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6 Ways to “Unstick” Your DIY Project
Motivation can be surprisingly fleeting when it comes to DIY projects. The excitement of breaking free the first rusty bolt of the engine swap can dwindle to a full puffy-cheeks exhale as you notice the oil you leaked from pulling the valve covers soaking into the concrete floor. Always buy oil dry at the same time you buy RTV. But I digress.
It doesn’t matter how or why it happens, our projects just get stuck from time to time. For me, it’s the 1988 Honda XR600R restomod I started earlier this year. I look at it every time I go out into the garage, have notes in my phone of what works, what has been done and what the next steps are, along with what parts I need and where to get them. And yet. . .I haven’t done anything on that project in months. If we are being honest, there is no real reason. I’ve spent money that could have gone to this project on other less-pressing items.
So how does one break out of a slump like this? In the past I’ve used a variety of methods, but this group of six have been the most effective. Use, ignore, or adjust at based on your own projects and needs. And share a comment with other tips that have worked for you as well.
Throw a party
It sounds mighty strange, but in reality if you gather a group of your friends around a project there is bound to be enough conversation to put some fresh fuel into the mental project car fire. Hearing other people’s thoughts or opinions about the work you’ve completed and what needs to be done is a fun way to look at the mountain of a project before you and pick your hiking path. Even if you already know your plan, talking it through again with the right group can really bring the drive to pick up tools again.
Get Organized
Sometimes projects grind to a halt because it all gets to feel a little overwhelming. It’s very easy to end up with a bench or floor—sometimes both—covered in greasy, grimy bolts and bits. At times leaving everything just so works, but if the mind gets distracted for just the wrong amount of time, the whole situation quickly becomes a messy game of pick-up-sticks that no one wants to play.
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It’s the pits. Rather than trying to pick up where we left off, sometimes it’s best to just take the mental hit and completely reset. Pick up all the nuts and bolts. Clean everything, put away tools, layout the bits and pieces again, this time in the order they’ll go back together. This all effectively re-primes the charge that can propel a project forward again with a big burst. It doesn’t feel like a lot to just clean, but sometimes it helps make decisions.
Sell it
One decision you might make when a project stalls out is to magically turn what is currently your problem into someone else’s problem. Put that way, it’s shocking that this possible solution ever works. Then again, there are a lot of people like me out there who will happily come and pick up whatever old vehicle problem you have, and occasionally pay for the pleasure. There is no shame in admitting that a project has run it’s course for you. We all get different things from project cars and sometimes the lesson to learn is when to call it quits.
Make a list
If that last one scared you a bit, I’ll dial back the suggestion to sell it all and take up golf. Instead, take about the same amount of time it would play the front nine and just take mental stock of your project. Write down what work has been done, what you planned, and what is left, then sort it all out. Use this to chart a course and make your plan to move forward. All projects move at glacial pace at one point or another, having a list is occasionally the only way to visually see progress. Lists can be helpful or overwhelming. Again, chose the right tool for you.
Treat yourself to something nice
If you have the means (or at least the temporary credit limit), sometimes the spark to jump back in can come from buying something you had previously been withholding from yourself, whether for valid or less rational reasons. A slight splurge spend on a new tool can make that rust repair easier, or buying the nicer part or piece for the next task at hand can be a little carrot when the mental stick hasn’t been effective. It’s worth a try. A new tool or part never hurt, right?
Just do something
Screw the plan, throw out reason, pick something about the project you’re excited about doing and do that. This is actually what brought me back to my XR600R recently. I think I just got distracted multiple times in multiple directions, and needed to see and experience a nice jump forward.
The seat cover was just the thing. A good quality gripper cover over new foam is trim work I find fun. The material is pretty forgiving, and just a few staples or a little heat with a heat gun can solve most odd pinches or creases. The whole ordeal was just a few hours even when I needed to clean the seat pan, and the bike’s look completely changed when I slid the seat on. It was one of those moments where, after cleaning the bench, I took a moment to stare at my accomplishment before shutting off the lights for the night.
Spending the rest of the night remembering my plan for the bike has renewed the drive to work on the 600R’s needs. Who’d have thought it would be so simple to unstick this one?
i agree to and apply every ‘way’ in your article with exception of ‘sell it’. i don’t sell anything which is part of my problem.
instead of having a party, i take a vacation, or at least leave home for a few days. i begin by enjoying wherever i’ve gone or whomever i’m with or met up with, maybe talk about some of my dozens of projects. then, the thought of what i could be doing if at home at that very moment sinks in. when i do get home, i blaze a trail and get more done in a day then i have in a couple weeks. kinda like being pulled back in a slingshot, then released.
i have a weekly ‘m&g’ zoom call with my brother. m&g = motivation & gratitude. we both struggle at times with the lack of the former, and simply talking things out can sometimes kickstart the engine running again. and recognizing things we are grateful for in life can put our thinking back on track, or keep from falling off the path in the first place.
when it came to big projects or overwhelming situations, my dad would say ‘how do you eat an elephant?’ then the answer followed: ‘one bite at a time’. in other words, break down the project or situation into sections, and then tackle them one section at a time.
enjoyed the article, thanx
The last serious project I did was a frame off mechanical restoration of a CJ7.
