Projects How do y'all refill your motivational "tanks"?

Excellent advice.

 

Damn 9 inch, if i could weld like that I would never leave the shop. Now get your arse back out there and build something!
Actually I've kinda run agroud on the F1 build, burnt out on body work, and its practically done. Helped a buddy all day yesterday on his 67 LeMans. Why is it easier to work on other peoples stuff?

Outlaw

 

Tim nailed it for me. I get out and drive. Sometimes out on a empty road down near the river bottoms where it's beautiful - sometimes around people where the honks and thumb's up seem to flow. Take the wife, kids, or just yourself out for an ice cream at an outdoor place when the weather is nice. People are sitting around anyway and someone usually walks up and the conversations start. It may not always work the first time but it usually does the trick for me.

 

+2 .

 

It can be overwhelming. Especially when you have redo something for a 2nd or 3rd time.

I remember starting my 4 year degree, working full time and going to school at night and studying on weekends. My boss told me " the time will go by, and at the end of 4 years either you will have a degree or you won't but the time will still go by just the same?.

After 4 years I had my degree and then I had all this free time.




There is a saying out there that you should consider....




How do you eat an elephant?


One bite at a time.

 

I apply a number of tactics to "keep the flame alive". Most of the time I just go to a show or Keller's in Dallas on a Saturday night.

If I've walked away from the garage for a while, it's usually enough to kickstart me again to push on with the hope of one day actually having an old ride.

Sometimes though, the old thin wallet forces me to take a break. That can be the biggest demotivator.

It seems to be part of the journey. I eventually do light a fire under myself.

 

Our hobby has so many aspects, like planning, parts hunting, fabricating chassis, bodywork, engine, drivetrain, and details.. I like details the best, but have to do everything myself just like the rest on here. My cars gets built or worked on when i feel like it. Other than that i allways work on smaller stuff like carbs, ignition or instruments. That is one of the things i like best and it needs to be done anyway. I'm lucky with that i can drop the tools and let the project stall for a while until i feel like working on it.
Just like the other guys said, it just cant be rushed but making detail beautiful helps me alot further and riding cars or bikes helps a lot too..

 

I decided long ago to spend 15 minutes every day on one of my hotrods, even after they are completed! There are of course days when I'm gone, or we have plans, but if I'm home it's every day.
I found that most the time the 15 minutes turns into several hours, or even all day. Once I go out there and start looking over the next piece in the puzzle just to get my time in, it turns into something.

 

Great post and lots of good advice. I have been wrestling with my own motivation lately and it is helpful to see that others do too. Thanks to all.



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Damn straight! Life's too short to not enjoy every bit of it. Leave your stuff alone for a while and go do something else challenging or fun to you. Come back to it when you are ready.

Tim

 

I fix something on my hot rod that's been bugging me. Then I go drive it and enjoy what I've just fixed. This has worked for me many years.

 

i masterbate for 9 hrs,,,,,,,, after that theres nothing else you cand do but work in the shop, with a smile...lol... yas im drunk;-)

 

When i need a little motivation i just spend a few hours on here.

 

For me it's about having multiple tasks at hand. If I'm tired of grinding and stripping, I move onto rebuilding linkage or fabricating a bracket. When I'm burnt out I don't push it...I take a break. Working a full time job and raising my granddaughter part time I can still manage to get around 30 hrs a week into my projects.

If you're bored draw something, flip through catalogs, browse other peoples build threads, go to the drags or a carshow...or swap meet. Get creative...something is sure to inspire you. I've found many times over that making senseless shit that's just cool to look at or stand in the corner of the cave gets the juices flowing more than your 17th hours stripping old paint off the body.

 

I either get my motivation here on the HAMB or over on Chevy Talk. I think you just motivated me. I'm going back out to the shop now.

 

Well thanks everyone for the advice as well as the compliments.

I did manage to get out in the shop and do a rough mockup but it kind of discouraged me because I will have to rework my patch a bit. I asked for it though, patching up a basketcase that's in pieces already...

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I'll go to one of my buddies garages, crack a beer and watch them skin their knuckles. Or just shoot the shit with them.

Usually talking about their project gets me hyped back up on mine.

 

Money

 

Tidy your garage, watch some videos and as others have said, go for a ride in a cool car. I've just taken over 2 years out as i've been out of work and completing qualifications. Although i've missed some cracking shows etc the time away has made me realise that this isn't just a hobby thats been going on for 25 years, it's simply what i do in life, i'm a gearhead. I know what car is next so although i don't have one yet i'm slowly gathering parts for it. Kind of keeps my spirits up and gives me stuff to do in the garage. Plus i've had the HAMB to keep my hot rod mojo alive and well if i have a dark day. God bless the HAMB!

Dan

 

For me it was picking up a cherry gennie 32 grill insert I've been looking for for two years now! I was completely unmotivated all summer but now that it's cold I want to get my snowmobiles out of the way so I can work on my car!!!

 

THIS

 

Looking at the "shop-built tools" thread(s) , picking out something quick and simple, and knocking it out helps me stay in the game. Another thing that helps is setting aside a specific time to work on my stuff rather than customer's - even if it's just a couple hours Friday afternoon it helps - and blowing the dust off and cleaning up in and around my project seems to help, also.

 

I will check out http://www.hotrodhotline.com/ car show photos for inspiration and of course I check out the H.A.M.B.

 

The list thing works but sometimes it's just getting out to the garage to get started on something, anything, that's the problem. Then I go over to a buddy's place, see what they're up to, look at some projects here on the HAMB, and all of a sudden, I'm doing one small thing in the garage on my project, then another, and another and I'm back on it again.

I also stick to one project at a time - it's a hard thing to do and I'm not always successful - else too much money is spread out and nothing ever really gets completed....

 

Yup

 

Walking away for a bit can bring some fresh thought to how you want to do some part of your build,..... Which usually means you hit upon a better idea.

4TTRUK

 

I have this exact same issue, where my project is down the list of priorities, is completely stalled and has been for some time, and it's a huge struggle to get caught up enough to even think about working on it.

Solid post and very helpful advice. Thanks.

 

I get on here and the web look at other guys projects and that usually gets me going again ! plus I never quit I just take a long time to finish

 

Watch this.

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I tend to break down the job into steps and go one step at a time, then when it pisses me off I go and work on another piece of the car and go back to it later with a whole other outlook.