarios in the early stages of the pandemic, we have adjusted and we are motivated to get through this together. We have the discipline to make things work for us and hopefully, following the pandemic rules, our participation does not make the pandemic cases rise as we have seen, recently in So Cal and elsewhere.

Jnaki

Motivation helps keep our goals in line by following the rules given to us. It is a small thing, but adding a neighborhood, city, county, state, following the rules gets the job done for all of us all over the world. It has to start somewhere. Think of the future for our kids and granddaughter… so, we do our part. It will all add up to put things aside for the betterment of all of us, young and old.

As teenagers on a mission, we were motivated to do the best we can in building a fast hot rod. We did not take any short cuts or do things that would deter us from our goals of a national record in our gas coupe class. If all of us follow the simple rules given to us by the medical experts in this crisis, our motivation to do our part comes from the discipline it takes to help all mankind. Selfish people will always be selfish, but there are more people that want our society to get better and safe for everybody. All it takes is love, motivation and discipline.

 

Aches and pains,loss of muscle mass..what a bunch of hoo hah,excuses not to get off your ass and out into the shop..Its amazing,buck up and swing into it,you loosen up,get good and tired,sleep better.43 year heavy equipment mechanic,I've found doing the job to be the best pain relief..sitting around stiffening up bitching you're too stiff to work dont cut it. The pain free days of your youth are gone,the doctor doesn't have a cure..get busy living or get busy dying..when I keel over I hope the undertaker needs a scrub brush to get my hands clean..

 

Easy Eagle 1

 

I start on the project, work till I get burnt out. Then, I spend money and have no choice but to get my ass in gear.

 

This one motivated me in college.

 

^^^^ That one is motivating me right now!


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Error404, it seemed like you quoted my mind, on hot rod projects , yard, and around the house projects. Some I like, some I “ have” to do.
One thing, for me anyway, is “ getting started”! For me, once I get started, then it’s hard to get me to stop!
I”ll put off a project for a while dreading it, kinda, then force myself to do it. Then it’s never as bad as I imagined, sometimes it is kinda enjoyable, getting it done.

So, my advice, to folks, is, “ just get started” everything else will fall into place!








Bones

 

This is all that matters. It's a hobby it's meant for enjoyment. If you don't feel like doing anything then don't and go do something else. Having to force ones self to work on something takes it from being a hobby to being a job and then even more of the enjoyment is taken away from it. If you really enjoy doing it then you will come back to it when you are ready it if you don't ever feel like working on it again then you are in the wrong hobby and need to find something else that you do enjoy.

 

Don't think I've ever read a thread this long that has this many posts I agree with 100%. Everyone has a different life situation to work through, and sometimes hobbies get put on the back burner, sometimes for many years.
I'm almost 68 and still want my projects done as much as ever, but life gets in the way. I don't regret the years that serious family issues prevented me from going out to the garage, but time lost is still lost, no matter why.
My issues have been my health the last 2 years, and I hate to say it, a couple of female relationships since my divorce 15 years ago. I've been involved with 2 different women, one for 3 years, the last one for 7, that didn't like sharing me with my projects.
By myself for the last 4 months, trying to make up for lost time, and won't fall into that trap again, ever.
Fatigue from radiation treatments has kicked my ass, but I'll just be a lot slower now.
Damn, it's nice to spend a day off doing what I want to do, and now that means remodeling some of my house myself, and garage time.
Still work more than full time, but the garage lowers my blood pressure, and helps with daily stress and BS.
I have to go to the garage now........

 

Hi error404,

That is right on the money. I’m most motivated when I know the next step in the build. Preferably it is a small step that can easily be achieved in a couple of hours. If I do not know the next step then the next step is finding out the next step and like you said it is progress when you find the next step.

I have also noted that I am least motivated when I am unhappy with the result of my last work. Therefore, when I f*ck something up then I try to undo it immediately. I will take the grinder to cut it out immediately and then quit for the day - knowing that I have another chance at the same job next day. I have to cut it out immediately because it is hard to get motivation to work on a compromised project.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

the door glass kicked my butt yesterday....but now I have the glass free to move up and down like it should, and I just have to figure out how to make it move like that, when I turn the little crank. I didn't go out the shop all morning, though, still thinking about what I need to do, and not feeling like doing it yet.

Since I'm retired, I get to spend a lot of time goofing off in the house, thinking about how I should be out in the shop doing something.

 

I f'ing can't stop it.......I live and breathe it every single day. I have very few friends (read almost none) because that's mostly what I talk about. BUT, I don't always expel that energy in the garage, sometimes I'm just beat from work (or other work) and do research online about old cars....at the very least I'm daydreaming about what I "could" do next.

 

The garage has skyrocketed both for me lately just ask my wife. My problem is that is usually when I can't just walk away and take some time because problems eat at me day and night until I get them solved.

