Thread: Regaining motivation

Don't know what your garage looks like but mine had become more and more cluttered. It was getting tiring just thinking about doing anything between the mess and the heat - so I spent a few afternoons and evenings where I could and things have been packed away, moved out, or thrown out. I don't know why I had a box of 10cm long pine stud offcuts I banged out a couple of simple rebated plywood boxes with some scraps to get into the groove again. I haven't had much build time between sick and work so I kind of felt I needed to just finish something really easy that took a short amount of time. This weekend, another relatively easy cube storage unit out of 16mm melamine sheets, then after that we can break out them handplanes and marking gauges and do a box out of some figured tas oak I picked up from flindersia. I'll probably do absolutely no justice to the wood at all but I might learn something or two along the way.

Just my 2c - hope you get out of the rut soon, I've been following your box build thread and they were some fine boxes there.

One of the most important qualities for a professional woodworker is the ability to focus. The coffee and fag come after the work not before. When you walk into the shed first thing in the morning and flick the switch tell yourself you are connected to that switch as well.

I usually start by tidying up a few bits and pieces, never get anything done it the place is a mess. Once I get my workspace ready to roll I'm usually really excited to start messing it up again.

Interesting to watch seasoned pros at work. They'd stop as much as 30 minutes before the end of the day and tidy up, plus some time for paper work and checking on stock needed for the the following day. That way when they came next morning they could start on something constructive almost immediately. Friday afternoons was for on going maintenance and a bigger cleanup.

My shed is an absolute tip ATM, the number of unfinished projects is at an all time high and some are about to be scrapped. Can't/Won't be able to get down there for a few days yet.

I'd suggest picking one project, or more likely part of a project that you can start and finish in the next shed session you have next.

It can be as simple as flattening a board, or planing a piece to size.

When I'd lost motivation, our just put off a job for far (far) too long, completing a step helped me to get some momentum back and its easier to build from there.

Regards,

Adam


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my shed is very similar to a kids bedroom, you tell them to go tidy up...well they walk in and its such a mess they dont know where to start, or they start cleaning up one part but dont get far because if I put this thing over there I'll just have to shift it again. The number of times that actually happened last year was alarming,
but I decided to change and gave myself one bench or one machine to do each day. If stuff had to be placed somewhere it went outside, (I did this trick many years ago when daughters still lived at home, I offered to clean their room up and the amount of clothing that finished up on back and front porches soon got them involved)

I wont say its now a showroom but dang I now know where things are.
One step at a time

I felt similar. My little workspace felt a bit like a meas too. Especially about where my planes and saws were stored. See the picture with the white shelving. That's before. When we moves in I just used what I had to make storage.

But now I couldn't see it anymore and decided to knock up some better tool storage from a pile of plywood I had around. The ply was also constantly in the way. So I killed two birds in one actually.

I know it's not as great as some tool cabinets I see online, but definately better than before. Was a great project and the workspace feels much better now and I am looking forward for the next project.

Still space in the saw till. Maybe I will rearrange it so that chisel and files etc can move in. Currently they still live in drawers.

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Another way to look at it is that your woodworking is a hobby. If you're feeling wiped out and exhausted at the moment, sit in your shed drinking your coffee and listening to music, or whatever floats your boat. Your mojo will no doubt return, but if it takes a while and you're happy, who cares. Or start another small project that has no history/expectation. Just for fun.

Having a major cleanup is a great way to fill time while your brain has a holiday, as others have suggested...

I found my enthusiasm waxed & waned over the years. There were times when I hardly picked up a tool for weeks on end - work pressures, domestic pressures or a lack of enthusiasm brought on by who knows what. The good news is, my interest always returned in spades after a bit. If you have some little job that you can complete in the time you're allowed in the shed for one day, that can be a good re-starter.

The bad news is that messing about in sheds is a lifelong affliction - there may be brief periods of remission, but relapses always follow......

Cheers,

Nothing wrong with not feeling like getting into it in my view. Sit back and enjoy your coffee and ciggy (but you should give up the ciggies at least haha).

It is terribly hard to get motivated in the hot weather I find. I also find that if I am expected to do something within a certain timeframe I don't want to. But leave me alone in the shed for a while and I will fossick and bumble around and eventually I will pick up a piece of timber or something and have a play with it.

