I have always had this problem but it is really hitting me hard lately. When I have an aspect of my project that I find particularly difficult or challenging I have all the motivation in the world!!! Can't wait to get out there and prove I CAN do it! But once it's figured out and all that is left is trivial busy work all motivation is gone. Does anyone else have this problem? If so how do you get past it?! It's really starting to weigh on me. Here's the project. 46 coupe trad style custom. Has a long way but all the hard stuff is pretty much beat... thats problem I guess. HELP!!! David
I tell myself that if I just work on it half an hour a day it will get done and most times once I get started it turns into more then half an hour.
Divide it into small projects, example, strip a fender to bare metal, make repairs body work and prime, then move on. When you scatter a small amount of work to many areas, it's hard to see any progress. In my case music also helps.
yeah, I have to have a solid deadline, or I never get it done. Building a car to drive to a very special event will often be enough. A few examples...I finally got my Suburban done in time to drive to a robot competition in san diego, where my son was competing. Before this, I piddled with it for fifteen years. My 39 chevy was dragging along, but then there was a family reunion scheduled for about the same time as the 1989 NSRA Nationals in Minneapolis. I got the car done just in time, and drove it up there. I got my 55 built from a rolling shell to a driving car in a month, to go to LA for the start of the Power Tour in 1996. I built my Chevy II to run on Drag Week last year, and I set myself an intermediate goal of having it running in time for a drag race in Tucson a few months before. I missed the first race by a couple weeks, but made the overall goal.
Cool project - looks like there is a lot more to do than trivial busy work to do - if you don't finish it nobody else will do it for you.
Yep hard to get motivated to trip over shit. I am messy by nature and still take a break to put things away at least once a week.
^THIS is every weekend for me lately. Once your shop gets a mess, it's only a matter of time before working becomes a chore and not a joy. If you dread going into the shop, getting out there starts to seem daunting. Go do ONE thing, something simple.
I've thought of that and that's what I did with my Model A sedan. But I also half assed a bunch of stuff because of that. I'm starting to think I need a new hobby.
Really the hard work is done. The chop just needs finish welded and the chassis just needs a simple rebuild. Body and paint will come after I get some miles on the car to make sure it's properly set up. I might just do the essentials and start driving it.
My problem is I don't get a whole lot of time to work on my cars so when I do I work till the last second and don't clean up! Haha!
Physical limitations sometimes don't help my motivation. I just make a plan ( doesn't always work out ) and have learned to to do one project at a time. Sounds easy, but I always notice something else that needs attention while I'm working on the task at hand. I must FOCUS.
That is another problem of mine. Focusing on one area of the project at a time. I always look at the whole car and get overwhelmed. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
Flatout, You are in town so I can say this and no one can say that I am being an internet tough guy. So here is a short motivational speech for ya, "get off your dead ass and get it done." Just try and keep after it a little at a time, its not a race. There is no winners or losers here. The absolute best motivation you can give to yourself is to not let it guilt you or guilt yourself. Work when you can or when you want to and the rest of the time find something else to keep you busy.
Sounds to me that what you call the trivial busy work is actually the challenge on you. You get some satisfaction and self glorification from the broad strokes that show progress, yet when it comes to the thankless work that nobody sees you want no part of it. Spending many countless and thankless hours inside a door so the chop works doesn't interest you. Cutting and Fitting the small pieces ( which is harder than the big ones btw) you deem trivial yet can't seem to do them. If you posted that for sale and said "all the hard stuff is done" , well most of us would laugh because the details is the hard stuff. Get your ass in gear !!!! It's so easy and trivial then you have no reason to not only be doing it, it has no reason its not done already. A guy who can do all the hard stuff trying to do the busy work should be like astrophysicist doing 2nd graders homework. Cleaning up some clutter is a tough job for a guy who gets all the hard stuff done
either that, or you need to tackle smaller projects, that you have a reasonable chance of finishing in a reasonable time.
I get this problem real bad. So I'll go through some of the things that have helped me. First off, unless you know already, find an online MBTI test and find your personality type. Personality types are all about wheels within wheels, so this is just one way you can look at it. Once you think you have found your type, search forums and blogs about that type so that you will have some verification of it. Ideally it should be done by a professional, but they charge a lot for it. This is kind of key, what works for some people wont work for others as we all relate to the world differently. That's why a lot of self help books don't work. Once you have made this realisation things will start to get clearer. The next key point for me was finding there are two ways our brains can be wired. These are physiological differences, we are born that way. Basically, if you have the extroverted, quick thinking, objective type logic, you'll find it much easier to get going on your project and finish it. If you are introverted (that's not the same as shyness), deep thinking, and subjective, things will take longer but you'll end up with something aesthetically better and perfect. Our western culture prefers the former type because it's all about time and money. http://introvertdear.com/2015/03/04/introverts-and-extroverts-brains-really-are-different-according-to-science/ http://introvertdear.com/2015/07/14/introverts-alone-time-science-marti-olsen-laney/ Then there is self esteem and perfectionism. Perfectionism can be driven by a feeling of "not good enough", which is all about self esteem. This is where you will possibly have to do most of the work. It's all around the beliefs you have about yourself, most of which have been planted there by external sources. You'll need to reframe your belief system. It takes time to get through this, and something you'll have to do the rest of your life. There are two ways we generally deal with self esteem issues. One way is to seek approval from others to boost it, the other way is to "dump" on others to make you feel superior. If you find yourself doing either of these, you are not balanced. I like this quote from Andy Warhol: “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” What I'm working on now is just getting my hands moving. As I am the deep thinking, introverted type (otherwise I would never have figured all this out), my brain is already ticking over at 100 mph, so really it's just about picking up my tools and doing something, even if it's not on my project. Sort of like my hands need to be jump started. It's amazing how much of a hurdle that can be some days.
Damn that's deep, very interesting though. I see a bit of motivation created with positive comments on members build threads, that helps. The encouragement helps, which is why I use the like button a lot. We all like positive feedback. Start a build thread, and see if that helps, if you don't already have one. Post lots of pics, cause we need pics.
The Jalopy Journal
