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

in the wilds of way upstate ny most folks dont give a crap about old iron or the interest one might have in such things. there are enclaves of folks with street rods, but they tend to be friend groups regardless of interest..........everybody considers that their stuff, either vehicles or parts are the greatest shit you never heard of, and if you appear skeptical about that you don't exist anyway......so lone wolves continue to be lone wolves, if you got a project or a shop or an interest and don't fit the "deal" you are on yer own up here.....networking becomes virtual(a good thing), but the whole games requires a considerable amount of mental fortitude on your part to keep pushing forward......I harness hatred and loathing of the cliques to feed my energy level , works great for me......along with a firm belief that when its all said and done 50 years of stuff and weirdness packed into my ol'shop ain't gonna mean shit.....so, the pressures off.

 

Being unemployed for almost half the year gives me plenty of time to work on the things that I haven't had time for. I've been scouring the junkyards and finding some treasures and getting things together and looking like the finished product makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.

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You don’t even need to leave your living room to get motivation. There is plenty to be found on The HAMB, my other source of inspiration is Youtube, there are various channels I have subscribed to that have been invaluable for my projects. My top five are Lazzie Metal Shaping, The Eastwood Channel, Iron Trap Garage, Fitzee’s Fabrication ands Trev’s Blog.

 

For me motivation comes from passion. I've loved cars for as long as I can remember. As I've gotten older with more responsibilities, I'm not able to spend as much time as I once did. A few years ago, I had a fire in my house. It took 6 months to get back in my house, and another year or two to really get back the desire for cars. Everything changes when your life is turned upside down.

I am an automotive tech professionally. When things aren't going well at work, I have no desire to work on my own stuff at home. When your hobby is your career and one sucks, both do.

Lately I've been working on a replacement engine for one I blew up about 5 years ago, in a car I've had for 30 years. It's been fighting me all the way. I am really tired of fighting it, I just want to drive it again, so I use that thought as motivation, even when I have to take things back apart and figure out why they aren't working like I think they should.

Devin

 

Let’s see the cars your having motivation issues with.


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I saw your Torino a couple times. Everyone got a kick out of the list. Covered half the trunklid.

 

Was sick awhile back and had surgery. I think they removed my motivation gland while I was under.

 

We are all brothers of the lonely road, traveling to different destinations by whatever means we can find. A few of us are psychologists and use rewards and punishments to get the doors open each and every day, and we think and feel and believe that the fragments that are lodged in our minds come from other places, other people; when in fact each time we sleep we rebuild this world as a mirror image of our experiences, desires, accomplishments and failures. Motivation for work on anything is rooted in the amount of joy we get not from the completion of a goal but in how much of our hands, hearts, minds, souls we are able to use in the doing. If the journey was simply a matter of geometry, traveling from point A to point B it would be mind numbing; however, as has been said by others wiser than myself. 'It is the journey and not the destination from which one receives the jolt.' Of course imagination is part of seeing that which exists after the often tiring necessity of doing. This comes as a direct result of inspiration. If the human body you inhabit is to be dragged kicking and screaming to do drudge work you absolutely must have in place a program to provide rewards. Beating yourself up for putting things off won't do. The best way to visualize this to look at how a worker is able to get up and go to a job. He does it for myriad reasons, certainly; but the basic one is money. This is a reward for services rendered. I won't get into Marxian politics, but if you use yourself as a laborer --- you absolutely must reward yourself for services rendered. This little hump you get over is the first step in seeing life in your shop as a place to free yourself of the idea that work, no matter how it rates on the drudgery scale, has an outcome beyond the simple act of doing. How you keep track, hours, jobs, tasks is irrelevant; just as how you plug those rewards to the accomplishments. To me, all of this starts from the basic premise of research into the potential end product. I get excited by the process of elimination that comes from following threads of ideas, balancing them against my budget (tomes can be written about failure to see that this dream is not unlike that of an opium smoker in the ancient times: no money no smoke, no smoke no dream) --- regardless of your yen to climb back on the dragon cloud. This is part of the deal you make with yourself. Trust me, it's as much a part of motivation as anything else. I have lived years collecting parts, under my bed, in the closet, just as I spent two years at L.A.C.C. when I was in a Cinema Studies Program there, also lugging home copies of a huge stash of Hot Rod Magazines they had in the stacks, and buying car tech books in the bookstore across the street. I read everything because it refines my perception of what has been done, can be done and what I want to do. I'm going to stop here. I haven't even scratched the surface. You need to get outside your comfort zone and realize all the cars we love were not the result of someone waving
a magic wand. They had hands laid on them. It takes more than motivation to get stuff done. Like I said, we all have an aversion to work, that's the crupper here. You have to deal with that first and it will be like the wee little men with hammers did it while you were beddie-bye.