My trick (and the first time I’ve done this)- buy enough parts for a single system repair. If I’m doing the rear brakes, I buy all of those parts and complete that repair.
I don’t buy any additional parts until I’ve installed and tweaked the ones on hand.
The only negative for me was additional shipping costs.
I’m often my own worse enemy in that I think about a partial project (particularly one that I’m either not good at or don’t like) way more than I actually do it. In other words, I’ll stew and fret mentally over something for a total of an hour over the span of a month and when I finally do it, it only takes 10 minutes. Sheesh!
I’m trying to get better about stopping the mind and just getting the hands and feet to work. That seems to be a better plan for me
Ditto….
My saying
“The more you have… the more you have to take care of.”
So for me keeping the workload to a minimum is important. I don’t need or want 4 projects. I’m the caretaker of one classic.
Not knowing all the things on my car that need done, I took it to a local mechanic shop and had them do an inspection. And Now I have a list. “Plan your work and work your plan” Mechanical, electrical and I’ll start on the interior and maybe paint later.
I’m getting a quote for the mechanical items that I deemed are safety/necessary items. And it feels great managing the items that I can’t do myself.
Any progress… is progress so asking myself…
What’s next? is a good way to accomplish goals and keep moving forward.
Never lose the passion!
I am in a rut right now – ’71 Cutlass Supreme SX – bought the car off original owners almost 30yrs ago. Started 3 yrs and have had almost everything redone/replaced. Complete new interior, went deep and spent over $1k to have the dash redone by some place in Ca, they did an awesome job. I removed everything at first and had the car painted. My big mistake I guess is I did not note body mount shims for the front fenders. Long story short, that is where I am at, trying to fit the fenders. I have the doors dead on, fit/finish and they close great, no bind. I have been trying to get these lined up to the door/A pillar and it’s kicking my ass!!!!!The car is wheels on the ground so no body flex there. I have looked online=, little bit help but just can’t seem to get right. These are all original components and fit great before disassembling, no frame modification, did not replace body mount bushings either. I just want to enjoy my car like everyone else, the only issue I had was the gas pedal would stick sometimes and smoke would start coming from the rear tires.
I don’t know why I’m just getting this older article now, but it’s fantastic and so are all the responses. I do lists, but I love the scheduled work time and garage party time! Nothing major for me at this time, but in the past, having a work space that I can just walk away from when I’m out of time, and a having a lift were key. I was lucky enough to be able to build a nice garage about 15 years ago. I
did a ton of the work myself. This garage will allow me to work on cars into my decrepitude. 😀
A complete restore takes stages, I call them seasons, 3 springs, 3 summers and 3 falls and you see light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to UPS, FedEx and u-tube videos I have my first and last restoration complete, not counting my hours my investment was 13 K. Retirement takes the stress out of it for sure.
Good stuff but the number one thing, by far, that works best for me is to just do SOMETHING every day or at least every couple of days. All of a sudden you see real progress and that motivates! Sometimes I will take a quick 30 minutes to go knock out a task on the project just so I know I inched forward… keep moving!
Another item to strongly consider on anything you’re letting sit around pending completion is DO NOT underestimate the destructive power of rodents! I’ve got an OBS 7.3 that I took apart with intentions of installing everything from the Irate catalog w/o disassembling the engine. Then, I got a huge contract with U-Haul & haven’t had a spare moment for the last 3 years. Truck sat disassembled with the hood closed & imagine my surprise/shock when I popped the hood last week & found what looked like a huge rat (based on size of droppings) pretty much destroyed all the wiring & every other soft part in it. Now I’m at a complete impasse & at total indecision what to do with it. Currently I don’t have time to even consider finishing it. This was a truck that ran beautifully before I took it apart.
Stupid me!!!
Over the years I’ve found the best way to restart a stalled project, no matter what size, cleanup and organize, especially the bench just inside the door where our wife leaves her “fix this” projects. You have five 7/16 combination wrenches, and you can’t find one…take a day and get your shop in order! Good luck.
I’ve actually got motivated to work on one car by working on another! My 61 convertible (Rambler) is stalled mostly due to lack of time, and motivation when I DO have time (and cold weather now… don’t have a fully heated shop, but in SC it’s only really needed a couple months). I have found that doing some maintenance work on my other Rambler (63 wagon, which I built in 2003 and drive when I can) has actually motivated me to get to work on the other one! I want to drive it too…
I find some things take a lot more time than I envisioned. Problems will all ways slow me down. If they seem to difficult, I’ll move onto to something else that I can accomplish. Most of the time, a solution will come along, so I can fix the bigger problem. Jesse James was right don’t let the sofa stop you, keep moving forward.