 

In the mid-sixties, I was working for an FBO in El Monte, CA on not a car but a HAMB friendly airplane, a Cessna 170B that someone had augured into the ground. When I started on it, it was pretty much in a ball but I had parts of two other planes to work with. Anything I didn't have, I made. I had worked for the shop's owner for quite a while but this was the first project that he had entrusted to me to do on my own. I cut, fit, riveted, rigged and wired everything on it. The only thing I didn't do was the paint. When it come out of the paint shop, I was as proud of that plane as if I owned it. All the problems I'd encountered meant nothing. I did the final checks on the rigging and one of the company pilots took it on a check ride. When he came in, he was telling the boss how sweet it flew. A few days later, one of the salesmen flew it up to a ranch near Cajon Pass so the rancher could try it out. He made one circuit, brought it in for a touch and go landing and flipped it over on it's back. It came back to the shop on a flatbed and I got to build it again. That time, it was just a job. I struggle to find time, money and motivation for the 27 T I'm working on now. Most days, I can only dredge up one of the three but on the days I have it all together, I get as much done as I can. If I can get the T to come out as good as that little airplane was the first time, I'll be happy.

 

I can relate to that airplane redo! Another customer showed up with a very nice Lotus 11 project, all aluminum body was very nice. He got it in his head that being so nice and a race car it should be as light as possible, No Bondo. I put the tail section on a scale and noted the weight, also knew what a quart of primer & paint weighed. Picked & filed the aluminum, primed and painted it. Cut & buffed Centari back then in the 1980's. Came in on my day off and finished buffing it. Next day less than 24 hours later he backed it into the Armco at speed at Lime Rock. To save money on Round Two he decided to return the tail after working out the dents himself with a ballpeen hammer. It was NOT Bondo free the second time I buffed it. Bob

 

Why? Were you married to her?

 

My children give me motivation every day by being needy and whining so I go out to the garage to get away from it. Hahaha


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I still get spurts of motivation, they just come farther apart anymore....

I’ve always had something to work on, either mine or somebody else’s. When I started driving trucks 35 years ago, that time in the shop diminished, but didn’t stop. I was still able to get in a little time most days. Then I got stupid and bought my own truck with the idea that I could control my off time more. Yeah, right. I don’t do things halfway, so I put all my energy into my trucks and hobby stuff got the back burner. I still did some stuff in the shop, it just stretched out everything longer. I kept moving up the ladder, when one truck would start to cost a lot of repairs, I’d trade it off and get a replacement. Weathered good and bad years, lost one due to a repossession by a finance company that wouldn’t work with me, lost a couple of engines, paid a lot of bills over the years. Some years I couldn’t afford a set of spark plugs, others I bought parts and worked on my projects. I got mad having to stay away from home a week at a time, one day a guy came by wanting some VW parts, I was big into air cooled VW’s, made him a price and he bought everything I had VW, 4 cars, 2 complete extra engines, transaxle, a lot of loose stuff. I was out of the car hobby. But not for long...

My kids were just getting their licenses, so I got drug back into it. And have been ever since. Last couple of years have been slow getting things done, thanks to Uncle Sam’s DOT, we had to go to electronic log books, so now I have to do everything their way. Very little home time during the week again, and I only run parts of 3 states. Shop time is mostly limited to Saturday, and other homeowner tasks steal a lot of that time, as does truck upkeep. The truck comes first as it’s the money maker, then the house, then the hobby stuff if there is time left. But, I’m looking toward next year, I’ll turn 62, and I hope to retire and work part time 3-4 days a week. The hobby stuff will keep a little longer, hope I will. My main affliction is arthritis, it makes it hard to go sometimes when the joints ache and get stiff, but I try and work through it. I guess my motivation is I want to drive my car again, I miss being able to get in it and go....

 

I Need Tunes! It took me a while to figure out my "a.d.d." needed a steady mix of music to keep on track. Make your shop comfy and you will want to be out there. when i work on my 1930 coupe i listen to "Buddy holly radio" or "reverand horton heat"on pandora, working on 70 maverick "southern rock", 86 c10 "80's hair bands". Make it fun and when stuff gets rough call it a night and clean up, it will feel better tomorrow. Another thing for me is a timeline end point. Make plans with a buddy for some roadtrip to a big show or something roudy and lay out the time you have for a segment of the build, write it down, mark it off when things get down. On year i pieced together a 72 torino in a month for a fall show and that car was rough (should have been scrapped), i wrote a huge list of needs and another of wants on the trunklid and marked as i went. The car made it to the show on time and because it was soo rough they made me start a new row and nobody would park next to it. Sure as hell every one walking by had to stop and get a laugh at those lists on the trunk!