 

Finally convinced my wife to get rid of the our outside walk in door in our laundry room. I made shelving with 2 x 4`s in my lawnmower shed. Time to redo the shelving with 8 foot long pallet rack(needed to be done years ago), to use the 2 x 4`s for the door closer. Today was the day to install it in my shed. Was 100 degree`s outside today. Had all my stuff spread out in the yard so it had to get done. Got over heated a few times. It is more organized so I have have room for more stuff. Not sure what my motivation was to get it done was. To dam hot to do anything else outside. I guess it fee`d up my Sunday so I can go see some gassers run at a dragstrip a couple hours away. Also will be in the upper 90`s. Might stop and see a guy about parts for my project car on the way home. @fortynut always like reading your posts. Have to reread them a few times to understand what you are trying to say, but still enjoy them.

 

Same thing happened to me back in '03.... Had a bad case of Cushing's desease.....

 

Most motivating thing is probably the "you did that ?" comment from contemporaries...

 

Thanks fourtynut, but I have to ask about the avatar, looks like half a loaf of bead on end with something very strange on top. Think I've got my motivation problem figured out, I need a set of '32 Ford frame rails to get to the next step of the body rescues. Called and got the price with shipping, so now I know what my goal is for selling unneeded stuff. It is a win win deal, stuff I've held on to for 50-60 years, sort of has some meaning, but a photo of it would be just as good. Knowing that the pile of stuff that would make it to a dumpster when I'm gone will fund the rails is my new found motivation. Less crap, more money and the chance of two Model A bodies in primer can be seen at the end of the tunnel.


Bob

 

first secret for progress; i clear up the shop/garage so i don't have to wade through a series of piles to get to tools, etc. a messy work area is a big inhibitor of progress.
i have a tiny workspace, 1/2 of a 1 car garage i share with a neighbor. i languished in car build purgatory for months before i went out to my tiny shop with a trash can & filled it up with junk i was saving for some unknown, yet to be determined, future project & threw it all out. anything that wasn't for this build was ejected. it took all weekend but the following saturday i got to work.
second secret for progress; i invited a buddy over to help me with a one hour project. he brought his adult son over and we got so into it, we worked for four hours and had a great time. if you live in southern california, i'll come over and help you get started.
third secret for progress; don't make it perfect, just get it running. a higher vision of a super bitchen car held me in perfection paralysis for years. it turns into an excuse i would use when talking to car guys. drop the rock and get one running, that was the spark that's kept me motivated for years. get one junker rod running and you'll chase that high again and again.
fourth secret for progress; don't wait for the money, it won't come. your $2,000.00 for a frame will always be superseded by higher priority life stuff. get a cheap welder and make a frame, raw steel is inexpensive. look in the "freebies" section of every social media source and drag home a junker. strip that thing down to the frame & make it work.
now turn off the computer and get after it.

 

Passion and money.

 

I have 4 daughters. The TV watching gets pretty rough. Dance moms, choose the wedding dress, the bachelor, get the picture. I go fire up a flatty and breath in the testosterone.

 

If I want to do something, I do it.
If I don't, I move on to something else.
From your original post sounds like you don't need motivation, just $2000.00 to continue. Sell, barter something or get a part time job.

 

You're right, turns out it is $800.00, and I'm totally into raising that by parting with stuff that has been with me for 55-60 years. Going to be an interesting photo collection, mostly non automotive stuff, that was never thrown out. Bob

 

I see a few comments about money and motivation. I am going to to make a comment, but before you have me committed give it some thought. Money is not necessary to build a hotrod, yep I said that. If you don't want to go that far, a lot of money is not necessary to build a hotrod.

So how can I make a crazy statement or come to this dumb conclusion. After reading a number of books such as Jupiters travels (a motorcycle travel book) it showed that it is possible to travel the world and have someone else fund it. The key is asking. I am not talking about charity. When you ask try to make it a win win.

For example a young bloke finds a chassis for his first rod on a farm. He can offer money or offer a days labor. The farmer may prefer help for a day than some cash. You may be surprised at how helpful people can be. If you work on helping others and not trying to exploit others, word will get around. You may be surprised how many opportunities come your way.

Another tip is don't throw a nice act back into someones face. For example someone gives you some parts. Yes they are yours, but if you decide to sell them and get good money don't go telling everyone how you made a big profit at the expense of the original gifter.

An enterprising young bloke with the right attitude could conceivable fund his build with the use of youtube.

So if you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it, the desire to achieve will supply motivation. Just don't use the excuse I have no money so I can't make any progress.

Steve from down under

 

Does Bob have a spare organ to sell?

 

Scrapped it, still have some old sheet music.

 

Ok , Who knows how to set up a Go Fund Me page before Bob sells a kidney.

 

maybe you need this for motivation.


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