Finishing projects....

[Dan Dubeau]

While working on the sawmill today, I counted no less than 5 unfinished projects that I SHOULD be doing, but for various reasons they've been put on hold, re prioritized, or are simply patiently waiting for the right mood to get back to them.

Some have ran into snags where I need to order parts, or material (which has since come in). Others didn't get completed in one sitting, so sometimes it's tough to pick up where I left off. Others, aren't as important to finish now because of the season, and I don't need it done anymore, so it can wait.

There are a variety of reasons I have many projects on the go in various stages of completion. I AM getting better at knocking them off, but always seem to add more faster than I cross them off.

How good are you at staying on task and seeing them all to completion?

[brian Rupnow]

Dan---I'm good at it. I always have been. If you ask why, I'd have to tell you about living in the same house as my father for 19 years. Angus was a man who finished everything he ever set out to do----and when he finished it SHINED!!! He was a world war 2 vet that never got over five years with the army. One of the most grievous sins you could commit was to start something and not finish it. Dad has been gone for 25 years now, but his legacy of "Finish everything you start" lives on in me.---Brian

[Dan Dubeau]

Brian, I'm envious of the pace at which you complete engines. Sounds like your Dad was quite a man and passed on his work ethic. I've always enjoyed you engine builds, so thank you for sharing them.

Don't get me wrong, I always complete things....eventually. But I live a life of many distractions and "side quests" (as my wife calls them). Some projects just get shelved for way longer than they should. Not sure if it's because I take on more than I should, have way to many hobbies and interests, have unrealistic expectations of time involved, or all of the above plus other reasons I haven't thought of. If my life was a choose your own adventure book, I feel it would skip around a lot of pages, but eventually get to the end.

I'd actually like to build an engine this winter, but am holding off doing anything until I get some other stuff finished. The past few weekend have been pretty busy around here, doing some unexpected repairs on vehicles and other stuff. I was really hoping to be further ahead before the snow flies, but that's life. Always an adventure it seems.

[Bob La Londe]

I have a white board in the back shop with a list of shop projects. I wrote a bunch of things on it a couple months ago... and haven't looked at it since.

[J Tiers]

I complete them if they are still wanted. Sometime they are not.

Sometimes priority shifts. There is an electronic project I had just gathered stuff for when I first bought a lathe. That is still not done! (it's been a while, measured in decades)

I have started making a list.... stuff gets done that way. Not so much if I do not

[true temper]

One day my friends carpenter finally decided to show up to work on a project that was long over due.
my friend said “ Jack are them kids yours” he said well yah, my friend said well you never finish anything so I wasn’t sure.

[Dan Dubeau]

I have a white board in the back shop with a list of shop projects. I wrote a bunch of things on it a couple months ago... and haven't looked at it since.

I recently took a whiteboard down that was above my lathe, and it had a drawing on it from a project I did 6 years ago lol. My wife also just cleaned off the whiteboard in the kitchen and jokingly asked if she should leave "clean chimney" on it. I said, better leave it on there, I haven't done it this year yet lol. I wrote it on there 4-5 years ago maybe?

I recently DID start making a list of all the short little 10-30 minute projects that needed done, because through the week I might only get an hour or so of motivated shop time after work each day, so I look at the list, and get stuff done, instead of looking around wasting 20 minutes wondering what I should get into. Which, when left to my own devices, is usually starting another project lol. So far the list of quick projects has worked well. But I've never been a list person, so it's only a matter of time before the wheels come off.

I complete them if they are still wanted. Sometime they are not.

Sometimes priority shifts. There is an electronic project I had just gathered stuff for when I first bought a lathe. That is still not done! (it's been a while, measured in decades)

I have started making a list.... stuff gets done that way. Not so much if I do not

That seems to be a common denominator in most of my stalled projects. I hit a road block where I need to order something and the project hits the back burner until the parts come in. Then when the parts come in, I can't find the time or motivation to get it back into the rotation. Weeks and months (sometimes years) go by until I stumble back onto it.

There's also a lot of yak shaving going on, where I need a thing to make a thing, to make another thing......I'm sure many here know that drill......

The funny part is, that I never feel like I get anything done, but when I talk to friends, or coworkers about the things I build/fix/work on they always say, "how do you find time to do all that stuff", or "you have too much free time on your hands". What the hell do other people do with their time?

[Dan Dubeau]

One day my friends carpenter finally decided to show up to work on a project that was long over due.
my friend said “ Jack are them kids yours” he said well yah, my friend said well you never finish anything so I wasn’t sure.