If it aint enjoyable no point doing it!
edit: speeling

CKlett: Good job on the tidy up etc.
My shed is so chocka that any tidying up is a Rubik's shed operation starting with moving a few things out to the patio just to create a bit of space so's I can move..

Originally Posted by Wongdai

It is terribly hard to get motivated in the hot weather I find.

I agree and I have AC in my shed but am reluctant to use it given the power it consumes especially as my DC vents outside the shed.
However, next week we are getting a 6.6/5kW solar PV system so I will have less of an excuse after that.

Totally agree what others have said.

A good tidy/organisation does wonders to wanting to get cracking on with a project. Sadly like others my shed is on the small side so it takes a whole ten minutes before the shed looks like after spend an hour or so tidying up.

So there are definitely days when i feel like i spend more time tidying than actually working, but if I don't nothing will get done as i just don't want to look at the mess.

Also i find setting a deadline (or revised deadline) helps keep the project ticking along.

I am glad that others are suffering the lack of momentum at the moment. The high 30-40 degree days keep me inside even though I have an Evaperative Cooler installed. It will take the "edge off" the heat but its still not nice to be out there. Due to my ongoing depression, I get feelings of guilt that I am not doing anything constructive. It does drive you down and seems to have a "paralysing" effect where I can't even go out to the shed at all. Apart from many woodworking projects that I could/should do I also have some sheet metal jobs, metal machining jobs, and wood lathe jobs/upgrades/storing solutions........(you know what its like) Some days I am almost driven to tears due to the "paralysis". In the shed also is a WW II Jeep that is an ongoing restoration.

Do I have too many jobs? Just reading the first paragraph makes me think that. I find very little joy in any activity so Foxtel gets a work out very often. It is easy to sit there and while away the time and at bedtime the guilt/regrets fill my head. And guess what, I will do the same thing day after day. I have even been contemplating selling off my machinery...........then what????

I am sorry to say even the Forum which gave me so much is getting lack luster

Originally Posted by Fumbler

Well the rug tats are now back at school, the oldest now in High School. 6weeks or moaning, whinging “what are we doing to day dad?” And let’s go here, one says yes, one says no, let’s have KFC, the other wants Maccas, I say fish and chips, the other wants a kebab!! Ah the joys of parent hood. No access to the workshop on Wednesday’s as kids are home, SWMBO not letting me out on a Sunday as family time, I haven’t been to the workshop in about 6weeks.

all the whilst I have a jewellery box (for the daughter) and the medal box for a friend, still in the wind. Now my daughters friend’s mum wants a Ballet Barre, which is ready to turn from a 75yr old bed rail in Northern Silky Oak.

i sit in the garage with a coffee and a cig, and just stare at the boxes and Barre piece, willing myself to make some space and get on with it, but I just don’t have the motivation to return to any of it.

any ideas as to how to lift and get on with it?

listening in earnest, for all suggestions, wicked or not. Hahahaha

When I build a piece of furniture, I am focussed completely. This is partly because the pieces I build are always a challenge for me, pushing my envelope, and this makes them stimulating. Partly, they are a way to switch off from the intensity of my work days, where I am with patients and listening and working on their needs and nothing else.

When a project comes to an end, there is a feeling of emptiness. It's similar to any sport, where you're giving all you can in a match, and at the end you are drained. The intensity of an experience is no different to high levels of stress in one's life, and vice versa .... you end up drained.

What I do at the end of each project is to, firstly, clean up (well, actually, I do this at the end of each session ...). This clean up is more than sweeping up. It is when I might build a cabinet for the workshop to house tools or supplies, or modify a piece of machinery or a hand tool as I recognise better the need and the design, or I build a tool from scratch. The intensity of this work is quite low. It is quite relaxing. It recharges the battery. And while I am doing this, I start planning the next project, which I had on my To-Do list, but yet to articulate in a plan. As the plan grows from an idea to a strategy of action, so the juices begin to flow and speed up again.

There is nothing quite like building a design of your own, in an environment you have made your own, and with tools you have made your design.

Regards from Perth

Derek