Too many projects and no motivation...

[daklone]

I feel you OP. I've sold far too many projects on over the years (at eye-watering losses) because of this kind of malaise. And regreted many of them, not just because of the money, but for what they would have been when finished.

I'd agree with what biturbo228 said, it's one of the techniques I use now. Break the jobs down into tiny job-lets and get one or two done per week.

I've also been prone to procrastination, trying to figure out every possible angle and problem I might encounter on a job, at the expense of actually doing anything on it. The trick is to just get on and try something, and not be afraid of screwing up or not being able to complete the task. There's always a way, no matter how bad it seems to have gone wrong.

If all else fails, I've also found that doing something else completely away from cars (such as DIY or whatever) for a few weeks usually gives me enough time away to get going again.

Oh, and please don't beat yourself up about it. It happens to the best of us (and me!), in fact I'd bet that it happens to EVERYONE at some point (even those lads & lasses who appear to rip through projects like a tornado), so you're far from alone...there's all the nutters on here for a start!!

[jonomisfit]

I get that from time to time and its usually to do with when i feel like I "have" to be getting progress on the projects.

Reallity is, I don't. Sometimes I have to remember that. Its not like they are my every day and need to be on the road. Sure i'd like them done but for me I often need to remind myself its the journey I enjoy not just the destination. If I didnt like the journey i'd just buy a completed car and use it.

Thats why i've mentally re-prioritised my projects. My escort is the project I "have" to get finished as quickly as I can. The morris is there as an enjoyment project and when I feel i've been pushing too hard on the escort and my motivation is flagging I generally have a mooch over the morris and start doing an interesting job on that for a while.

Once i've gotten through a "light relief" morris job, I generally find my mojo comes back for the escort.

If my motivation is really tanking I generally go do a job on the house for a bit. Which always reminds me just how much I enjoy doing car things and just how much I hate doing house things, and bingo the car motivation is back with a vengance.

[commycouper]

Hi,

I've just read through this thread and I think everyone has raised some very valid points. The comments that fall close to home for me are the ones from biturbo228 and daklone . Okay.....so.....elephant in the room for me is......depression......there you go.....I've said it. It's been my nemesis for 20 years plus and I know I'm not the only one...... there seems to be a lot of it about these days. Put that into the mix of owning 13 cars/trucks and all of the everyday responsibility's and general #### that life throws at you, things can get a little jaded at times. Thing is, it's me that got myself into this state......and it's only me that can sort it out ( it took me a while to work this out).
I'm one of these people that has to be doing something all of the time. Things started to wrong when I use to get up late and not know which one of 1000 things I needed to do first. I'd wonder outside take a look around and try to work out where to start. Every time I thought I had it sussed, I'd realise there was 10 other things I had to do before I could even do whatever it was I decided upon. So.....I'd turn around and go back indoors. Then later in the day I'd get really angry with myself that I didn't do anything. This just became a vicious circle that went on for over a year. In the meantime, the list of things to do got longer.
To cut a really long ( and boring ) story short, the solution was to get rid of a lot stuff that was on my 'to do' list. It was painful at first, but LITTLE by LITTLE I managed to halve my list. It's been a long journey and I still have those 'off' days, but I generally feel so much better now. There's still a way to go, but its going in the right direction.
So......my humble advice to you would be what has already been mentioned. Break everything up into smaller individual jobs and slowly work through them. Don't put those jobs in order of importance or you'll never start any of them. Don't give yourself deadlines, but DO reward yourself once a certain milestone has been met. It's almost like having to hit the life reset button. It worked for me.....I hope you can get your mo-jo back soon ( as it were )

Regards Dan

[daklone]

Sounds like you've had a similar experience to a lot of us here, Dan. Keep on keeping on, chap

I've another couple of tips just in case anyone is interested.

It's sort of counter-intuitive, but I found that spending LESS time on my projects gets more done.

What I mean is, I used to spend every available hour on the cars, starting early and finishing late. Not only did this cause ructions with SWMBO, but I found that I was knackered, made stupid mistakes and cut corners toward the end of the day and was frustrated and fed up of the whole business after a few weeks.

So what I do now (along with splitting into job-lets) is limit myself to 2 hours a day. I find that's often long enough to tick off a job-let (or at least get a start on one) and not come out of the garage knackered.

Also, and this one will be controversial, I don't tidy up or put my tools away on a daily basis. I know, James May would be horrified!

I used to work outside, as my garage was full of the usual stuff. That meant that every day I had to haul the tools out, and every evening I had to spend a good deal of time bringing everything in, tidying up and making sure the car was left in a secure state (usually in the dark, while tired and p'd off). This eats into tinkering time and used to put me off doing any work. Unless I spent hours and hours outside it often didn't seem worth the hassle.

So I made a real effort, got the garage cleared out and the car inside. Now, I just leave everything where it lies most days and once a week put everything away, sweep up and throw the rubbish out etc. I factor that into my job-let schedule so that Monday's job is smaller, to accomodate the tidying time.

I know not everyone has a garage, but it might be worth considering sorting something out.

Anyway, ramble over. Hope some of that helps someone.

[commycouper]

Sept 13, 2020 9:23:28 GMT daklone said:

I used to work outside, as my garage was full of the usual stuff. That meant that every day I had to haul the tools out, and every evening I had to spend a good deal of time bringing everything in, tidying up and making sure the car was left in a secure state (usually in the dark, while tired and p'd off). This eats into tinkering time and used to put me off doing any work. Unless I spent hours and hours outside it often didn't seem worth the hassle.

So I made a real effort, got the garage cleared out and the car inside. Now, I just leave everything where it lies most days and once a week put everything away, sweep up and throw the rubbish out etc. I factor that into my job-let schedule so that Monday's job is smaller, to accomodate the tidying time.

I know not everyone has a garage, but it might be worth considering sorting something out.

Anyway, ramble over. Hope some of that helps someone.

YES......absolutely this! I had exactly the same issue. A perfectly good usable garage full of stuff that hadn't seen the light of day in 8 - 10 years. I could hardly get in the side door it was so full. Just like yourself  daklone , it would take precious time away from the the task in hand having to reel out extension leads, drag the welder and gas bottle out etc and then try and find allsorts of tools that I knew I had....... but had to send ages looking for them as they were buried somewhere in the garage. Then vise versa at the end of the day. 
I too have now cleared most of the garage out now. It was one the best things I've done for years. The benefits to time and mind have made it all worth it. 
I also tidy up once a week ( unless it gets too bad ). Usually I just pop down to the garage for half an hour on a week day evening, stick the radio on and do some tidying.
Oddly though Sammo ......and I genuinely don't mean to make you feel worse, but lockdown has had the opposite effect on me than what it has to you. I've had alot of motivation during this weird time and have managed to achieve a fair bit..... I'm just not looking forward to when that motivation runs out as it all too often does. 😁👍