Hilarious, I'll have to remember that one. I have a friend who's much like me with many irons in the fire, and his famous line when his wife gets on him about finishing stuff is "well Dear, there's no need to rush into things" lol.

[JoeLee]

While working on the sawmill today, I counted no less than 5 unfinished projects that I SHOULD be doing, but for various reasons they've been put on hold, re prioritized, or are simply patiently waiting for the right mood to get back to them.

Some have ran into snags where I need to order parts, or material (which has since come in). Others didn't get completed in one sitting, so sometimes it's tough to pick up where I left off. Others, aren't as important to finish now because of the season, and I don't need it done anymore, so it can wait.

There are a variety of reasons I have many projects on the go in various stages of completion. I AM getting better at knocking them off, but always seem to add more faster than I cross them off.

How good are you at staying on task and seeing them all to completion?

You ain't alone ! Everything you mentioned applies to me 100% except I have more than 5 unfinished projects laying around on different benches. And yes it is tough to pick up where I left of on some of the more involved projects. Some have sat untouched for several years and there are a few that I have just plain lost interest in. Some take priority because they need to be done during the summer months, like painting and restoration projects and machining projects get more attention during the winter months. Comforting to know it's not just me.

JL..............

[J Tiers]

For me (us, really) it is the inherited house in Minnesota that the thermostat thread was about. It's a mess, stuffed full of all sorts of useful stuff that mostly had not been used. We finally, this trip, went on a first pass through the crawlspace under the kitchen, which was the last part of the basement we had not been into. Lots of shelves and boxes, most of which actually had in them what the label said (several others gone through today did not). Unannounced contents were many mouse nests, drifts of mouse crap, etc.

We've been spending almost a week per month up there working, and it is really cutting into everything, not just shop time.

But, it is not helping on the issue of finishing projects. I'm bad enough about that when I don't have such distractions.

[mattthemuppet]

I have a small shop so completing projects is pretty important, I just don't have the space for uncompleted ones unless they're really small!

[RB211]

My interests change quicker than I can finish a project. I’m going to see the D11 all the way though.

[ptjw7uk]

My biggest problem is finding a flaw in my solution to the latest problem I am working on!
I then have to think it through until I have it all figured out!!(and that can take some time - that gets longer with age!)

[darryl]

'my interests change quicker than I can finish a project'- at one point I would only start a project if I knew it would only take 3 evenings or less. I determined this by looking around and seeing all the unfinished projects. The ones that needed to be done, I did. I also vowed to not start any more projects until the others were done. I went for weeks in a state of self deprecation over it, got virtually nothing done, and started to drink more than I ever had before, except for the early years. When I finally stopped beating myself up over it, I got a few more things done- and started several new projects at the same time. I realize now that my own mental health depends on following up on leads that come up spontaneously- meaning that it's better for me to start on something new than to languish on an old project. I've done my best to turn down projects for other people, knowing that I'm unreliable to complete them, but I still get into some of that. I absolutely f-----g hate that. I'm not one of those who start it, keep at it until it's done, then go to the next. I feel bad when I have to say no to somebody, and after about the third or fourth no, I end up agreeing to one. Then I pay for it in angst- and in money too most of the time. I have one of those coming up tomorrow- and this is one I agreed to do, and got quite a ways along on it, and now I can't get myself back on the project. I'm getting older, and I'm losing the ability to have so much in my head at once- and that doesn't help with anything. I'm starting to wonder how the heck I ever did some of those projects that I completed in the past- I don't think I could do them now. It's not a good head space to be in.

I want so much to start something new, but I restrain myself- and it makes me feel sick. The only thing that seems to level me out is riding my motorcycle- and as of tomorrow my insurance will have run out. I got myself on a kick of cleaning one bench surface a day, and that was working but it's in a deep stall right now. I'm surrounded by paperwork, which is one of my most hated chores. I know that's what's stopping me from cleaning the desktop in my computer room. I finally got rid of my drug addict room mate, and I've been busy for weeks trying to get the smell out of the house- I'm pretty much there on that account at least. I need a holiday- but I know that three days in I'd be bored and want to come home to my disaster area. I've spent little time in the shop lately, but I have pulled out and hauled away much garbage. It's actually harder to get around in there now than it was before.

Well I better go to bed now. Tomorrow I have to go shopping for a switching unit, and I already know there isn't one that will do the job as well as the one that is one of my unfinished projects. This will be a much needed excursion out of the house for the day, but it's going to seem like a waste of time. Welcome to my world.

[Jonesy]

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